Happy 50th Tom Cruise

Today is the 50^th Birthday for Mr Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, the eternally youthful Hollywood star made his acting debut in Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love back in 1981, the very year I was born.

He’s been nominated for three Academy Awards, the first time was in 1990 for his performance in Born on the Fourth of July, the second was as the title character in Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire. The third nomination was for his supporting role as Frank TJ Mackey in Magnolia, a performance and part like that comes along once in a career and Cruise gave it his all.

In celebration of his birthday, here’s a run down of our Top Ten Tom Cruise Movies.

10. Top Gun

9. A Few Good Men

8. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

7. Jerry Maguire

6. Collateral.

5. Interview With The Vampire

4. The Colour of Money

3. Born on the Fourth of July

2. The Last Samurai

1. Magnolia

Rain Man narrowly missed the top ten, but it’s a fine movie. Special mention to his cameo in Tropic Thunder, reuniting with Cameron Crowe for the underrated Vanilla Sky and his recent turn as Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages was a heap of fun.

He’s finished his next movie, an adaptation of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, not to be confused with his other new film Oblivion where he plays a character called Jack Harper. There are already plans for another Mission Impossible, a reworking of Van Helsing and Top Gun 2 in the works, that’s one busy chap.

Happy Birthday Tom, keep on running.