What are the best Tom Cruise performances of all time?

From fresh-faced Eighties charm to death-defying action spectacles, Cruise has reinvented himself repeatedly — but one role still stands above the rest. Cast your vote!

1. 1
   Top Gun

   A 1986 action film in which Cruise plays the cocky and talented naval aviator Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell.
2. 2
   Risky Business

   A 1983 teen comedy-drama that launched Cruise’s career, playing a suburban teen who turns his home into a brothel.
3. 3
   Rain Man

   A 1988 drama in which Cruise plays a self-centered car dealer who discovers his autistic savant brother, winning Best Picture.
4. 4
   Born on the Fourth of July

   A 1989 Oliver Stone biopic in which Cruise plays Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic who becomes an antiwar activist.
5. 5
   A Few Good Men

   A 1992 legal drama in which Cruise plays brash Navy lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee defending Marines accused of murder.
6. 6
   Interview with the Vampire

   A 1994 gothic horror in which Cruise plays the charismatic and ruthless vampire Lestat de Lioncourt.
7. 7
   Jerry Maguire

   A 1996 romantic drama in which Cruise plays a sports agent who has a moral awakening and starts over with one client.
8. 8
   Mission: Impossible

   A 1996 spy thriller launching the franchise in which Cruise plays super-agent Ethan Hunt.
9. 9
   Eyes Wide Shut

   A 1999 Stanley Kubrick psychological drama in which Cruise plays a doctor drawn into a secret sexual underworld.
10. 10
    Magnolia

    A 1999 Paul Thomas Anderson ensemble drama in which Cruise delivers a powerful performance as misogynistic self-help guru Frank T.J. Mackey.
11. 11
    The Last Samurai

    A 2003 epic historical film in which Cruise plays a disgraced U.S. Army officer who joins and fights for the samurai.
12. 12
    Collateral

    A 2004 Michael Mann thriller in which Cruise plays a cool and ruthless hitman forcing a cab driver to be his accomplice.
13. 13
    Tropic Thunder

    A 2008 comedy in which Cruise is hilarious in a nearly unrecognizable cameo as foul-mouthed studio exec Les Grossman.
14. 14
    Edge of Tomorrow

    A 2014 sci-fi action film in which Cruise plays a soldier caught in a time loop fighting alien invaders.
15. 15
    Mission: Impossible – Fallout

    A 2018 action thriller widely regarded as the best Mission: Impossible entry, featuring Cruise’s most daring practical stunts.
16. 16
    Top Gun: Maverick

    A 2022 blockbuster sequel in which Cruise reprises his iconic role and delivers one of the most beloved performances of his career.