# 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!

*By YPB Team · Published April 11, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-are-the-best-tom-cruise-performances-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Top Gun**
   A 1986 action film in which Cruise plays the cocky and talented naval aviator Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell.
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. **Rain Man**
   A 1988 drama in which Cruise plays a self-centered car dealer who discovers his autistic savant brother, winning Best Picture.
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. **A Few Good Men**
   A 1992 legal drama in which Cruise plays brash Navy lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee defending Marines accused of murder.
6. **Interview with the Vampire**
   A 1994 gothic horror in which Cruise plays the charismatic and ruthless vampire Lestat de Lioncourt.
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. **Mission: Impossible**
   A 1996 spy thriller launching the franchise in which Cruise plays super-agent Ethan Hunt.
9. **Eyes Wide Shut**
   A 1999 Stanley Kubrick psychological drama in which Cruise plays a doctor drawn into a secret sexual underworld.
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. **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. **Collateral**
   A 2004 Michael Mann thriller in which Cruise plays a cool and ruthless hitman forcing a cab driver to be his accomplice.
13. **Tropic Thunder**
   A 2008 comedy in which Cruise is hilarious in a nearly unrecognizable cameo as foul-mouthed studio exec Les Grossman.
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. **Mission: Impossible – Fallout**
   A 2018 action thriller widely regarded as the best Mission: Impossible entry, featuring Cruise’s most daring practical stunts.
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.

Tags: movies, actors, performances, tom cruise