Tom Cruise addressed the long-running perception that he is "intense" in a rare interview with GQ published September 15, 2026, ahead of the September 22 premiere of his film Digger, his first non-action movie role in more than a decade.
The Top Gun and Mission: Impossible star said he is not bothered by his reputation for a disciplined, demanding work ethic. "When I'm working with people, I'm not afraid to, as I'm acting, to look foolish, to do it," Cruise told GQ. "I work hard, and people that work with me, they know. I expect a lot and I'm up-front about it. It's like, 'The rumors are true. And do you want this?'"
Cruise, who was born in Syracuse, New York, and moved to Los Angeles at 18, said the "intense" label has followed him since childhood. "Even when I was a kid, they were like, 'Oh, come on, Tom. You're so intense,'" he said. "I'm like, 'I don't know what to say. I am intense.' I got a very good sense of humor about it."
He traced his attention to detail to that same intensity. "When I'm interested in something, I want to learn it. I want to understand it. And you want to blast through the confusion and kind of build up that ability," he said.
Stunts and fear
Cruise, 64, has performed numerous dangerous stunts himself over his career, including jumping between two roof ledges in Mission: Impossible - Fallout and flying a fighter jet in Top Gun: Maverick. He said that does not mean he feels no fear. "I know it's not for everybody. I don't think it is," he said. "And you know what? Everyone has their own things, what they have to confront in life and what they feel is scary or whatever."
Family and looking ahead
Cruise, who has three children, Isabella Jane, 33, and Connor, 31, with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, and Suri Noelle, 20, with ex-wife Katie Holmes, said he pays no attention to rumors about his personal life. "I'm not sitting here thinking about that stuff. I never think about that," he said. "I'm more looking out. For me, I'm more in present and future."
He said he only revisits the past "to evaluate how I can do things better," adding that he can "look back at things in a joyful way." Asked about his drive, Cruise said: "There's so much life, and there's always another dream. I think that a person without a dream, they've decided not to live."
Asked about being called the "last real movie star" by film fans, Cruise deflected to praise fellow actor Brad Pitt as a "great actor, great star, great charisma," adding that there are "many, many, many" talented performers and that he has worked alongside "great craftsmen" since he was young.
Four decades in Hollywood
Cruise, born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on July 3, 1962, made his film debut in the 1981 drama Taps before starring in The Outsiders, Risky Business and Top Gun, the 1986 hit that made him one of the biggest stars in the world. He went on to produce and star in the Mission: Impossible franchise beginning in 1996, and has won two Golden Globes among seven nominations, for Magnolia, Jerry Maguire and Born on the Fourth of July, though he returned all three trophies in 2021 after the Golden Globes' organizer came under fire over a lack of diversity. He has also been nominated for three Oscars.
His films have collectively grossed more than $11 billion worldwide, and 2022's Top Gun: Maverick became his first movie to cross $1 billion on its own, making $534 million domestically.
Marriages and personal life
Cruise has been married three times: to actress Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990, to Kidman from 1990 to 2001, and to Holmes from 2006 to 2012. He has been a member of the Church of Scientology for more than 30 years and remains its most famous adherent, previously describing it as "a beautiful religion."
Real-life rescues
Beyond his film career, Cruise has been credited with several real-life rescues in the 1990s, including lifting two boys over a barricade to prevent them being crushed at a Mission: Impossible premiere in London, sending his yacht's skiff to rescue a family from a burning sailboat in the Mediterranean in 1996, aiding a mugging victim in London, and paying a $7,000 emergency room bill for an uninsured cashier who was injured in a hit-and-run he witnessed.
Digger marks a new direction
Digger, premiering September 22, represents Cruise's first non-action leading role in more than ten years, a departure from the stunt-heavy blockbusters, including the Mission: Impossible series and Top Gun: Maverick, that have defined the recent stretch of his career.
