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Tom Cruise's Tropic Thunder dance is one of the most famous scenes from the movie, but director Ben Stiller had to be talked into filming it. Tropic Thunder is a 2008 all-star action-comedy, where a group of pampered movie stars making a Vietnam war movie run afoul of a drug cartel in the Golden Triangle. The movie received mostly good reviews and was a solid hit, but while it can be genuinely hilarious in its parody of Hollywood moviemaking, it attracted controversy for elements like Robert Downey Jr's character - an intense method actor - donning blackface to play a role.

Tropic Thunder  cast Tom Cruise in a surprise cameo as Les Grossman, the monstrous producer behind the movie the actors are filming. Cruise was going through something of a slow period in his career prior to Tropic Thunder , with 2006's Mission: Impossible III proving to be the lowest-grossing of the series while award baiting drama Lions For Lambs also underperformed. While Grossman is ultimately a small role, Cruise's sheer commitment to the role and endless stream of quotable dialogue made him a highlight.

Related: Edge of Tomorrow Is Tom Cruise's Best Chance At Another Mission: Impossible

Tom Cruise donned lots of prosthetics to portray Len, including a fat suit and a bald cap. Some viewers didn't even realize it was Cruise in the role until Tropic Thunder's credits, which also featured arguably the movie's comic highlight. This sees Grossman, bathing in the awards success of the movie he produced, pulling off some wicked dance moves in his office set to Ludacris’s “Get Back.” In 2019 Cruise reflected on the movie during an interview with Conan O'Brien, and revealed Ben Stiller was VERY hesitant about the dance and most of the actor's ideas for the part.

When Stiller first offered Cruise Les Grossman, it was the latter's suggestion for the character to dance and have " fat hands ." The director didn't quite gel with these ideas and asked if Cruise could just play the role looking like himself with zero dancing. Cruise followed his instincts for Tropic Thunder and decided to do a make-up test for Stiller, which included doing some dance moves. Stiller was still doubtful as he watched Cruise perform without any backing music, but afterward when took footage from this test and cut it to "Get Back," he realized he had gold.

The positive reaction to Cruise's role in Tropic Thunder almost led to the creation of a Les Grossman spinoff, but while a script was developed it yet to happen. It's strange that one of the most iconic moments in the comedy hit almost didn't happen, but it's a testament to Tom Cruise's commitment to a bit that it's still so fondly remembered.

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Tom Cruise gets mother of all makeovers to play a bearded baldy in new comedy

By Graham Smith for MailOnline Updated: 02:46 EDT, 19 August 2008

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For 25 years he has been one of Hollywood's most lusted after stars.

But Tom Cruise has abandoned his good looks - and his dark locks - to play a bald, overweight and exceedingly foul-mouthed movie executive in a new comedy.

The 46-year-old teams up with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black and Steve Coogan in Tropic Thunder, about a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie that is currently America's number one film at the box office.

New look: Tom Cruise plays a bald, foul-mouthed movie executive in new comedy Tropic Thunder

Cruise has a cameo appearance as hard-nosed producer Les Grossman. He took the role as a favour to his friend Stiller.

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In the movie, Grossman is financing a star-packed war picture that's being shot in Asia - and to say the unpleasant money-man throws his weight around is an understatement.

In one scene, filled with excessive bad language for comic effect, he orders an underling to punch the director in the face.

Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder

Cruise's co-stars have praised the dramatic actor's foray into comedy.

Downey Jr said: 'The fact that he came in and in six days of shooting made that kind of impact, I'd say per hour, he was the big winner in Tropic Thunder.

'I'll tip my hat to Tom.

Black added: 'People are gonna be shocked because they've not seen him do comedy before.

Hollywood hunk again: Cruise out and about in New York over the weekend

'You know why he was so good? Because he trained for it. He researched it just like he does all his dramas and his other film roles. He brought the same scientific intensity.

'He is the surprise of the summer.'

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This Unexpected Cameo Is Tom Cruise’s Best Performance Ever

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The Original Plan For Sidney In Scream 6 Would've Ruined Scream 7

Star wars: the acolyte: force-fu is a strong new direction for action scenes, marvel seems to confirm the death of a popular avenger in upfront trailer.

To say that Tom Cruise is one of the biggest Hollywood celebrities ever to exist would either be hyperbole or an understatement, depending on the era and measurement. His career thus far has spanned three decades and is about to exit Earth’s orbit - literally . He is known for pushing the boundaries of what his body and skills can portray on film, such as the incredible stunts he regularly performs for his mega-franchise Mission Impossible, or the meticulous training he puts himself through to perfect a character . His global celebrity has restricted him to only a few chances to let his hair down and have fun for a change, but when he does the result is unforgettable. In fact, arguably his best performance ever given was just such an occasion when he played Les Grossman in 2008’s brilliant Tropic Thunder.

Undoubtedly known as a serious actor and an action star, Tom Cruise rarely puts himself in comedies of the magnitude that is Tropic Thunder . The outrageous and hilarious spoof brought out the best of Cruise’s comedic talent and teased audiences to a future movie that sadly never materialized. Tropic Thunder starred Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and several other Hollywood celebrities like Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte, Bill Hader, and Dany McBride. Though controversial in many regards, it became a global success and one of the funniest comedies of the early 21st Century. This already perfect comedy is elevated by sneaking in Tom Cruise behind a fat suit and a bald cap!

RELATED: These Movies Are Perfect Parodies Of 80s And 90s Action

“Mm, That’s Good Satire”

Tropic Thunder operates on many layers of comedy, satire, parody, and unintentional real-life irony. First, as a comedy, it is a movie about making a fake movie that turns “real life” dangerous. Second, in satire, it skewers the bloated Hollywood organism . Third, the characters parody a range of Hollywood types like the cocaine-addled comedian, the overzealous Oscar hound, and the chiseled action star diva. Figures behind the camera are also parodied like the first-time director type, the brown noser executive assistant, and the high adrenaline power-mad Studio Executive. All these types so common to Hollywood are turned into caricatures on screen for the industry and audiences’ amusement.

A fair example of how Tropic Thunder 's once-praised satire has not exactly aged well is Robert Downey Jr.’s character. This is where it gets ironic as well. 2008 is the same year Downey starred in the first Iron Man . He was regaining his celebrity after recovering from years of addiction abuse. He was already a marquee actor from his Oscar nomination sixteen years earlier for Chaplin (1992). Most likely just for kicks, he decided to star alongside Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder as the Australian method actor and five-time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus.

Lazarus is such a serious actor that to portray the black soldier Lincoln Osiris he undergoes a skin alteration to change his own skin color black. He deepens his voice as well to play Osiris, but it is a naïve, misunderstood, offensive, yet almost innocent to the point of gross stupidity, performance. Lazarus is so “focused” and “committed” to the role that he blindly dives headfirst into blackface. Despite the fact that the movie is supposedly making fun of the idea of blackface, at the same time, it is still doing it. This is the sort of "satire" that has (thankfully) fallen out of favor with audiences.

Lazarus is so dedicated to winning another Oscar that he creates an unrestrained, horrible, racist stereotype of a character – the exact opposite of what would get him nominated for another Academy Award. The unintended irony to all of this is that in real life, Robert Downey Jr. then gets an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for playing Kirk Lazarus playing Lincoln Osiris in Tropic Thunder .

Tom Cruise as Les Grossman

Tropic Thunder is already an unrivaled comedy by those chops alone , but to feature a cameo from Tom Cruise in a role so debauched as Les Grossman is just unbelievably awesome. Cruise has played in comedies before, such as his brief appearance playing Austin Powers in 2002’s Goldmember but never with the same commitment and depth as Tropic Thunder. Never before or since, sadly.

Originally, Cruise was supposed to play Ben Stiller’s agent Rick Peck ( ultimately played by Matthew McConaughey ). Instead, Cruise offered up a new character of his own invention. Wearing a fat suit, a bald cap, enlarged plastic hands, and a whole lot of chest and arm hair, Cruise became Les Grossman, the Studio Executive providing the money behind the movie who is also a raging foul-mouthed ogre. The personality of Grossman and the villainous role he would play in the film was all initiated by Cruise and developed alongside Ben Stiller. This proves that on top of everything else Cruise can do on camera , he can also be an original source of enormous comedy.

Les Grossman could be considered Tom Cruise’s best performance because he essentially erases himself in the character. If one was not told that Les Grossman was played by Tom Cruise, one would have a very hard time recognizing the actor. The mannerisms, the dance moves, the look are all out of the ordinary for a superstar like him, which is why the performance is such a magnificent sight to behold. Grossman is such a unique character it highlights the talent of Tom Cruise to a new degree. The fact that he never played a role like this again is a heavy loss for the greater movie-going public.

Tropic Thunder is a brilliant high watermark for comedy. To quietly contain Tom Cruise’s best performance ranks it even higher on the scales as one of the best movies ever made. Hopefully, after Tom Cruise finishes with the Mission Impossible franchise he launches the Les Grossman Cinematic Executive Universe .

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Revealed: More Details on Tom Cruise's Cameo in 'Tropic Thunder'

The star appears as a studio boss, leading the New York Times to compare him to Sumner Redstone

There’s a surprise coming in Ben Stiller’s next movie, Tropic Thunder : Tom Cruise , as he’s never been seen before.

Rather than play his typical, boyishly charming good guy, Cruise delivers an apparently memorable cameo in which he’s craggy, fat, bald, vulgar, hairy-chested – and playing an ungrateful studio boss, reports The New York Times , which also says that Cruise’s opening line in the movie comedy is enough to guarantee it an R-rating when it opens Aug. 15.

The Times points out that Tropic Thunder is a Paramount Picture: Paradoxically, in August 2006 Cruise was famously fired from Paramount by its parent-company chief Sumner Redstone, despite the star’s having made such big hits for the studio as 1984’s Top Gun and the Mission: Impossible series.

Redstone, of course, is neither fat nor bald, but he is a studio boss. Besides, only last week the Wall Street Journal reported that he had a very public lunch with Cruise at the Beverly Hills Hotel Polo Lounge – a venue chosen by Cruise so Hollywood could see that the two were talking again, peacefully.

Though neither would tell the Journal what they talked about, Redstone said the two “agreed the past is the past and we would put it behind us and renew our relationship.”

Controversial Characters

Now comes Stiller’s movie, about out-of-control actors making a Vietnam movie and ending up in a real war. Besides Cruise and Stiller, it also stars Robert Downey Jr. (in controversial blackface), Jack Black, Nick Nolte and Matthew McConaughey , who replaced Owen Wilson after Wilson withdrew due to personal reasons , though it’s been reported that Wilson will also appear in a cameo role.

Cruise will not be listed in the credits or marketing materials for the movie. His photo in the fat suit also will not be made public, though there was an Internet leak of it last fall, prompting Cruise’s spokespeople to say, Britain’s Channel 4 News reported on Wednesday: “Mr. Cruise’s appearance was supposed to be a surprise for his fans worldwide. [Paparazzi] have ruined what should have been a fun discovery for moviegoers.” (The photo agency involved has reportedly removed the pictures from circulation.)

Preview Reaction

Reaction to Cruise’s scene when Stiller previewed Tropic Thunder on the Paramount lot to an audience of industry insiders on Tuesday was described as rapturous. (Likewise, for Downey’s turn.) Reps for Cruise, Stiller and Paramount all declined the Times ‘s request for comment.

But as Stiller reportedly told the crowd gathered to see the movie, which is still in rough cut, “If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them directly on the Internet.”

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Why Tom Cruise Demanded Dancing And Fat Fingers For Tropic Thunder

Who could forget Tom Cruise 's legendary performance as Les Grossman in 2008's Tropic Thunder ? Not only did he invent the character , but he also almost got an entire movie centering around that character. How cool would that have been? It's no wonder Grossman ranks among Cruise's best characters ever . Cruise's genius, coupled with his innate ability to feel out characters before they're even fully fleshed out, helped turn Grossman into the phenomenon he is now.

Speaking to popular late-night host Conan O'Brien during “ ConanCon ,” Tom Cruise explained how the now-famous character came to be. After Conan showed a clip of Cruise's dance performance from the film's end credits, Cruise said that learning to dance and learning comedy were among many things he wanted to perfect. In his words:

I take classes all the time to learn things or I want to improve a skill… singing, music, something I’m studying. I take dance classes and I took hip-hop classes and then I’ll find a character to put that with.

Because Tom Cruise created one of Tropic Thunder 's best characters, he demanded that his input be put in to the finished product, and he was willing to learn whatever it took to get the job done. It was, and it was glorious. Les Grossman proved so popular and so in-demand that Cruise agreed to bring him to the MTV Movie Awards back in 2010. It's amazing what hilarious mid-credits dancing can do for your career.

After that earlier tidbit, Tom Cruise circled back to Les Grossman and said what everyone in the room (and probably on the planet) wanted to hear:

I said, ‘Look, I’d love to play this character, but I want to have fat hands and I’m gonna dance.'

Man, he's good. I mean, c'mon. Who doesn't love sausage fingers and a proclivity for outrageously bad dancing? The guy has a good eye for what the audience wants, and boy, does he deliver. I'd love to see more of him if the franchise is ever revisited. Here's to hoping it is!

In the last five or so years, Cruise has taken on more serious, more action-heavy roles, some of his more recent ones being Doug Liman 's American Made and the fourth, fifth, and sixth installments in the wildly popular Mission: Impossible franchise. He has always had remarkable range as an actor, a fact that his various film roles clearly reflect.

If you're itching for a new Tom Cruise performance, you can catch him in Top Gun: Maverick when it hits theaters in June 2020. Or, you know, you could just watch him in Tropic Thunder or any of the Mission: Impossible movies for the millionth time. It really doesn't ever get old and it satisfies two very different moods.

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Tom Cruise, in Bit Role, Nips Studio’s Top Gun

By Michael Cieply

• April 3, 2008

LOS ANGELES — Take that, Sumner Redstone.

At an industry screening Tuesday night of the forthcoming comedy “Tropic Thunder” from Paramount Pictures and its unit DreamWorks, Tom Cruise brought down the house with his surprise portrayal of a bald, hairy-chested, foulmouthed, dirty-dancing movie mogul of the kind who is only too happy to throw an actor to the wolves when his popularity cools.

The several hundred Hollywood agents, managers, publicists and reporters at the screening on the Paramount lot here couldn’t have missed the joke. In August 2006 Mr. Cruise — after spending many years at Paramount and appearing in some of its biggest hits, including “Top Gun” and the “Mission: Impossible” series — was sent packing by Mr. Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, the studio’s parent.

Two years later Mr. Cruise is back in a Paramount movie, playing a craggy ingrate in what is shaping up as one of the studio’s best prospects for the summer. The movie, a raunchfest directed by Ben Stiller, about a bunch of actors whose jungle war movie turns unexpectedly real, also stars Mr. Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey and Nick Nolte.

The humor may have been heightened by knowledge that Mr. Cruise and Mr. Redstone only last week kissed and made up over a very public lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Mr. Cruise, 45, has been a hunk (“Cocktail”), a heartthrob (“Far and Away”), an action hero (“Minority Report”) and a series of extraordinary ordinary guys (from “Taps” to “War of the Worlds”). He has also done some comic scenes. In 2002, for instance, there was a bit as Austin Powers, in “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”

But nothing on his résumé predicted the rapturous reaction he received Tuesday night. (Only a turn by Mr. Downey — who plays most of the movie in blackface, as a present-day white Australian trying to get inside the head of an African-American grunt during the Vietnam War — received as warm a reaction.)

Mr. Stiller, speaking before the screening, said he expected the movie to be rated R. The first few words out of Mr. Cruise’s mouth would guarantee that. As for his dance, that will be best described by the critics.

Representatives of Mr. Cruise, Mr. Stiller and Paramount declined on Wednesday to discuss the role.

Mr. Cruise’s latest appearance comes on the heels of a flop, “Lions for Lambs,” which was released by United Artists, a studio he now oversees with his longtime associate Paula Wagner. And the comedy’s August release will precede Mr. Cruise’s performance in “Valkyrie,” a fall film from United Artists, in which he plays a German officer who tries to assassinate Hitler.

Mr. Stiller, who played Mr. Cruise’s obsessive stunt double in a popular Web video (and who is expected to co-star with him in “Hardy Men”), first talked with Mr. Cruise, his friend, about taking a role more than a year ago, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with the film’s promotion. Mr. Cruise chose the studio chief’s role, and went through four days of makeup tests in order to get it right.

The director had planned to keep Mr. Cruise’s uncredited performance a surprise. The studio has not included Mr. Cruise in the movie’s trailer and has declined to release any images of his character. But a photo of a mostly bald Mr. Cruise donning a fat suit popped up on the Web late last year.

In any case, the performance is likely to draw attention, since Paramount is weighing a plan in which it would build buzz with extensive screenings of “Tropic Thunder” before its Aug. 15 release, much as 20th Century Fox did in 2006 with “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” At Tuesday’s screening Mr. Stiller told attendees that his new film was still in rough form. “If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them directly on the Internet,” he said.

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How Tom Cruise clawed his way back to the top with the weirdest character of his career

Tom cruise was battling professional and personal setbacks in the mid-2000s, when he conceived, from scratch, the character that would take his career to the next level..

Tom Cruise’s stardom , which he has sustained for over four extraordinary decades, was further cemented some weeks ago with the release of Top Gun: Maverick. The film proved that Cruise is still a big draw at the box office, especially when he’s playing iconic characters in large-scale spectacles. Maverick has since become the year’s biggest hit, grossing over $1 billion worldwide and setting the stage for the next two years in Cruise’s career, with back-to-back Mission: Impossible films up for release.

From the outside, it might look like things have never been this good for Cruise, at least professionally speaking. But this is a position that he has had to claw his way towards. It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Cruise, but thanks to a carefully crafted last decade–both professionally and personally–the actor has managed to hit greater heights than probably any 60-year-old star ever.

On his birthday today, here’s looking back at the exact moment thing started turning around for him. In the mid-2000s, Cruise experienced the worst PR crisis of his life. His antics on Oprah’s couch made him the butt of all jokes before social media was even a thing. It was around the same time that Cruise said publicly that Brooke Shields’ use of antidepressants to battle postpartum depression was ‘irresponsible’. And then there was the leaked video in which he spoke passionately (and to regular folks, rather menacingly) about Scientology. His affliation with the Church of Scientology seemed to be the bedrock for virtually every controversy he found himself involved in, and certainly, this is something that has always proven to be a thorn in his side.

In desperate need of a career reinvention and after two full years without a proper hit–the third Mission: Impossible underperformed–Cruise bounced back with a role that would not only recontextualise him in popular culture as someone who was willing to poke fun at himself, but also an actor first and a star second. In 2008, Cruise appeared in a surprise extended cameo in director Ben Stiller’s war/film industry satire Tropic Thunder . He played the fat, balding studio head Les Grossman (a character that may or may not have been modelled after Harvey Weinstein) and earned himself a place in the audience’s good books, and also a nomination at the Golden Globes.

The idea of Grossman, who pops in regularly to scream obscenities at people on the phone and dance to pop music while sipping soda, was entirely Cruise’s, Stiller told Esquire some years ago. “That part did not exist. He said, ‘Well, there’s no studio executive and that would be really fun to be that guy. And he had this whole idea of what the guy should look like. It was his idea to dance. And I remember when we did a makeup test, someone handed him a Diet Coke and then he just started moving,” he said.

Cruise had said something similar a couple of years before that. “I read the script, and he had all of the characters, but the studio wasn’t there,” he told BBC Radio 1 in 2017. “There was a structural compression missing down on those characters, you know, that keeps the pressure on these guys that really drives the story. I was like, ‘You need the studio.’ So he came back, like a few weeks later, and I started reading. I read this character and I went, ‘Okay.’ I said, ‘This is fun,’ I said, ‘Do you mind Ben? I want to play this character. I said, ‘I want to have fat hands, and I’m gonna dance.’ And he looked at me, he was like, ‘What?’ …”

Cruise continued, “He said, ‘Look, are you sure you can’t just be you? Like, look like you and do it?’ I said, ‘No, no, no man, I’m sorry, I don’t know how else to play this character.’ So then I did the makeup test, we’ve tested the fat hands, you know, and the whole look, and so we’re doing the wardrobe and there was no music playing … I said, ‘Look, let me just—I wanna do some moves for you…’ He just called me, and it was—he was laughing… He picked the music out, he edited this thing together, he was just pissing himself.”

Of course, it’s unlikely that Grossman could exist in a movie today. The character hasn’t aged particularly well. And neither has the movie. Even then, Tropic Thunder (despite being a hit that made nearly $200 million worldwide and scored Robert Downey Jr an Oscar nod, further his own career comeback) had attracted criticism for its treatment of mental illness and its use of Blackface. But despite everything, there still seems to be an appetite for the character–something that mirrors Cruise’s own career, which has thrived in spite of his connections with Scientology, and his famously demanding nature on set.

Cruise reprised the character at the MTV Movie Awards in 2020, which was followed by the news of a Les Grossman spinoff being put into production with Cruise returning.

Click for more updates and latest Hollywood News along with Bollywood and Entertainment updates . Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the World at The Indian Express .

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Tom Cruise's Best Tropic Thunder Scene Required One Person's Permission

"Tropic Thunder" features Tom Cruise, Hollywood's last great action star , in the surprisingly goofy role of studio exec Les Grossman. One of the best scenes in "Tropic Thunder" is in the film's closing moments, when Grossman is seen grooving and dancing to Ludacris' "Get Back" -- a hilarious and fitting track to wrap up such a chaotic, action-packed film. Ludacris himself approved the use of his 2004 track after director and co-writer Ben Stiller privately screened the film for him. "Not only did he seek approval, respectfully, he invited us to watch the movie before it came out and it was literally just me, him and my management and we watched the whole movie," Ludacris told Sean Evans while appearing on  "Hot Ones."  

"Just to see at the end for [Stiller] to ask me, 'Is it OK to clear this?' And I was like, 'Absolutely,'" the "Fast and Furious" star said, adding that he was thrilled to have received the opportunity to watch the film in advance as he was a fan of Stiller's work. "Tropic Thunder" went on to become box office gold in 2008, grossing over $191 million worldwide. Robert Downey Jr. also notably received a best supporting actor nod at the Oscars for starring in the comedy. 

Beyond box office glory and awards clout, "Tropic Thunder" stands out as one the most interesting films in Cruise's filmography, a rare comedic offering for the superstar who is most well-known for his action films and death-defying stunts. 

Read more: Improvised Lines That Changed Roles Forever

Tom Cruise Came Up With The Role Of Les Grossman

A parody of Hollywood bigwigs, Cruise's Les Grossman stands out as a sleazy, conniving, temperamental foil to the film's main roster, which includes Ben Stiller and Matthew McConaughey. To bring Grossman to life, Cruise wore a fatsuit and a bald cap, resulting in a jarring look. Known for having considerable creative input on the projects he works on, Cruise himself is responsible for Grossman's appearance in "Tropic Thunder." 

While speaking with Esquire , Stiller explained Cruise thought that a studio exec should serve as an antagonist in the film. "That part did not exist. [Cruise] said, 'Well, there's no studio executive and that would be really fun to be that guy.' And he had this whole idea of what the guy should look like," Stiller said, before adding that it was the actor's idea to have Grossman dance. "And I remember when we did a makeup test, someone handed him a Diet Coke and then he just started moving," the director added. 

The character has proven to be so popular that Cruise is expected to return as Grossman in a brand new project , though concrete details haven't materialized. While we never got to see "Tropic Thunder 2,"  the flick is immortalized as one of the best comedies from the 2000s -- thanks in part to Cruise's wicked dance moves. 

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The Truth About Tom Cruise’s Hair: Is He Bald or Not?

Tom Cruise is undoubtedly one of the most iconic actors in Hollywood, known for his charismatic performances and handsome looks.

However, over the years, there have been numerous speculations and rumors about whether the superstar is bald or not. In this article, we will delve into the truth about Tom Cruise’s hair, separating fact from fiction while exploring the various stages of his hair journey.

Table of Contents

Tom cruise’s hair evolution.

Tom Cruise’s hair has been a topic of fascination for many, with fans and critics alike scrutinizing every change in his hairstyle. To understand the full story, we need to take a closer look at the different phases of Tom Cruise’s hair evolution.

Young and Luscious Locks

In the early days of his career, Tom Cruise sported a head of thick, luscious locks that made him a heartthrob in Hollywood. Whether he was playing Maverick in “Top Gun” or dancing in his underwear in “Risky Business,” his hair was an integral part of his on-screen appeal.

Read Also: Is Roger Federer balding?

Thinning Hairline

As the years went by, keen observers noted a receding hairline, which led to widespread speculation that he might be experiencing hair loss. While it’s true that his hairline receded, Tom Cruise never reached the point of full baldness.

Hair Restoration Rumors

Rumors about hair restoration treatments and surgeries have circulated in the media. Some sources have suggested that Cruise might have turned to these procedures to maintain his youthful appearance. However, he has never openly confirmed or denied these claims.

A glimpse at a bald Tom Cruise

In 2008, audiences were in for a shock when Tom Cruise made a jaw-dropping transformation for his role as Les Grossman in the comedy film “Tropic Thunder.”

This character was far from the suave and charming leading men he was known for. Les Grossman was a brash, vulgar, and rotund movie executive with a penchant for shouting, dancing, and flaunting his chest hair.

To fully embrace this character, Tom Cruise took on a drastic change in appearance, shaving his head completely bald. The sight of Cruise as Les Grossman, bald and unrecognizable, was a revelation for many fans.

Read Also: Is Alex Youmazzo bald?

This transformation was not only a testament to his dedication to his craft but also a clear indication that he was willing to do whatever it took to bring a character to life.

Cruise’s portrayal of Les Grossman earned him critical acclaim, showcasing his versatility as an actor and his willingness to go to great lengths to make a role memorable. While he may have been bald for this role, it was a deliberate choice for the character, and it didn’t reflect his natural hair state.

It served as a reminder that, despite the occasional on-screen transformation, he has never actually been bald in real life, maintaining his status as a Hollywood icon with or without hair.

Tom Cruise’s Dental Issues

One of Cruise’s trademarks is his dazzling white smile. However, he wasn’t born with this pearly smile. In his early career, keen-eyed fans noticed that Tom Cruise had a less-than-perfect set of teeth.

Specifically, he had misaligned teeth with a noticeable front tooth misalignment. This imperfection, however, didn’t deter his rise to stardom, as his charisma and talent shone through.

Tom Cruise underwent several dental procedures: teeth alignment and teeth whitening. Apparently, this wasn’t enough, as the devout member of the Church of Scientology has since had dental veneers fitted.

Porcelain veneers are the ideal solution for a radiant smile. They are placed to mask discoloration and whiten teeth. This cosmetic dentistry procedure creates a lifelike tooth appearance and a Hollywood smile.

Read Also: Is Henry Cavill balding?

While Tom Cruise’s hair has changed over the years, it’s essential to clarify that he is not bald. His hairline may have receded, but he has never lost any noticeable amount of his hair .

As with many Hollywood actors, Cruise has likely utilized various grooming techniques and possibly even minor hair restoration procedures to maintain his appearance.

In conclusion, the rumors of Tom Cruise being bald are not accurate. While his hair may not be as thick as it once was, he still has a head full of hair. The actor continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his incredible talent and timeless charm, making his hair a secondary concern to his exceptional career.

So, the next time you hear someone wonder if Tom Cruise is bald, you can confidently say that he is not and that he continues to shine as one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars.

Read Also: 12 bald but classy celebrities

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15 years ago, Tom Cruise revived his career with an uncredited role in Tropic Thunder

After a string of controversies and a split from longtime studio paramount, cruise was slipping out of favour with hollywood. that was, until he suggested the character of a diet coke-guzzling terror of a movie producer for his friend ben stiller’s new film, article bookmarked.

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Fifteen years ago, Tom Cruise took on a role that has since been credited for reviving his career. Now, with the latest Mission: Impossible film just released and Cruise enjoying his time as one of the top 10 highest-grossing lead actors of all time, it’s hard to imagine. But back then, he was falling out of favour due to a spate of controversial public behaviour.

In 2006, Cruise was a PR nightmare dominating headlines for all the wrong reasons. The previous year, he’d caused uproar with his notorious couch-jumping stunt during an interview with Oprah. He was supposed to be promoting Steven Spielberg ’s movie War of the Worlds , but instead decided to declare his love for fellow actor Katie Holmes , in the most over-enthusiastic manner possible.

The clip was viewed millions of times around the world thanks to a new website called YouTube, sparking a reported feud with Spielberg, who apparently believed that Cruise’s behaviour had damaged War of the Worlds ’ success at the box office. (Cruise would later tell Oprah in a 2015 interview that the moment was “real” for him and he was unsure if he’d take it back.)

That same year, Cruise was heavily criticised for his remarks about Brooke Shields, where he accused her of spreading “irresponsible misinformation” about antidepressants. Shields, who struggled with conception, revealed in her book Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, that she’d taken medication to help treat her condition.

In a heated discussion on The Today Show, Cruise told then-host Matt Lauer that Shields “didn’t understand the history of psychiatry”, and went so far as to brand her “dangerous”. Shields then wrote a New York Times op-ed, in which she suggested Cruise “stick to fighting aliens”. He was also criticised by medical experts who warned that he risked increasing the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Shields said that Cruise apologised for his remarks in person, and that she’d been impressed by his apology, during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “He apologised for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened,” she said.

“And through it all, I was so impressed with how heartfelt it was. And I didn't feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it.”

By 2006, Cruise was rapidly falling out of favour with Hollywood, even as he was ranked as the world’s most powerful celebrity by Forbes . His influence and box-office success were indisputable, of course, but industry figures – and the public – appeared to be growing tired of his highly publicised antics.

Evidence of this emerged when Paramount Studios cut ties with Cruise after a 14-year relationship, and Sumner Redstone, then-chairman of the studio’s parent company, Viacom, cited the actor’s public behaviour as one of the reasons behind the decision.

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“It’s nothing to do with his acting ability, he’s a terrific actor,” Redstone said at the time. “But we don’t think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot.”

This shocking upset, which landed after years of success since Cruise first starred in Top Gun in 1986, caused many Hollywood critics to wonder if this was the end of his career. That was, until 2008, when Cruise showed up in a cameo role in his friend Ben Stiller ’s box office hit, Tropic Thunder – about a cast of prima donna actors shooting a movie in Vietnam – as the balding, Diet Coke-guzzling, expletive-uttering movie executive Les Grossman.

Opening up about Cruise’s role in an Esquire interview, director Stiller revealed that it was actually his friend’s idea to play Les. “Tom Cruise had the idea to play Les Grossman in the movie,” Stiller says. “That part did not exist. He said, ‘Well, there’s no studio executive and that would be really fun to be that guy.’ And he had this whole idea of what the guy should look like. It was his idea to dance. And I remember when we did a makeup test, someone handed him a Diet Coke and then he just started moving.”

Cruise certainly committed to the role. In a 2019 interview with Conan O’Brien, he recalled that his two stipulations for the role were that he wanted “fat hands”, and he wanted to dance. Wearing a fat suit, prosthetic hands and a bald cap, he was virtually unrecognisable as the suave Hollywood star the world knew, dancing to Ludacris’s “Get Back” one moment, screaming at a film crew the next (OK, the latter sounds more familiar after his notorious Mission Impossible diatribe in 2020 ). For many watching Tropic Thunder at the cinema, it wasn’t apparent that Cruise was behind the character until the end credits began to roll.

The film itself was controversial, not least for Robert Downey Jr’s performance, which involved wearing blackface to play method-loving Australian actor, Kirk Lazarus. Cruise’s character was also scrutinised: the New York Times noted how Grossman was “heavily and heavy-handedly coded as Jewish…the character is murderous, repellent and fascinating, a grotesque from his swollen fingers to the heavy gold dollar sign nestled on his yeti-furred chest”.

Yet audiences adored Cruise in the movie, and in the years since, his performance in Tropic Thunde r has been widely credited for “resurrecting” his career, along with proving he could do comedy, as well as action. Since then, fans have been begging Cruise to reprise the role, and it seems they might actually get their wish. Last year, in a Deadline report about him and his regular collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, it was claimed that the duo are “fixated” on the character of Les Grossman, and are working out how best to bring him back.

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