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Tom Cruise, Hollywood’s last great star: The actor’s style and successes in 27 images

Finally awarded the Oscar that eluded him, we look back at the life of a performer born for blockbuster cinema

Nov 21, 2025 - 11:45CET

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Tom Cruise has finally won an Oscar after being nominated four times and losing each time. With this recognition, Hollywood honors not just an actor, but the last representative of a breed: the star-performer who managed to survive the rise of superheroes, the age of disenchantment, and the reign of the algorithm without losing shape or charisma. Cruise embodies an intense, meticulously crafted masculinity shaped through discipline and risk. In the image: Tom Cruise in 1981.Michael Ochs Archives (Getty Images)

His Oscar, more than just an award, serves as confirmation that his dedication to show business not only built a popular icon but also created a language of its own within mainstream cinema. Over the years, as we’ve watched him take on a variety of roles on the big screen, Cruise has left us a series of images which we now revisit as a retrospective of his career and distinctive style. In this one, George C. Scott and a young Tom Cruise pose at the premiere of 'Taps' (1981). It was one of the actor’s earliest films.TPLP (Getty Images)

Tom Cruise in 1981.Michael Ochs Archives

Heather Locklear, who played the popular Amanda from ‘Melrose Place,’ with Tom Cruise in Los Angeles in 1982.Ron Galella (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)

Tom Cruise in 1983. He was about to become a star thanks to 'Risky Business.'Bob Riha Jr (Getty Images)

Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay in 1983. Together they starred in the actor's first big hit, ‘Risky Business.’Ron Galella (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)

Tom Cruise at the premiere of ‘Risky Business.’ Ron Galella (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)

During the 1980s, Tom Cruise effortlessly established himself as a sex symbol. Here he is at a promotional event for the film 'Endless Love,' wearing a lined denim jacket and a simple sweater.Vinnie Zuffante (Getty Images)

In the 1980s, Cruise would slip on a leather jacket, a henley shirt, and jeans for a night out at the On The Rox club in West Hollywood, California.Barry King (WireImage)

Tom Cruise, with the long hair he grew for 'Legend' (1985), at the premiere of 'The Breakfast Club.'Barry King (WireImage)

Martin Scorsese and Tom Cruise at a press conference to present ‘The Color of Money’ in Los Angeles.Frank Edwards (Getty Images)

Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise at the 1989 Oscars. 'Rain Man' was one of his greatest films and won four Oscars, but none of them went to him.Barry King (WireImage)

Tom Cruise arrives, dressed and styled very '80s and very Los Angeles, at Madonna and Sean Penn's wedding.Barry King (WireImage)

A young Tom Cruise poses in 1986 during the filming of ‘Top Gun’. Already established as a rising star, Cruise gave us one of the most iconic looks of the decade, dressed in a US Air Force uniform.Paramount Pictures (Getty Images)

Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in a scene from ‘The Color of Money’ (1986). Archive Photos (Getty Images)

In the movie ‘Cocktail’ (1988), Tom Cruise showed off his skills as a bartender.Archive Photos (Getty Images)

Tom Cruise and Mimi Rogers in the late 1980s.Vinnie Zuffante (Getty Images)

Tom Cruise y Mimi Rogers en Manhattan.WWD (Penske Media via Getty Images)

Durante los noventas, Tom Cruise se paseaba por todas las premieres de Los Ángeles. Aquí uno de los 'looks' casuales para caminar por la alfombra roja, un jersey tejido y una camisa negra de bajo, sin miedo a las capas. — Tom Cruise attends an event at an unspecified location around the 1990s. Vinnie Zuffante (Getty Images)

At the height of their careers, newlyweds Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman pose together during the promotion of their film 'Far and Away' in Los Angeles, 1992.Vinnie Zuffante (Getty Images)

Tom Cruise and Cher greet each other backstage at an awards ceremony. Although some may have forgotten, they were a couple in the 1980s.Michael Caulfield Archive (WireImage)

With three days' stubble and hair styled in a 2000s-style quiff, Cruise posed in jeans, a white shirt, and a black jacket to promote the film 'Minority Report' in 2002.TORU YAMANAKA (AFP via Getty Images)

At age 50, Cruise maintained his simple, low-risk style. Here, leaving a club in London wearing a blue down jacket, jeans, and lace-up shoes.Sylvia Linares (FilmMagic)

In 2021, Tom Cruise waves to the Wimbledon stands dressed, quite appropriately, in a suit. Clive Brunskill (Getty Images)

Actor Tom Cruise during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on June 6, 2017 -- (Photo by: Andrew Lipovsky/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) — During the promotion of one of the films in the 'Mission Impossible' saga, in an interview with Jimmy Fallon wearing an all-black suit, a personal preference for decades.NBC (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via)

Tom Cruise suspended in the Stade de France in Paris for the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.Pool (Getty Images)

Dressed in a classic suit, Tom Cruise poses with his honorary Oscar during the 16th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Awards. His best accessory: the Oscar.Mario Anzuoni (REUTERS)

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