Ranker Spotlight: Tom Cruise

At long last, after an exhausting three-year wait due to additional filming and pandemic-related production delays, Top Gun: Maverick is finally soaring into theaters, with Tom Cruise reprising the role that made him a bona fide star. Sure, he turned heads with Risky Business, but it was his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun that solidified him as one of the hottest leading men in Hollywood. Not only was the film No. 1 at the box office when it debuted, but it also went on to become the highest-grossing movie of 1986, raking in a domestic total of $176.8 million — a hefty haul back in those days. 

 Cruise isn’t usually one to circle back to his past, but in recent years, he’s changed his mind about doing sequels. The A-lister told Entertainment Tonight in a May 2021 interview that his role as Ethan Hunt in the original Mission: Impossible warmed him up to the idea of follow-up films. Although Cruise has starred in a total of six Mission: Impossible movies to date, with a seventh and eighth on the way, Top Gun: Maverick stands apart from the rest because it’s the first sequel that’s put him back into the shoes (and cockpit) of one of his most recognizable characters from his fledgling actor years. 

 With Maverick making his long-awaited return to movie theaters, we decided to take a look at how well Cruise ranks on some of our biggest movie polls. Thanks to his roles in nostalgia-inducing blockbusters going back to the 1980s, as well as a few Oscar-nominated performances, there’s no denying that the Ranker audience sees Cruise as Hollywood royalty, placing him high on several lists ranking the most famous actors in the world.

How Tom Cruise Ranks on Ranker

From Rain Man, A Few Good Men, Born on the Fourth of July, and Interview with the Vampire, to more recent fan favorites like Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Jack Reacher, Cruise’s robust resume of critically acclaimed hits spans a whopping four decades, and the actor has not shown any signs of stopping. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that he lands at the #11 spot on our Most Famous Actors In The World Right Now list (388K votes), trailing not too far behind Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Reynolds, and Will Smith, but ahead of Morgan Freeman, Chris Evans, and Keanu Reeves. 

Likely due to the buzz surrounding this summer’s long-awaited Top Gun and Mission: Impossible sequels, Cruise nabbed an even higher spot on our more recent Best Actors Of 2022 list (18K votes). He lands at #4 just behind Oscar Isaac, Jake Gyllenhaal, and John David Washington — not too shabby for a leading man who’s been around far longer than the younger actors ahead of him. While it’s clear that Cruise is no longer the top-of-the-top superstar he was in his heyday, these results indicate he’s far from losing touch with modern film audiences. That finding is supported by his position on our Who Is The Most Famous Tom/Thomas In The World list (7K votes). Not too long ago, only he and Tom Hanks would have been in real competition for the title, but as it stands today, Cruise is at #5 behind Harry Potter star Tom Felton and MCU icons Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki).

 Speaking of Marvel, Cruise has, thus far, strayed from big superhero movies. But had the great Robert Downey Jr. not been casted as Iron Man, who else should’ve played him? It seems our audience thinks Cruise would’ve been a fine fit to play the surly billionaire superhero. Cruise took the #3 spot on our Who Would Play Iron Man in the 90s? list (2K votes), losing out to Tom Hanks and his Interview with the Vampire co-star Brad Pitt.

What Do Cruise’s Fans Love?

Hundreds of thousands of votes have been cast for Tom Cruise on some of Ranker’s most popular lists. What and who else do those fans vote for? Ranker Insights can tell us more about the likes and dislikes of Tom’s biggest fans.

Other Actors

An abundance of new action-movie franchises in the 1980s filled the decade with muscly leading men and heroic heartthrobs. So when it comes to the celebrities, Cruise fans gravitate toward macho types who rose to fame during the Reagan years. Cruise fans are 5X more likely to vote up the Terminator-turned-Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger; Rambo star Sylvester Stallone; and Mel Gibson, best known in his early years as officer Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon franchise. Not too far behind are other ’80’s action stars like Die Hard leading man Bruce Willis and the Beverly Hills Cop himself, Eddie Murphy — two male stars Cruise fans are 4X more likely to favor. 

Movies

Cruise fans love them some Ethan Hunt. According to Ranker Insights data, the Mission: Impossible franchise scores the highest of all of his movies, with the original taking the top spot. Fans are 6X more likely to vote for the original Mission: Impossible that started it all. The runner-up is 2018’s Mission: Impossible - Fallout (the sixth in the series), a film that fans are 5X more likely to love. The first non-Mission: Impossible title to rank high is Jerry Maguire, a movie beloved both by film fans and the Academy — the performance earned Cruise his second best actor nomination. Jerry Maguire, followed by Edge of Tomorrow, Risky Business, and Top Gun, are all movies Cruise fans are 4X more likely to love. 

Music

Judging from their taste in music, it seems Cruise’s fans have been loyal to him ever since his breakout role in Risky Business. Artists like UB40 and ABC are more likely to be beloved by Cruise fans than all others, as they’re 5X more likely to vote for them. Then there’s Adam Ant, Toni Basil, Soft Cell, and Dead or Alive — more chart-topping ’80s acts that Cruise fans are 4X more likely to love. Not too far down the list is Kenny Loggins (an artist fans are 3X likely to love), who just so happened to perform one of the biggest hits from the Top Gun soundtrack, “Danger Zone.” Another massive hit on the Top Gun soundtrack was “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin, an artist Cruise fans are 2X likely to vote for. 

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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