Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
name	Dane Cook
birth date	March 18, 1972
birth name	Dane Jeffrey Cook
birth place	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
medium	Stand-up, film, television
nationality	American
active	1990–present
genre	Stand-up comedy
religion	Catholic
subject	Observational comedy
influences	George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Denis Leary, Steve Martin
notable work	''Retaliation'', ''Dane Cook: Vicious Circle'', ''Isolated Incident''
website	Official website }}

Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: ''Harmful If Swallowed''; ''Retaliation''; ''Vicious Circle''; ''Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden''; and ''Isolated Incident''. In 2006, ''Retaliation'' became the highest charting comedy album in 28 years and went platinum. He performed an HBO special in the Fall of 2006, ''Vicious Circle'', a straight-to-DVD special titled ''Rough Around The Edges'' (which is included in the album of the same name), and a Comedy Central special in 2009 titled ''Isolated Incident''.

He is credited as one of the first comedians to use a personal webpage and MySpace to build a large fan base and in 2006 was described as "alarmingly popular". As an actor, Cook has appeared in films since 1997, including ''Mystery Men'', ''Waiting...'', ''Employee of the Month'', ''Good Luck Chuck'', ''Dan in Real Life'', ''Mr. Brooks'' (in a non-comedic role), and ''My Best Friend's Girl''.

Personal life

Cook was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the second son of Donna Jean (née Ford) and George F. Cook. Cook has an older half-brother, Darryl, and five sisters. He was raised in a Roman Catholic family in Arlington, Massachusetts, where he attended Arlington High School.

Cook has described himself as being "pretty quiet, pretty introverted, shy" as a child, although he was a "wild child" at home. He overcame his shyness in his junior year of high school when he began acting and doing stand-up comedy. After graduating from high school, he studied graphic design in college as a back-up plan in case he did not achieve success in comedy. He now designs all of his merchandise, including the cover of his album ''Harmful If Swallowed''. Cook has stated that he does not drink or do drugs.

Cook's half-brother Darryl was Cook's business manager until 2008, when it was discovered that Darryl and his wife had embezzled millions of dollars from Dane Cook. Both Darryl and his wife had been sentenced to prison for the embezzlement.

Career

Stand-up

In 1994, Cook moved to New York City and began performing. Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he still lives today. His big break came in 1998 when he appeared on Comedy Central's ''Premium Blend''. In 2000, Cook did a half-hour special on ''Comedy Central Presents''. Since then his special has won the Comedy Central Stand-up showdown twice in a row.

In 2003, Cook released his first CD/DVD, ''Harmful If Swallowed''. He signed a contract with Comedy Central Records. The album is certified platinum. He released his second CD/DVD in 2005, entitled ''Retaliation''. This album went double platinum and made Cook the first comic in 29 years to have an album at #4 on the Billboard charts. He performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, and then afterwards he joined Snoop Dogg (who introduced him) in presenting the award for Best New Artist.

On April 15, 2005, Cook performed his first HBO Special entitled Vicious Circle. ''Vicious Circle'' was filmed "in the round" at the TD Banknorth Garden. The same year, Cook shot two pilot episodes for his own sitcom, ''Cooked''. The sitcom never got picked up and the two pilot episodes were later released on DVD as the Lost Pilot Episodes. That same year, he embarked on a 30-day 20-show college tour called Tourgasm with his long time friends Robert Kelly, Gary Gulman, and Jay Davis. The tour was filmed and was later made into a 9-episode documentary on HBO.

On December 3, 2005, Cook hosted ''Saturday Night Live''. It was one of the highest-rated ''SNL''s of the season". He would then go on to host the premiere of season 32 of SNL a year later. Both episodes were the highest rated of the season.

In 2006, Cook headlined for Dave Attell's Insomniac Tour and hosted the 2006 Teen Choice Awards alongside Jessica Simpson. The following year he won the award for Best Comedian. On November 12, 2007, Cook became the second comic to sell out Madison Square Garden. He did two sold out shows in one night. The show was filmed and would later be put onto a DVD to be sold on Cook's third comedy album. Cook won the Big Entertainer Award at the VH1 Big in '06 Awards, and ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's Hot Comic of the Year. The following day, November 13, 2007, he released his third CD/DVD entitled ''Rough Around The Edges'', which was filmed live at Madison Square Garden in New York City. During that time, he embarked on his first arena tour.

On April 10, 2007, Cook broke The Laugh Factory's endurance record (previously held by Richard Pryor) by performing on stage for 3 hours and 50 minutes. Dave Chappelle would break the record five days later. On January 1, 2008, Cook later broke Chapelle's record, by performing on stage for 7 hours.

From May 23, 2008 to May 25, 2008, Cook reunited with Robert Kelly and Al Del Bene for three shows at The Coliseum in Caesars Palace. From May 29, 2008, to June 4, 2008, the trio went to Iraq to perform for the troops. Del Bene was the Emcee, Kelly was the Feature, and Cook was the Headliner.

He finished his fourth album, "Isolated Incident"; a performance which aired on Comedy Central on May 17, 2009, with the release of the record following two days later. He kicked off that tour at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, on April 25, 2009. This album will be the last as part of Cook's four record deal with Comedy Central Records. The new album was performed at The Laugh Factory in Hollywood, which is considered to be Cook's home base, where he goes and works on new material. He released the DVD version of Isolated Incident in November 2009.

Critique

Cook's style is principally "long-form storytelling" and "multipurpose phrases" with a casual attitude. Cook says his onstage persona is a combination of the personalities of his mom, Donna, and his dad, George. "My mother is like a Looney Tunes cartoon. She's wiggly ... She has the ability to tongue in cheek a lot, and do it in a way where she's being physical. My dad is the polar opposite. He always had a little 'what the fuck' in his voice. Even if he knew nothing about what he was talking about, he could sell it. So I looked at these two extremely funny people and created a style of comedy from absorbing their actions."

He explains:

Commentators in a variety of media sources have characterized Dane Cook's humor as unfunny. Comedian Ron White has criticized Dane Cook for his lack of real material and for his inflated ego; saying "[He] does not make me laugh, at all, in any way, shape or form." When asked about his opinion of Cook on ''The Howard Stern Show'', comedian Nick DiPaolo said "he doesn't make me laugh, but that doesn't mean he's not funny." On Boston radio station WBCN, Dane Cook was named by radio show Toucher and Rich to a tournament of the top 16 "Worst Comedians" and, based on listener voting, was voted the "Worst Comedian" of all. In the ''Michigan Daily'', Elie Zwiebel and co-author Jesse Bean wrote that "he's managed to become one of the most overrated comics ever" and that his act is "boringly stagnant".

Jim Breuer talked about Cook's reputation within the comedy industry, saying: "Everyone kills this guy ... Not one comedian comes on [my Sirius radio show] and says 'I'm so happy for him', which is weird. ... They can't stand this poor guy." Breuer went on to say that he personally thinks Cook is a "tremendous performer".

Accusations of plagiarism

Comedian Joe Rogan has claimed that Cook performed a bit on an episode of ''Premium Blend'' that Rogan had developed on ''I'm Gonna Be Dead Someday'' (sketch titled "Tigers Fucking"), and claimed to have performed the routine earlier in clubs with Cook present. Other comedians have also accused Cook of stealing their material. A 2007 article in ''Radar'' magazine about joke theft included Rogan's allegations, as well as the allegations of an anonymous "veteran comic" who accused Cook of appropriating one of that comic's "very physical routines," despite a direct request by the comedian that Cook stop using the routine in question. The piece also noted widespread Internet discussion of the similarity between the bits "Struck by a Vehicle," "Itchy Asshole," and "My Son Optimus Prime," from Cook's 2005 album ''Retaliation'', and the bits "Guy on a Bike," "Itchy Asshole," and "Kid's Names," from comic Louis C.K.'s 2003 album ''Live in Houston''. Cook played himself in an episode of ''Louie'', scripted by C.K., centering on a fictional encounter between the two comics during which they discuss the controversy.

Film

Cook has had small film roles, but his two most noticeable ones are ''Mystery Men'' as "The Waffler", and opposite Dennis Rodman in 1999's ''Simon Sez.''

In 2006, Cook starred in his first leading role as the slacker box boy Zack Bradley in ''Employee of the Month'', which co-starred Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. Poorly received by critics, the film made a modest $30 million against a $12 million budget. In June 2007, Cook co-starred in his first dramatic role as the devious photographer "Mr. Smith" in ''Mr. Brooks'', which starred Kevin Costner. The film debuted at #4 at the box office. The film grossed $10,017,067 in the opening weekend.

In September 2007, Cook starred as dentist Charlie Logan in ''Good Luck Chuck'', which co-starred Jessica Alba and Dan Fogler. The film was the second-highest grossing film (#1 Comedy) at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, grossing $13.6 million in 2,612 theaters. The film went on to have a total box office tally of approximately $35 million U.S. and $24 million foreign. It was received very poorly by critics. A month later, Cook co-starred as Mitch Burns in ''Dan In Real Life'', which starred Steve Carell. The film grossed $11.8 million in 1,921 theaters its opening weekend, ranking #2 at the box office. As of July 6, 2008, it has grossed $62,745,217. It received moderate to good reviews from critics.

In 2008, Cook starred as air purifier call-center supervisor Tank Turner in ''My Best Friend's Girl'' with Kate Hudson, Jason Biggs, and Alec Baldwin. The film grossed $8.2 million in its opening weekend, debuting at #3 at the box office, but received poor reviews from critics.

In 2010, Cook auditioned for the role of Captain America for ''Captain America: The First Avenger'', although the director, Joe Johnston, did not have him on the short list for the part.

Stage

On November 18, 2010, it was announced that both Cook and Josh Hamilton will be starring in Neil LaBute's 2011 Broadway production of ''Fat Pig''. Production will begin in March 2011.

Tours

Tourgasm 2006 (w/ Robert Kelly, Gary Gulman, Jay Davis)

Rough Around The Edges Tour 2007

Globo Thermo Tour 2009 (w/ Robert Kelly and Al Del Bene) - In a Shave Magazine review of the Globo Thermo tour, Jake Tomlinson expressed that "his live performance quite enjoyable", and gave the concert 4 out of 5 stars.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Peak chart positions					Sales
		! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"
2003	''Harmful If Swallowed''	* Released: July 22, 2003							* US Sales: 1,215,409
2005		* Released: July 26, 2005							* US Sales: 1,264,748
2007	''Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden''	* Released: November 13, 2007							* US Sales: 92,000
2009	''Isolated Incident''	* Released: May 19, 2009							* US Sales: TBA
2010	''I Did My Best: Greatest Hits Album''	* Released: November 22, 2010							* US Sales: TBA

Other releases

2006: ''Dane Cook's Tourgasm'' (3DVD)

2007: ''The Lost Pilots'' (DVD) Sony Pictures Television.

Singles

(2006) ''I'll Never Be You'' - #100 (U.S. Pop), #4 (Germany)

(2007) ''Forward''

(2010) Drunk Girl/Red Car

Cook co-wrote and performed the song "Ruthie Pigface Draper" for the Dan In Real Life film with Norbert Leo Butz.

Filmography

''Spiral'' ''Comedy Central Presents'' ''Late Show with David Letterman ''L.A.X.'' ''Stuck on You (2003 film) ''Mr. 3000'' ''Waiting... (film) ''Employee of the Month (2006 film) ''Farce of the Penguins'' ''My Best Friend's Girl (2008 film) ''Answers to Nothing (film) ''Hawaii Five-0''

Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
rowspan="2"	1997	Flypaper (1997 film)>Flypaper''	Tim
''Buddy (film)	Buddy''	Fair Cop
rowspan="3"	1999	|	David
''Simon Sez''	Nick Miranda
''Mystery Men''	The Waffler
2000	|	Himself	Episode: ''List of Comedy Central Presents episodes>June 28, 2000''
1999–2001	The Late Show'' ||	Himself	Episode: April 12, 1999Episode: March 14, 2001
rowspan="2"	2002	|	Terrell Chasman
''The Touch (2002 film)	The Touch''	Bob
rowspan="3"	2003	Stuck on You'' ||	Officer Fraioli
''8 guys	8 Guys''	Dane
''Windy City Heat''	Roman Polanski
rowspan="2"	2004	|	Sausage Mascot	Voice
''Torque (film)	Torque''	Neal Luff
rowspan="2"	2005	Waiting...'' ||	Floyd
''London (2005 film)	London''	George
	2006	Employee of the Month'' ||	Zack Bradley
rowspan="4"	2007	|	Online Penguin	Voice
''Mr. Brooks''	Mr. Smith
''Good Luck Chuck''	Chuck/Charlie
''Dan in Real Life''	Mitch Burns
	2008	My Best Friend's Girl'' ||	Tank Turner
	2010	Answers to Nothing'' ||	Ryan	Completed
rowspan="2"	2011	|	Matt Williams	Episode: Loa Aloha
	''Louie''	Himself

References

External links

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:People from Arlington, Massachusetts Category:Actors from Massachusetts Category:American Catholics

ar:داين كوك bg:Дейн Кук de:Dane Cook fr:Dane Cook it:Dane Cook he:דיין קוק nl:Dane Cook ja:デイン・クック pl:Dane Cook pt:Dane Cook ru:Кук, Дейн simple:Dane Cook tr:Dane Cook

Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
name	Tom Cruise
birth name
birth date	July 03, 1962
birth place	Syracuse, New York, U.S.
occupation	Actor, producer, writer, director
years active	1981–present
spouse	Mimi Rogers (1987–1990)Nicole Kidman (1990–2001)Katie Holmes (2006–present)
children	Isabella, Connor Cruise and Suri Cruise
website	TomCruise.com }}

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (; born July 3, 1962), better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards.

Cruise first debuted in a major film in Francis Ford Coppola's ''The Outsiders,'' released in March 1983. His first leading role was in the film ''Risky Business'', which was released in August 1983. After playing the role of a heroic naval pilot in the popular and financially successful 1986 film ''Top Gun'', Cruise continued in this vein, playing a secret agent in a series of ''Mission: Impossible'' action films in the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to these heroic roles, he has starred in a variety of other successful films such as ''Rain Man'' (1988), ''Days of Thunder'' (1990), ''A Few Good Men'' (1992), ''Jerry Maguire'' (1996), ''Magnolia'' (1999), ''Vanilla Sky'' (2001), ''Minority Report'' (2002), ''The Last Samurai'' (2003), ''Collateral'' (2004) and ''War of the Worlds'' (2005).

Since 2005, Cruise and Paula Wagner have been in charge of the United Artists film studio, with Cruise as producer and star and Wagner as the chief executive. Cruise is also known for his support of and adherence to the Church of Scientology.

Early life

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of Mary Lee (née Pfeiffer), a special education teacher, and Thomas Cruise Mapother III (died 1984), an electrical engineer. Cruise's surname originates from his great-grandfather, Thomas Cruise O'Mara, who was adopted by a Welsh immigrant and renamed "Thomas Cruise Mapother". Cruise is of German, Irish, and English ancestry. Cruise grew up in near poverty in a Catholic family dominated by an abusive father he described as "a merchant of chaos". He was beaten by his father, who Cruise described as a bully and coward.

Cruise attended Robert Hopkins Public School for grades three, four, and five. The Mapother family then moved to the suburb of Beacon Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario, so Cruise's father could take a position as a defence consultant with the Canadian Armed Forces. There, Cruise completed grade six at Henry Munro Middle School, part of the Carleton Board of Education, where he was active in athletics, playing floor hockey almost every night, showing himself to be a ruthless player, and eventually chipping his front tooth. In the game British bulldogs, he then lost his newly capped tooth and hurt his knee. Henry Munro was also where Cruise became involved in drama, under the tutelage of George Steinburg. The first play he participated in was called ''IT'', in which Cruise won the co-lead with Michael de Waal, one playing "Evil", the other playing "Good". The play met much acclaim, and toured with five other classmates to various schools around the Ottawa area, even being filmed at the local Ottawa TV station. Cruise was bullied regularly in the 15 different schools he attended in 12 years. When Cruise was twelve, his mother left his father, taking Cruise and his sister Lee Anne with her.

He briefly attended a Franciscan seminary in Cincinnati (on a church scholarship) and aspired to become a Catholic priest. In his senior year, he played football for the varsity team as a linebacker, but he was cut from the squad after getting caught drinking beer before a game.

Career

Acting

1980s

Cruise first appeared in supporting roles the 1981 films ''Endless Love'' and ''Taps'', the latter in which he played a crazed military school student. His first starring role was in the 1983 comedy ''Losin' It''. That same year he appeared in ''All the Right Moves'' and ''Risky Business'', which has been described as "A Generation-X classic, and a career-maker for Tom Cruise", and which along with 1986's ''Top Gun'', cemented his status as a star.

Cruise followed up ''Top Gun'' with ''The Color of Money'', which came out the same year, and which paired him with Academy Award-winner Paul Newman. 1988 saw him star in ''Cocktail'', which earned him a nomination for the Razzie Award for Worst Actor. Later that year he starred with Academy Award-winner Dustin Hoffman in ''Rain Man'', which won the Academy Award for Best Film and Cruise the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. Cruise finished the decade by portraying real-life paralyzed Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic in 1989's ''Born on the Fourth of July'', which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor, the People's Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture Actor, a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Cruise's first Best Actor Academy Award nomination.

1990s

In 1994, Cruise starred along with Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater in Neil Jordan's ''Interview with the Vampire'', a gothic drama/horror film that was based on Anne Rice's best-selling novel. The film was well received, although Rice was initially quite outspoken in her criticism of Cruise having been cast in the film, as Julian Sands was her first choice. Upon seeing the film however, she paid $7,740 for a two-page ad in ''Daily Variety'' praising his performance and apologizing for her previous doubts about him.

In 1995, Cruise appeared as superspy Ethan Hunt in the reboot of ''Mission: Impossible,'' which he produced. In 1996, he took on the title role in ''Jerry Maguire'', for which he earned a Golden Globe and his second nomination for an Academy Award. In 1999, Cruise costarred with wife Nicole Kidman in the erotic Stanley Kubrick film ''Eyes Wide Shut'', and played motivational speaker Frank T.J. Mackey in the ensemble film ''Magnolia'', for which he received another Golden Globe and nomination for an Academy Award.

2000s

In 2000, Cruise returned as Ethan Hunt in the second installment of the ''Mission Impossible'' films, releasing ''Mission: Impossible II''. The film was directed by Hong Kong director John Woo and branded with his gun fu style, and it continued the series' blockbuster success at the box office, taking in almost $547M in worldwide figures, like its predecessor, being the third highest grossing film of the year. Cruise received an MTV Movie Award as Best Male Performance for this film. His next five films were major critical and commercial successes. The following year Cruise starred in the romantic thriller ''Vanilla Sky'' (2001) with Cameron Diaz and Penélope Cruz. In 2002, Cruise starred in the dystopian science fiction thriller, ''Minority Report'' which was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick.

In 2003, he starred in the Edward Zwick's historical drama ''The Last Samurai'', for which he received a Golden Globe nomination as best actor. In 2005, Cruise worked again with Steven Spielberg in ''War of the Worlds'', which became the fourth highest grossing film of the year with US$591.4 million worldwide. Also in 2005, he won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star, and the MTV Generation Award. Cruise was nominated for seven Saturn Awards between 2002 and 2009, winning once. Nine of the ten films he starred in during the decade made over $100 million at the box office. In 2006, he reprised his role as Ethan Hunt in the third installment of the ''Mission Impossible'' film series, ''Mission: Impossible III''. The film was more positively received by critics than its predecessor, and grossed nearly $400 million at the box office. Cruise's 2007 film ''Lions for Lambs'' was a rare commercial disappointment. In 2008, Cruise appeared in the hit comedy ''Tropic Thunder'' with Ben Stiller and Jack Black. This performance earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. Cruise's role in the historical thriller ''Valkyrie'' released on December 25, 2008 to box office success. As of 2009, Cruise's films have grossed over $6.5 billion worldwide.

2010s

In March 2010, Cruise completed filming the action-comedy ''Knight and Day'', in which he re-teamed with former costar Cameron Diaz; the film was released on June 23, 2010. On February 9, 2010, Cruise confirmed that he will star in ''Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'' the fourth ''Mission:Impossible'' film, slated for release in December 2011.

On May 6, 2011, Cruise was awarded a humanitarian award from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Museum of Tolerance for his work as a dedicated philanthropist.

Producing

Cruise partnered with his former talent agent Paula Wagner to form Cruise/Wagner Productions in 1993, and the company has since co-produced several of Cruise's films, the first being ''Mission: Impossible'' in 1996 which was also Cruise's first project as a producer.

Cruise is noted as having negotiated some of the most lucrative film deals in Hollywood, and was described in 2005 by Hollywood economist Edward Jay Epstein as "one of the most powerful – and richest – forces in Hollywood". Epstein argues that Cruise is one of the few producers (the others being George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer) who are regarded as able to guarantee the success of a billion-dollar film franchise. Epstein also contends that the public obsession with Cruise's tabloid controversies obscures full appreciation of Cruise's exceptional commercial prowess.

Cruise/Wagner Productions, Cruise's film production company, is said to be developing a screenplay based on Erik Larson's ''New York Times'' bestseller, ''The Devil in the White City'' about a real life serial killer, H. H. Holmes, at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition. Kathryn Bigelow is attached to the project to produce and helm. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is also developing a film about Holmes and the World's Fair, in which DiCaprio will star.

Breakup with Paramount

On August 22, 2006, Paramount Pictures announced it was ending its 14-year relationship with Cruise. In the ''Wall Street Journal'', chairman of Viacom (Paramount's parent company) Sumner Redstone cited the economic damage to Cruise's value as an actor and producer from his controversial public behavior and views. Cruise/Wagner Productions responded that Paramount's announcement was a face-saving move after the production company had successfully sought alternative financing from private equity firms. Industry analysts such as Edward Jay Epstein commented that the real reason for the split was most likely Paramount's discontent over Cruise/Wagner's exceptionally large share of DVD sales from the ''Mission: Impossible'' franchise.

Management of United Artists

In November 2006, Cruise and Paula Wagner announced that they had taken over United Artists film studio. Cruise acts as a producer and star in films for United Artists, while Wagner serves as UA's chief executive. Production began in 2007 of ''Valkyrie'', a thriller based on the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler. The film was acquired in March 2007 by United Artists. On March 21, 2007 Cruise signed on to play Claus von Stauffenberg, the protagonist. This project marks the second production to be greenlighted since Cruise and Wagner took control of United Artists. The first was its inaugural film, ''Lions for Lambs'', directed by Robert Redford and starring Redford, Meryl Streep and Cruise. ''Lambs'' was released on November 9, 2007, opening to unimpressive box office revenue and critical reception. In August 2008, Wagner stepped down from her position at United Artists; she retains her stake in UA, which combined with Cruise's share amounts to 30 percent of the studio.

Relationships and personal life

Cruise had a relationship with his ''Risky Business'' co-star Rebecca De Mornay; they cohabited in New York from 1983–85.

Cruise married actress Mimi Rogers on May 9, 1987; they divorced on February 4, 1990. Rogers is generally believed to have introduced Cruise to Scientology. He met his second wife, Nicole Kidman, on the set of their film ''Days of Thunder''. The couple married on December 24, 1990. He and Kidman adopted two children, Isabella Jane (born December 1992) and Connor Antony (born January 1995). They separated in February 2001 when Kidman was three months pregnant; she later miscarried.

Cruise was next romantically linked with Penélope Cruz, his co-star in ''Vanilla Sky''. That relationship ended in 2004. In April 2005, Cruise began dating actress Katie Holmes. On April 27 that year, Cruise and Holmes, dubbed "TomKat" by the media, made their first public appearance together in Rome. A month later, Cruise declared his love for Holmes on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' famously jumping up and down on Winfrey's couch during the show. On October 6, 2005, Cruise and Holmes announced they were expecting a child, and their daughter, Suri, was born in April 2006. On November 18, 2006, Holmes and Cruise were married at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy, in a Scientology ceremony attended by many Hollywood stars. The actors' publicist said the couple had "officialized" their marriage in Los Angeles the day before the Italian ceremony. David Miscavige served as Cruise's best man.

Popularity

In 1990, 1991 and 1997, ''People'' magazine rated him among the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, ''Empire'' magazine ranked him among the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Two years later, it ranked him among the top 5 film stars of all time. In 2002 and 2003, he was rated by ''Premiere'' among the top 20 in its annual Power 100 list.

In 2006, ''Premiere'' ranked Cruise as Hollywood's most powerful actor, as Cruise came in at number 13 on the magazine's 2006 Power List, being the highest ranked actor. The same year, ''Forbes'' magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity.

In August 2006, "a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an 'unfavorable' opinion of the actor" was cited as a reason in addition to "unacceptable behavior" for Paramount's non-renewal of their production contract with Cruise. In addition, Marketing Evaluations reports that Cruise's Q score (which is a measure of the popularity of celebrities), had fallen 40 percent. It was also revealed that Cruise is the celebrity people would least like as their best friend. October 10, 2006 was declared "Tom Cruise Day" in Japan; the Japan Memorial Day Association said that he was awarded with a special day because he has made more trips to Japan than any other Hollywood star.

Controversy

Litigation

During Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman, the couple endured public speculation about their sex life and rumors that Cruise was gay. In 1998, he successfully sued the ''Daily Express'', a British tabloid which alleged that his marriage to Kidman was a sham designed to cover up his homosexuality. In May 2001 he filed a lawsuit against gay porn actor Chad Slater. Slater had allegedly told the celebrity magazine ''Actustar'' that he had had an affair with Cruise. Both Slater and Cruise denied this, and in August 2001, Slater was ordered to pay $10 million to Cruise in damages after Slater declared he could not afford to defend himself against the suit and would therefore default. Cruise also sued Michael Davis, publisher of ''Bold Magazine'', who alleged but never confirmed that he had video that would prove Cruise was gay. The suit was dropped in exchange for a public statement by Davis that the video was not of Cruise, and that Cruise was heterosexual.

After ''The Beast''s publication of their 50 Most Loathsome People of 2004, which included Cruise, Cruise's lawyer Bertram Fields threatened to sue. Seeing the opportunity for nationwide exposure, ''The Beast'' actively encouraged the lawsuit. No lawsuit was ever filed and Cruise was included more prominently in the 2005 list. In 2006, Cruise sued cybersquatter Jeff Burgar to obtain control of the TomCruise.com domain name. When owned by Burgar, the domain redirected to information about Cruise on Celebrity1000.com. The decision to turn TomCruise.com over to Cruise was handed down by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on July 5, 2006.

''Oprah Winfrey Show'' incident

Cruise has made several expressions of his feelings for Holmes to the media, most notably the "couch incident" which took place on the popular ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' of May 23, 2005. Cruise "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend". The phrase "jumping the couch", fashioned after "jumping the shark", is used to describe someone "going off the deep end" in public in a manner extreme enough to tarnish his or her reputation. It enjoyed a short-lived popularity, being chosen by the editors of the ''Historical Dictionary of American Slang'' as the "slang term of the year" in 2005 and by the nonprofit group Global Language Monitor as one of its top phrases for the year.

The "couch incident" was voted No.1 of 2005's "Most Surprising Television Moments" on a countdown on E! and No.5 at BoxOfficeProphets.com. and was the subject of numerous parodies, including the epilogue of ''Scary Movie 4'', an episode of ''South Park'', a short on ''Sesame Street'', and an episode of ''Family Guy''. ''Entertainment Weekly'' put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Lesson learned: Tell, don't show".

In early May 2008, Cruise reappeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' to celebrate 25 years in the film business. The feature was a two hour special, the first hour was Oprah spending the day with Cruise at his house in Telluride, Colorado on May 2.

Scientology

Cruise is an outspoken advocate for the Church of Scientology; according to Andrew Morton's ''Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography'' (2008), Cruise is the church's "second in command in all but name". He became involved with Scientology in 1990 through his first wife, Mimi Rogers. He has said that Scientology, specifically the L. Ron Hubbard Study Tech, helped him overcome dyslexia. In addition to promoting various programs that introduce people to Scientology, Cruise has campaigned for Scientology to be recognized as a religion in Europe. He lobbied politicians in France and Germany, where the legal systems regard Scientology as a cult and business, respectively. In 2005, the Paris city council revealed that Cruise had lobbied officials Nicolas Sarkozy and Jean-Claude Gaudin, described him as a spokesman and militant for Scientology, and barred any further dealings with him. Cruise co-founded and raised donations for Downtown Medical to offer New York City 9/11 rescue workers detoxification therapy based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. This drew criticism from the medical profession, as well as firefighters. For these activities and others, David Miscavige awarded Cruise Scientology's Freedom Medal of Valor in late 2004.

A controversy erupted in 2005 after he openly criticized actress Brooke Shields for using the drug Paxil (paroxetine), an anti-depressant to which Shields attributes her recovery from postpartum depression after the birth of her first daughter in 2003. Cruise asserted that there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, and that psychiatry is a form of pseudoscience. Shields replied that she would not take advice from anyone who believed in space aliens. This led to a heated argument with Matt Lauer on NBC's ''Today'' on June 24, 2005. Medical authorities view Cruise's comments as furthering the social stigma of mental illness. Shields herself called Cruise's comments "a disservice to mothers everywhere". In late August 2006, Cruise apologized in person to Shields for his comments. Scientology is well known for its opposition to mainstream psychiatry.

On January 15, 2008, a video produced by the Church of Scientology featuring an interview with Cruise was posted on You Tube, showing Cruise discussing what being a Scientologist means to him. The Church of Scientology said the video had been "pirated and edited", and was taken from a three-hour video produced for members of Scientology. YouTube removed the Cruise video from their site under threat of litigation.

Cruise's more open attitude to Scientology has been attributed to the March 2004 departure of his publicist of 14 years, Pat Kingsley. He replaced her with his sister, fellow Scientologist Lee Anne DeVette, who served in that role until November 2005. DeVette was replaced with Paul Bloch from the publicity firm Rogers and Cowan. Such restructuring is seen as a move to curtail publicity of his views on Scientology, as well as the hard-sell of his relationship with Katie Holmes backfiring with the public.

Filmography

See also

Tom Cruise (disambiguation)

Brat Pack (actors)

List of people from Louisville, Kentucky

List of Scientologists

Supercouple

''Tom Cruise: Unauthorized'' (1998)

''Tom Cruise: All the World's a Stage'' (2006)

References

External links

Transcript of the Matt Lauer interview

''Rolling Stone'' Interview: "The Passion of the Cruise"; 08/11/04

Tom Cruise at Rotten Tomatoes

Category:1962 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from New York Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American expatriates in Canada Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American Scientologists Category:Best Actor Empire Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Converts from Roman Catholicism Category:Living people Category:People from Ottawa Category:People from Syracuse, New York Category:Saturn Award winners

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Coordinates	29°57′53″N90°4′14″N
name	I Just Wanna Dance Again
artist	Amanda Lear
from album	Heart
released	April 29, 2002
format	CD, 12"
genre	Pop
length	3:19
label	Le Marais Prod., Dance Street, Night & Day
writer	T. Willems
producer	Laurent Wolf
last single	"Love Boat"(2001)
this single	"I Just Wanna Dance Again"(2002)
next single	"Beats of Love"(2002)
misc	}}

"I Just Wanna Dance Again" is a single by French singer Amanda Lear released in 2002 by Le Marais Prod.

Song information

"I Just Wanna Dance Again" was the second single from Amanda's comeback album ''Heart''. The single initially came out in April 2002, then its "maxi" versions were released within following months, distributed by different record labels (Le Marais Prod. and Night & Day in France, Dance Street in Germany). The song, credited to L. Fox and T. Willems and produced by Laurent Wolf, saw Amanda adopting contemporary dance sound. "I Just Wanna Dance Again" has met with modest success and positive reception.

Music video

The music video was directed by Kris Gautier. A remix by Pumpin' Dolls was used in the video.

Track listing

CD Single #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Pumpin' Dolls Radio Edit) - 3:51 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Junior's Transatlantic Radio Mix) - 3:59 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Laurent Wolf Radio Edit) - 3:50

CD Maxi-Single #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Pumpin' Dolls Radio Edit) - 3:51 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Laurent Wolf Radio Edit) - 3:50 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Junior Vasquez Transatlantic Radio Mix) - 3:59 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (French Riviera Long Mix) - 4:40 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Frenchie's Disco Mix) - 5:01

CD Maxi-Single Enhanced #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Pumpin' Dolls Muse on Speed Club Mix) - 8:22 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Laurent Wolf Club Mix) - 4:04 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Junior's Transatlantic Pop Mix) - 8:26 #"I Just Wanna Dance Again" (French Riviera Long Mix) - 4:37 :music video: "I Just Wanna Dance Again" - 3:36

12" Single :A1. "I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Laurent Wolf Club Mix) - 4:02 :A2. "I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Pumpin' Dolls Muse on Speed Club Mix) - 8:23 :B. "I Just Wanna Dance Again" (Junior's Transatlantic Radio Mix) - 3:59

References

Category:2002 singles Category:Amanda Lear songs

pl:I Just Wanna Dance Again