But despite all of Cruise's success in Hollywood, there's one particular feat that he has yet to conquer: the Academy Award. While he has always been a talented actor, consistently turning in powerhouse performances and displaying an impressive level of range and versatility in his craft, the Academy has only ever nominated him for the coveted golden statuette. It may be easy or tempting to take an actor for granted when he has an impressive list of box office hits and a decades-long A-level status in the industry. Such stardom can overshadow an audience's ability to remember that a particular performer still wields a great deal of power and influence in suspending disbelief, and Cruise is no exception.
With more than 40 acting credits to his name and a worldwide box office take that's north of $12 billion, Tom Cruise is undeniably one of the biggest and most bankable movie stars of his or any generation. If anything has reaffirmed that, it's the phenomenally massive success that his legacy sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, achieved this past year. With the film becoming the actor's highest-grossing project with more than $1.4 billion at the global market, securing nearly-unanimous praise from critics and audiences, and scoring a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, Cruise is once again at the top of his game. Not bad for a 40-year veteran of the silver screen who just entered his sixth decade.
