What is actor Tom Cruise's real name?

Tom Cruise's real name is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV.

He was born on July 3, 1962, in Syracuse, New York, to Thomas Cruise Mapother III and Mary Lee Pfeiffer. The “IV” indicates that he is the fourth person in his family line to share the name Thomas Cruise Mapother. His cousin William Mapother later became an actor as well.

Cruise began using the shorter professional name “Tom Cruise” when he pursued acting. He made his film debut in Endless Love in 1981 and became widely known after appearing in Risky Business and Top Gun. The stage name is not a completely different identity: “Cruise” is his middle name, while Mapother is his family surname.

A common mix-up is to call Thomas Cruise Mapother IV a birth name that he formally changed for legal reasons. In popular references, “Tom Cruise” is the name used professionally, while “Thomas Cruise Mapother IV” is the name listed as his birth name.