Which actor plays Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series?

Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible film series.

Cruise has portrayed Ethan Hunt in every released Mission: Impossible feature film, beginning with the 1996 original. Ethan is an IMF field agent known for improvisation, disguise work, endurance, and a willingness to accept exceptionally dangerous assignments. Cruise also became a producer on the series, helping shape its increasingly ambitious action style.

The character is not a direct copy of the television show’s lead. The films develop Ethan as a more emotionally driven action hero whose professional choices affect friends, teammates, and personal relationships. His loyalty to his team is one of the franchise’s recurring themes.

Cruise’s performance is closely associated with the series’ practical stunts. Among the most publicized are climbing the Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol, hanging from an aircraft in Rogue Nation, and performing a motorcycle jump in Dead Reckoning. These sequences helped make Ethan Hunt one of modern cinema’s best-known action protagonists.