Arts & Entertainment

QUIZ

Maverick

Test your knowledge of Tom Cruise

By Sean Monkman
With his all-American good looks, Tom Cruise has become one of Hollywood's most bankable names: to date, his movies have earned more than $5.6 billion US worldwide. Lately, though, it seems like Cruise the actor has taken a backseat to Cruise the man, holder of a zany personal life and lively promoter of the Church of Scientology. Cruise’s promotional efforts for last summer’s War of the Worlds — highlighted by an infamous couch-hopping appearance on Oprah — might have dented his popularity, but he remains a boffo box office draw. Well, probably. Mission: Impossible III launches on May 5. 

1. Tom Cruise is the first actor in history to star in five consecutive films that topped $100 million US at the domestic box office. Which of those films was the biggest hit, doing over $180 million US in business?
A Few Good Men (1992)
The Firm (1993)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
2. In four of the following films Cruise portrayed a member of the military. Which is the odd one out?
Taps (1981)
Top Gun (1986)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
The Last Samurai (2003)
War of the Worlds (2005)
3. Which one of the following statements about Cruise is false?
TV Guide readers named his 2005 Oprah appearance No. 1 in a poll of “Wildest Celebrity Meltdowns”
While living in Canada as a youth, he once broke his foot while doing flips off his parent’s roof into a snowbank
He was the American Psychiatric Association’s Man of the Year for 2005
At one time he wanted to be a Catholic priest, and attended a Franciscan seminary at the age of 14
While filming scenes for Interview with the Vampire, Cruise stood on an elevated platform to reduce the height difference between him and the other vampires
4. What condition has Cruise credited Scientology for helping him overcome?
Male pattern baldness
Dyslexia
Stage fright
Psoriasis
Amnesia
5. Cruise and fiancée Katie Holmes recently welcomed a daughter into the world. What name did they give her?
Moses
Apple
Suri
Xenu
Magnolia
6. What connection does Tom Cruise have to Ottawa?
He took classes at the city’s Lisgar Collegiate Institute — just one of the 15 schools Cruise attended while growing up
He owns a 1/16th share of the Ottawa Senators
Most summers, he pilots a houseboat down the Rideau Canal
He is an investor in a restaurant in the Byward Market
After finishing high school, he served as a page in the Canadian Parliament for one year
7. Which one of the following women has Tom Cruise not been romantically linked to?
Rebecca De Mornay
Penelope Cruz
Nicole Kidman
Mimi Rogers
Brooke Shields
8. An iconic moment from early in Cruise’s film career is a scene in Risky Business during which he dances and lip synchs to what song?
The Knack’s My Sharona
Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock & Roll
Aimee Mann’s Wise Up
The Righteous Brothers’s You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling
Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’
9. What did Tom Cruise do in Toronto in 1994?
Fulfilled a childhood dream by earning his pilot’s license
Played two innings in left field for the Blue Jays during a preseason game
Scaled the outside of CN Tower and unfurled a banner to attract the attention of Mission: Impossible’s casting director
Busked with the Barenaked Ladies on Queen St. after mayor June Rowlands banned them from performing in Nathan Phillips Square
Played Dustin Hoffman’s role in a stage remake of Midnight Cowboy
10. Which of the following events was not part of Cruise’s wild 2005?
Proposed to Katie Holmes atop the Eiffel Tower two months after meeting her
Called host Matt Lauer glib and lectured him on the evils of psychiatry on NBC’s Today show
Bought a sonogram machine to monitor Holmes’s pregnancy
Pitched a remake of Top Gun with Holmes taking the Kelly McGillis role
Fired his sister as his publicist after his public image took a beating