An actor who rises to greatness, Hollywood box office star Tom Cruise (1962-) was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV on this day in Syracuse, New York.

Growing up, he suffered with dyslexia, competed in wrestling, and even considered becoming a priest, spending a year in the seminary. Instead, he turned to acting and became a box-office superstar with the film Risky Business (1983).

"I demand a lot of myself. I want to learn. I can't sit back. I like a challenge, so I create a lot of challenges for myself," he said.

With a dazzling smile, Cruise has handled his challenges well, holding his own with such film greats as Paul Newman (The Color of Money,1986), Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man,1988), and Jack Nicholson (A Few Good Men, 1992).

Named number one on the Forbes Top 100 Celebrities list in 2001, he ranked fourth in 2004. With a salary of over $20 million a picture, he has made acting look easy.

"Nothing ends nicely, that's why it ends," philosophized the gifted actor who trained for two years in preparation for the role of Captain Algren in The Last Samurai (2003).

An advocate for literacy, Cruise admitted to limiting the television time of his kids to 3-1/2 per week "if they do very well in their school."

"I can actually see the difference when they watch too much television in terms of their education when they're reading, in terms of their attention span, their behavior," he said. "We're focusing on reading, a lot of reading."

Aspire to greatness.