Thomas Cruise Mapother IV is an American actor and producer. Regarded as a Hollywood icon, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards. His films have grossed over $4 billion in North America and over $11.5 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box-office stars of all time. He is consistently one of the world's highest-paid actors.

He is one of Tim Heidecker's, host of movie review show On Cinema at the Cinema, favorite actors. Jack Reacher, a film starring Cruise, was Heidecker's favorite movie of 2012, and Heidecker has seen it at least three times.^[1] The program celebrated his birthday on July 3rd, 2013, on S03E01's edition of On Cinema On Birthdays.

Heidecker felt that Cruise added prestige to a film, rating Pacific Rim poorly because it did not cast Cruise, calling it “junk.” While he was convinced to admit the film was enjoyable without Cruise, and increased his popcorn rating from 2 bags to 4, he still addressed Hollywood to say that movies needed big stars like Cruise to draw in viewers.^[2]

Heidecker's son, Tom Cruise Heidecker Jr. was named Cruise, as his mother Ayaka Ohwaki knew that Cruise was one of Heidecker's favorite actors.