Underdog Story of the Day - Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise

During his early life, Cruise lived in poverty. His dad was an electrical engineer and his mother was a special education teacher. The family was practically a suitcase, traveling from town to town, city to city, in search of work. By 14 years old, Cruise attended 15 different schools. Cruise was always bullied at school. Constantly moving was largely to blame for this. After being bullied during the day, Cruise would come home to a physically and emotionally abusive father.

Later on, the family moved to Canada when Cruise's father was presented the opportunity to work within the Canadian Armed Forces. His father later walked out on the family when Tom was 12 years old. Frantically, Tom and his mother and sisters moved back to the US in hopes of finding jobs. Tom and his sisters worked multiple random jobs to support the family. 

During high school, an injury on the wrestling team forced Tom to pursue other avenues. He always had a desire for drama, so Cruise decided to give himself 10 years to try to make acting his career. He moved to New York City when he was 19 with hopes of making it big. He even missed his high school graduation to be in a play. 

At first, his auditions were sub-par, but he kept working at it and earned his first success with a role in the 1981 movie, Endless Love. That same year he got himself a small role in Taps. Filmmakers and producers started to see Cruise's potential. Francis Ford Coppola gave him the chance to be cast in The Outsiders, a popular movie in 1983.

In 1983, Crusie received a starring role in Risky Business, beating out Tom Hanks, Michael J. Fox, Nicholas Cage, and John Cusack for the role. His first hit. This allowed him to land Top Gun. Top Gun smashed the box office, becoming the highest-grossing movie in 1986, catapulting Cruise's career. 

Today, Cruise boasts three Golden Globe Awards and nominations for three Academy Awards. Tom Cruise's net worth is now estimated at $570 million.

WATCH: Tom Cruise's Keys to Success

Wrap-up

Tom Cruise's ability to fail over and over again allowed him to learn his craft. What we can learn from this is that it's a good thing to fail, to learn from your mistakes, and to do it better the next time and the time after that. He wasn't afraid to fail. He knew that it was all a part of the process and the grand scheme of life. He encourages all to lead a life of self-belief because as Tom Evans once said, "if you don't believe in you, then no one else will."