Top 10 Crazy Tom Cruise Moments

This is so meta. Like all good spy movies, this Austin Powers flick begins with an action-packed chase sequence featuring its star. Only, we soon realize this is a film-within-a-film, with a bespectacled Tom Cruise in the title role. He doesn’t wear the teeth or do the accent, but it’s definitely got the over-the-top action of a Tom Cruise joint.

He was there promoting “War of the Worlds,” but it became a war of words between Cruise and this fake reporter after… Well, we’ll let you see what happened. You should see that again, in slow-mo. The tricksters were working for a local prank show, but Cruise was clearly not in on the joke and had the team arrested. We’re not even sure whose side we’re on here.

By channeling his trademark intensity, Tom Cruise became a rock star in “Rock of Ages” – not that it’s that unbelievable for this guy to step into the leather pants of a Steven Tyler/Bon Jovi/Axl Rose-type. Cruise even cut his own vocals for the flick, which would have been more shocking had we never heard him sing before. World’s best pickup line. But we were distracted by the topless volleyball…

Even if you’ve never seen it, you know a few Tom Cruise quotes from “Jerry Maguire.” But one comes to mind most: in fact, you can probably picture the scene we’re talking about without us even showing you. But here it is anyway. Before you get too caught up in the cynicism, Cruise redeems himself at the end with another iconic quote. Cheesy? Yes. Overdone? Absolutely. Iconic? No doubt.

Cue the “Mission Impossible” music. Is he there promoting a movie? No, he’s promoting his chosen religion: Scientology. The church allegedly tried to suppress this video, where Cruise spouts some weird lingo and evangelical beliefs. Whatever the case, this helps suggest that Cruise isn’t playing with a full deck. Watching this is like watching a car crash. And he’s got something to say about that situation too: “Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident, it’s not like anyone else. As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it because you know you’re the only one that can really help.”

Before we lost Tom to the Scientologists, he was just an adorable youngster dancing around his living room to Bob Seger in socks, a pink button-down and tighty-whities. Bringing that same Tom Cruise passion he brings to everything, our fresh-faced star just goes nuts and creates one of the most memorable movie scenes in history. This scene made Tom Cruise a star, and it’s not hard to see why.

Tom Cruise is basically badass: He even does most of his own stunts, whether it’s holding his breath under water, or jumping between cars. But it’s this scene from the first Mission Impossible” movie that no one forgets… That’s a mean feat considering what he did in the second movie. By the time he scaled the world’s tallest building in “MI4,” no one even batted an eyelash.

When Brooke Shields admitted to using antidepressants to help her postpartum depression, Cruise took it upon himself as an expert in the subject to lecture the masses on the evils of prescription drugs and psychiatry. Not only that, he berated and patronized Matt Lauer for not knowing the history of psychiatry. Cruise later admitted he came off as arrogant, but the damage was done.

Cruise wouldn’t let a little scandal get him down, so he came back in a big and bald way with this unforgettable cameo. Somewhere under the fat suit, bald cap, fake hair and prosthetic hands is our Tom, expertly spitting out an expletive-laced diatribe and gyrating to Flo Rida as a ruthless parody of a studio exec. He then reprised the role just to get spanked by J-Lo.

As if you didn’t see this coming: in 2005, Tom took to Oprah’s couch to express his feelings about the new love-of-his-life, Katie Holmes, and the result was pretty memorable. We often thought he was an over-actor, but this is just ridiculous. Even Miss Winfrey didn’t quite know what to do. Clichéd, cute, staged, or whatever, you can pinpoint this as the moment the world started looking at Tom Cruise…differently.

Do you agree with our list, or do you think we’ve jumped the couch? What do you think is the most outrageous Tom Cruise moment? For more top 10s about your favorite stars, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.