Best Tom Cruise movies

He has become better known for jumping on couches, sparring with Matt Lauer and generally behaving strangely in public, but there was a time when Tom Cruise was actually famous for making movies — and good ones, at that.

This summer, he went against type, playing a fat, bald, profane movie executive in Tropic Thunder, earning a Golden Globe nomination for his outside-the-box effort. On Christmas Day, he’s back as a Nazi officer plotting the assassination of Hitler in Valkyrie. (Okay, so that doesn’t really sound like a Christmas movie to us, either, but…)

Which are the films that made Cruise the star he is today?

Here’s our list:

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Mission Impossible (1996)

The Firm (1993)

A Few Good Men (1992)

Rain Man (1988)

The Color of Money (1986)

Top Gun (1986)

Risky Business (1983)

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