Tom Cruise has revealed he does not fear death, saying he enjoys living on the edge both physically and metaphorically. In a rare in-depth interview with GQ magazine, the 64-year-old actor spoke openly about his approach to risk and his career.
Cruise, known for performing his own stunts, said: “I think you could look at my life and go: I like standing on the edge of a cliff physically and metaphorically. Meaning, I look at life as an adventure, and I always have, my whole life. Do I fear death? No. I don’t. It’s not like I’m not afraid. I don’t mind the feeling.”
On Fear and Taking Risks
He added: “I’m not afraid to feel afraid. I don’t know how else to say it. I’m not afraid to go, ‘Okay, I know this is a leap, and let’s take the jump. Let’s go.’”
The Top Gun and Mission: Impossible actor won his first Oscar in 2025, a tribute to a career spanning more than four decades. He made his film debut in 1981 and was previously nominated for Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, as well as for best supporting actor in Magnolia and for producing Top Gun: Maverick.
Deliberate Career Choices
In the interview, Cruise spoke of the deliberate risks taken throughout his career. He said: “Things that I’ve never talked about—the things that I’ve done and why and what I’m exploring—have been very deliberate. I’m exploring my skill, learning new skills, constantly pushing myself.”
He continued: “What you don’t know, is how many of the films people didn’t want to make. I’ve always felt like if I get to do it and it does well, I can take all the chips that I had and put it back in and kind of be like, ‘Let’s put it back in all on the line and in a way that is as creative as possible.’”
Cruise, who made eight Mission Impossible films between 1996 and 2025, added: “I’m not stuck in the past. There’s that joy of creating something, in the accomplishment, and then there’s always a new dream. There’s always the bigger dream.”
First Interview in Over a Decade
This is his first interview with US GQ in more than a decade, despite appearing on eight covers. He said he struggles to find time for in-depth interviews, adding: “I just haven’t had the time, with the amount of things that I set in motion and decided I was going to do.”
“We were in a dead sprint at a very long pace up against a lot of things—we wanted to keep everyone going and going through it and operating at a very, very high level. And just this is the time to be able to talk about it.”
