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This month marks the anniversaries of two of Tom Cruise‘s most memorable roles: There’s the one that made him a bona fide movie star—as Maverick in the flight school drama Top Gun, released on May 16, 1986—and the one that cemented his place at the center of a billion-dollar action franchise—as Ethan Hunt in the original Mission Impossible, released on May 22, 1996. But the 53-year-old actor has had enough iconic roles to populate a small village of characters, from a vampire to a brash Hollywood studio exec to a sports agent completed by Renée Zellweger. As Cruise prepares for a slew of potential hits—a sixth Mission Impossible, a reboot of The Mummy and possibly even a Top Gun sequel—here’s a look back at his most iconic roles.
![MSDRIBU EC016 Risky Business, Joel Goodson, 1983.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/risky-business_923a40bb.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun, 1986.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/top-gun.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Vincent Lauria in The Color of Money, 1986.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/the-color-of-money.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
!["Cocktail"
Tom Cruise
© 1988 Touchstone Pictures
** I.V. Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan in Cocktail, 1988.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cocktail.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rain Man Tom Cruise as Charles "Charlie" Babbitt in Rain Man, 1988.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/rain-man.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise In 'Born On The Fourth Of July' Tom Cruise as Ron Kovic in Born on the Fourth of July, 1989.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/born-on-the-fourth-of-july.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Joseph Donnelly in Far and Away, 1992.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/far-and-away.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee in A Few Good Men, 1992.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/a-few-good-men.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Mitch McDeere in The Firm, 1993.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/the-firm.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Lestat de Lioncourt in Interview with the Vampire, 1994.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/interview-with-the-vampire.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible, 1996.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/mission-impossible.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Ronald Grant Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire in Jerry Maguire, 1996.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/jerry-maguire.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Dr. William "Bill" Harford in Eyes Wide Shut, 1999.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/eyes-wide-shut.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Frank T.J. Mackey in Magnolia, 2000.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/magnolia-film.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as David Aames in Vanilla Sky, 2001.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/vanilla-sky.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Chief John Anderton in Minority Report, 2002.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/minority-report.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Vincent in Collateral, 2004.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/collateral.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder, 2008.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/tropic-thunder.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![EDGE OF TOMORROW Tom Cruise as Major William "Bill" Cage in Edge of Tomorrow, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/edge-of-tomorrow.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com