tom cruise bike movie

10 Motorcycles Tom Cruise Has Ridden in Movies, Explained

Tom Cruise has performed an unnatural number of motorcycle stunts as an action star while riding the best ones available.

Tom Cruise has cemented his name in the history of blockbuster cinema as one of its most bankable and profitable actors — and its arguably last movie star . The legacy has been earned, in great part, on the back of his famous perfectionism and his penchant for performing extreme stunts. For years, he has been using his movies as a medium to play out his thrill-seeking tendencies, and he’s been quite open about the fact. As a testament to his real-life “need for speed,” the man owns a sizable collection of airplanes, sports cars, and motorcycles.

This interest visibly overlaps with his movie roles — most famously, he developed a training program for his Top Gun: Maverick co-stars so that they could convincingly portray the cockpit scenes. Similarly, his enduring love for motorcycles showcases itself as a signature element across his filmography. Cruise has helmed an uncommon number of motorcycle stunt sequences as an action movie star, and he is always found doing so on the best motorcycles on the market. Here are 10 motorcycles that Tom Cruise has ridden in movies.

10 Kawasaki GPZ900R — Top Gun

The Kawasaki GPZ900R accompanied Cruise in a Top Gun scene that has garnered iconic status in Hollywood history. This is the motorcycle that his character, Maverick is riding as the air force pilot attempts to race an F14 fighter jet. The GPZ900R holds an important place in the history of modern sports bikes. It was the very first model by Kawasaki to be pegged with the Ninja tag, which has become a commonly recognized brand name in automobiles today. Developed in secret by Kawasaki over many years, the GPZ900R was the fastest production motorcycle of its time and the first to cross the 150 mph barrier — a fitting companion for a character known for his “need for speed.”

9 Triumph Speed Triple – Mission: Impossible 2

The Mission Impossible franchise introduced audiences to a new brand of cinema entertainment with elaborate stunt set pieces led by Cruise. The film series has given us many iconic stunts over the years. Mission: Impossible 2 includes one such sequence: an extended motorcycle chase that has mostly faded from memory, but was fresh and exciting at the time. Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, gets up to all sorts of antics in this scene, shooting down pursuers left and right while riding a Triumph Street Triple. The model continues to be produced by Triumph Motorcycles, and the dual headlights remain an important part of its design language to this day. The Triumph Street Triple is particularly noted for its unusual three-cylinder engine configuration that lends this model a unique sound and character.

8 Triumph Bonneville — Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible III missed out on a key feature of the film series as there were no motorcycle chases in that scene. But as with his love of running, Cruise managed to shoehorn a two-wheeler moment in this movie as well. The scene in question is a short but neat one where Ethan arrives at an airstrip riding a Triumph Bonneville, modified in the scrambler style. Produced by one of the oldest motorcycle companies in the world, the Bonneville was first introduced in 1959, and retains much of its heritage in its present-day design. One can definitely see the appeal that the model would have for the petrolhead in Cruise, and he is known to keep a Bonneville in his personal motorcycle collection as well. Meanwhile, one of the Bonnevilles that was used in the movie was auctioned for nearly $30,000 .

Related: The Best Movies About Bikers and Motorcycles, Ranked

7 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic – Days of Thunder

It doesn’t matter if it’s a movie about NASCAR drivers — Cruise will find an excuse to insert a motorcycle somewhere. In Days of Thunder , he stars as a driver with a background in open-wheel racing, who wants to move over to NASCAR. Obviously, his choice of commute has to be a motorcycle. He shows up in a dramatic "speak of the devil" fashion at the beginning of the movie astride a Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic, just as the on-screen interlocutors are casting doubts about his abilities as a racer. The wide, low-slung handlebars combined with the triple headlights is a classic Harley look that immediately radiates coolness.

6 Ducati Hypermotard – Knight and Day

The motorcycle chase in Knight and Day falls squarely in the category of the Mission: Impossible -style blockbuster spy thrillers, taking place in an old European city across winding alleys and old town squares. So, it’s quite appropriate that the motorcycle that features in this chase is a Ducati, which is often described as the Ferrari of motorcycles. Over the years, Ducati has strategically developed an iconic series in every major category of motorcycles. The Ducati Hypermotard follows the company’s classic signatures in how it stylistically stands out from the competition as a unique offering. Most noticeably, it is equipped with a 939 cc engine in a motorcycle category that is mostly occupied by smaller engines in the 450-700 cc range. As a hypermotard, it is also a realistic motorcycle for the twisted chase scene across the streets of Seville.

5 BMW R NineT Scrambler – Mission: Impossible - Fallout

With technological advancements, Cruise was able to offer audiences even more motorcycle chases in later Mission Impossible movies. The one in Fallout is a worthy contender for one of the most exciting stunt sequences ever in the movie series, a three-minute extravaganza where Ethan Hunt is chased across Paris by police officers. BMW’s product strategy with regard to their two-wheeler products can be compared to Ducati, as they have built a number of iconic motorcycle series across limited categories. The BMW R NineT is a very versatile model with a similar reputation, and garners interest as a top-notch entry in the modern retro category.

4 Triumph Thruxton – Edge of Tomorrow

It may appear as a tenuous proposition at first glance — a classic motorcycle chase in a sci-fi movie about super-powered aliens. But Edge of Tomorrow makes it work, and we find Cruise’s character racing down the streets of London in a proper British motorcycle: the Triumph Thruxton. Much like the Bonneville, the Thruxton also derives its name and legacy from a classic motorcycle. However, the Thruxton was originally an endurance racing motorcycle, and reflects that heritage in its modern-day counterpart. This motorcycle can be categorized as a café racer, and it comes with a twin-cylinder engine, an elegant retro look, and clip-on handlebars.

Related: Tom Cruise's Best Action Movies, Ranked

3 Honda CRF 450X – Oblivion

Oblivion is an underrated sci-fi movie from Cruise’s filmography, although it has gained renewed interest with recent years and looks ready to stand the test of time. He plays the role of a lone worker in a barren, futuristic world, taking orders from an all-knowing AI to repair autonomous drones during the day. In order to get to the location of these drones, he has a trusty futuristic motorcycle that easily travails the arid dunes of this mysterious land. The futuristic motorcycle is in fact a modified Honda CRF450X, a popular enduro motorcycle with a stellar reputation for its reliability — a very realistic choice on part of the filmmakers.

2 BMW Motorrad S1000RR – Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Rogue Nation features perhaps the best motorcycle scene from Cruise, ever. It is one of the top highlights of the recent Mission: Impossible movies, and Cruise was even reported to be riding as fast as 130 mph during the course of its shooting. The unique headlight configurations of the BMW S1000RR is an unforgettable fixture of this scene with its tasteful asymmetry leading the way for Cruise’s aggressive maneuvers. The S1000RR has a stellar reputation in the sports bike category, having originally been designed as a racing bike for the Superbike World Championship.

1 Kawasaki H2 – Top Gun: Maverick

Released over three decades after the original, Top Gun: Maverick was bound to have some callbacks to the first movie. The movie did come with a fair few nostalgic moments, but it managed to do so in a tasteful, wholesome way that was well-received by audiences. It also recreated the iconic scene where Maverick chases a fighter jet in his Kawasaki motorcycle. However, motorheads saw an added layer of relevance that was placed into the scene in the sequel. Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise’s character riding a Kawasaki H2 down the airstrip — the modern-day successor of the GPZ900R, which was featured in the original movie. The Kawasaki H2 also happens to be the fastest production motorcycle at the present day, just as the GPZ900R was when Top Gun was released.

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Top 10 bikes ridden by Tom Cruise in movies – ever!

He's the world's biggest movie star, loves doing his own stunts, and loves riding motorcycles too - here are the top ten bikes ridden on screen by Tom Cruise

IT's another year, another year of summer blockbuster movies, another Mission: Impossible flick and, with it, as has become almost inevitable, another starring role for Tom Cruise and a bike – in this case Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One and motorcycle nut Tom tearing around Rome on a stolen police BMW.

But haven’t we seen all this before? Bikes have pretty much starred in all of Tom’s recent movies, haven’t they? But which movies and which bikes exactly? To answer the question once and for all here’s our list of the Ten Best Motorcycle Moments in Tom Cruise Movies, in reverse chronological order…

Top 10 Tom Cruise movie bikes

Kawasaki GPz900R, Top Gun (1986)

Triumph Speed Triple, Mission: Impossible II (2000)

The next Tom Cruise big bike outing comes in the second of his Mission: Impossible series (we’ll gloss over his brief appearance on a Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail in 1990’s NASCAR flick ‘Days of Thunder’, here) and set the staple for bikes starring in the franchise. Resurgent Brit brand Triumph got the gig this time and its then brand-new Speed Triple T509 and Daytona 595 star in a quite frankly ridiculous bike chase with Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt aboard the Speedie chasing baddie Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) on the Daytona. Implausible pirouettes, shooting stoppies, jumps and more take place, sometimes with the bikes wearing full knobbly tyres, sometimes not. One of the bikes used is now at Triumph’s Visitor Experience Museum in Hinckley…

Triumph Bonneville, Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Another Mission: Impossible outing, although, with no significant bike chases of stunts in this third outing of the franchise, if you blink you’ll probably miss it. Again, it’s a Triumph but this time the first version of the Bonneville Scrambler , again slightly modified with full-on knobblies on which Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt arrives at an airstrip for a rendezvous with his team. No great shakes, admittedly, but enough, apparently, for one of the bikes used in the scene to be later auctioned off for a whopping $30,000!

Ducati Hypermotard, Knight and Day (2010)

Four years later Tom is back to bike stunting form with a prolonged bike stunt scene and chase. This time it’s not a Mission: Impossible flick but the one-off comedy thriller Knight and Day in which co-stars as mysterious spy character Roy Miller alongside screen siren Cameron Diaz as June Havens. The scene concerned features Tom this time on a Ducati Hypermotard with Cameron as his pillion (although some of the scenes were doubled by stunt men and women and one actually had a dummy in place of Ms Diaz). Interesting trivia: rumour has it that some of the stunts and jumps were so demanding that the bike was actually swapped for a specially prepared Aprilia Dorsoduro disguised to look like the Ducati. 

‘Honda CRF450X’, Oblivion (2013)

Triumph Thruxton, Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Another biking ‘cameo’ in a slightly oddball futuristic Tom Cruise sci-fi flick. 2014’s ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ saw Cruise star as soldier Cage alongside Britain’s Emily Blunt as Rita in a battle against aliens that he re-lives the same day over and over again. Before all that, however, Cage is seen scratching around London on a bike and, yes, it’s another Triumph, this time the old 865cc, air-cooled Thruxton café racer .

BMW S1000RR, Mission: Impossible, Rogue Nation (2015)

Right, enough of all that silliness, time for some proper, full-on, Tom Cruise and motorcycles biking action. The fifth episode of Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series, Rogue Nation, sees bikes back in the big time as Cruise’s Ethan Hunt chases after mysterious British agent Rebecca Ferguson in Morocco, with both (and more than a few baddies) this time mounted on BMW S1000RR s and fun and fast stuff it really is. Three interesting facts: One, ex-BSB racer Jenny Tinmouth did the riding instead of Rebecca; Two, Essex leathers specialists Hideout made their suits, one for standing, one for riding; and three (and nothing to do with bikes), the opening scene which sees Hunt clinging to the side of a transport plane, was shot at RAF Wittering, near Peterborough…

BMW RnineT Pure, Mission: Impossible, Fallout (2018)

The Mission: Impossible connection with BMW continued in the next outing of the franchise, Fallout, where bikes again played a starring role. This time we see Hunt this time in Paris aboard a BMW RnineT Pure, riding the wrong way around the Arc de Triomphe and more before being side-swiped by a car. (Much of the tracking footage, incidentally, was shot by ex-champion motocrosser Rob Herring.) It’s not all BMWs, though. We also briefly see co-star Henry Cavill aboard a Triumph Speed Triple and Rebecca Ferguson (again doubled by Jenny Tinmouth) on a Triumph Tiger.

Kawasaki H2, Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

If you’re starting to think by now that all Tom Cruise motorcycle movies appearances are in Mission: Impossible movies, think again. 2022 saw the long overdue sequel to 1986’s Top Gun and the return, not just of Cruise’s Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell character, ‘Ice Man’, F14 jets and so on but also of bikes – in an early scene ‘Mav’ not only memorably goes for a spin on Kawasaki’s spiritual successor to the original’s GPz, the supercharged H2 , but we also briefly see that, in his aircraft hanger/man cave, he also still has the original Ninja, too!

BMW G310GS/Honda CRF250, Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning Pt 1 (2023)

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How Tom Cruise Executed His 'Most Dangerous' Stunt in 'Mission: Impossible –Dead Reckoning Part One'

The death-defying moment in the franchise's seventh installment involves Cruise driving a motorbike off a cliff

Collection Christophel/Alamy

Tom Cruise  turned up the action for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning   Part One .

While the film marks the seventh installment in the highly successful franchise, Cruise, 61, made the occasion even more special by challenging himself to perform one of his most dangerous stunts yet.

The death-defying moment involved Cruise driving a motorbike off a cliff, fly off the bike, and parachute to the ground. While fans got a glimpse of the stunt through the film's action-packed trailer in May, Cruise, along with writer-director  Christopher McQuarrie , first teased the big moment in 2021 at CinemaCon.

The pair explained in a special behind-the-scenes video at the event that the stunt took 500 hours of skydiving training and 13,000 motorbike jumps to get it just right. The stunt involved Cruise being attached to a set of wires as he rides a speeding motorcycle off of a large ramp before he throws himself from the bike, backed by the safety wires attached to his back.

Speaking about its execution, McQuarrie, 54, explained in the video that it was "by far the most dangerous stunt we've ever done." The clip then ended with Cruise performing the stunt himself, with a crew member saying, " Tom Cruise  rode a motorcycle off a cliff six times today."

McQuarrie "tried to kill me," joked Cruise at the New York City premiere.

Christian Black/Paramount Pictures

The film's long-awaited release comes after multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic . According to an official synopsis, it finds Cruise's Ethan Hunt as he and his team are tasked with tracking down "a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands."

During its world premiere in June , Cruise gave a speech about his passion for the franchise and filmmaking. He said in part, "It’s something that I grew up with, that made me and inspired me to dream and want to travel the world. My goal since I was little was to make movies and travel. And not just be a tourist but work in that world and understand their culture."

"Through my movies, I’ve been able to have that because everyone here has allowed me to entertain them," he continued. "It’s a privilege that I have never taken for granted."

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Mission: Impossible   - Dead Reckoning Part One is out now.

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A Look at the Motorcycles in ‘Top Gun: Maverick (2022)’

The Indomitable Kawasaki Ninja GPZ 900R and H2 Carbon

Who wears aviators, races fighter jets on a carbon piece of bonkers, and is partially responsible for banking an eye-popping $124 million in ticket sales this past weekend ?

If you guessed an adrenaline-charged US navy pilot named Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) from the recent blockbuster banger ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ you’d be right on the money. 

The movie is spiking theatre attendance across the country – and given the $11,374/hour cost to fly the iconic handful of aggressor aircraft , we’re thinking stratospheric success balances the whole checkbook out…more or less. 

Purring in wait next to the lineup of snappy jets (and gulping down significantly less fossil fuel) are the ‘Top Gun’ franchise’s supersport scoots of choice ; the indomitable carbon-clad 2022 Kawasaki H2 and original household name, the Ninja GPZ 900R. 

“A total of four supercharged Ninja H2 Carbon machines and two restored Ninja GPZ 900R motorcycles were provided to the Top Gun: Maverick production team,” states a report in AutoWeek . 

Hot Cars tells us that the 900R logged 115 hp @ 9800 rpm and boasted “a steel frame, 16-inch front, and 18-inch rear wheels, air suspension, and an anti-dive fork as part of its chassis along with using the engine as a stressed member.” 

This added to the fact that the Ninja 900R  uses the engine as a stressed member (rare for the time), with the neat addition of an aircraft-style fuel cap to replace the usual twisting unit.

Other cool facts include the reality that the Ninja GPZ 900R was the first Ninja of its time – certainly the first ever used on a major film – and took the podium as 1986’s fastest motorcycle in the world.

(We should clarify that first place was NOT given to the 900R for the entirety of 1986; with the Ninja boasting a top speed record of 151–158 mph (243–254 km/h) as of 1984 and the Suzuki GSX-R 1100 clocking in 160 mph (257 km/h) as of 1986 itself, Wikipedia states the gixxer wins out, though it’s likely the Ninja held the crown for at least the beginning portion of 1986). 

So how badass is the Ninja GPZ 900R?

As stated by WinnipegSun , the first Ninja GPZ 900R was “developed over six years in secret, became an instantaneous race-winning success (Isle of Man TT), and put down numbers that would shame most modern performance cars even today.”

Kawi’s OG Ninja, brought back for another round of our fangirling – and who better to be lounging next to the 900R in all her lean, muscled hyper-glory than the present-day queen of the supercharged screamers (and the replacement for the iconic jet-racing scene), the 2022 Ninja H2 Carbon. 

Sporting an ultra-lightweight carbon fairing set, the $32,500 H2 holds a 228hp inline-four package galloping to the record tune of 226.9mph, according to CycleWorld . 

She’s equal parts beast and beauty, with TopSpeed noting that our most recent national landspeed record of 226.5mph (362.5kmph) – with a two-way average speed of 222mph (358.4km/h) – is all thanks to H2’s sibling, the supersonic H2R .

In short, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ doesn’t just sport the dynamic duo of the decade. As a film, it’s a show-stopping homage to our childhood, with the more left-brained results turning in a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and an “A+” CinemaScore .

wBW Weekly News Round-Up: The May 12-18 Edition

“[It was] fantastic to see Tom Cruise back in the skies again after 36 years,” said Becca Monahan, commercial director of the Official Charts Company in a report from BBC .

“That the original Top Gun has made history by getting to number one on the Official Film Chart and that many of those sales were digital downloads is a great achievement.”

As for a behind-the-scenes tidbit….we got our hands on a good one just for you. 

“Usually, the Navy forbids pilots from flying below 200 feet during training,”  states the NY Times .

“One of the film’s most staggering images is of Cruise in an F-18 whooshing just 50 feet above the ground, a height roughly equal to its wingspan.”

“The plane flew so close to the earth that it kicked up dust and made the ground cameras shake. The pilot landed, turned to Cruise, and told the superstar that he’d never do that again.”

If you’re in the area, yoink up and let us know what you thought of the new film. Be sure to also check back at our shiny new webpage for updates on the best of the latest puttering around our industry, and as ever  – stay safe on the twisties. 

*Media sourced from Fox News , Drive Mag , Bike Bound , People , RRW , Hot Cars , RideApart , CinemaBlend , and Motorbiscuit *

I like the looks of the modified tail section on the 900. I just hope a bunch of squids dont go buy the H2 and crash their brains out after seeing the movie.

What brains?

In one of the final scenes of the movie, I spotted a blue 1972 H2 – 750cc 3 cylinder 2 stroke, the mighty Mach IV! Awesome to see all the motorcycles! Loved the movie! Probably one of the best sequels ever.

Happy to see someone sharing my opinion on this particular topic.

Cheers, Amanda Quick

The most impressive, but easy-to-miss, motorcycle detail of the movie was in the last scene back in the hangar at Mojave, where you see out-of-focus in the background, a 1972 Kawasaki 750 triple H2. That was the king-hell bike of its era.

Truly the fastest, lightest speed demon of her time…

Cut it out, the hooner in me is drooling again.

The first Ninja, the GPz900 debuted in 1984. That’s when I got mine. The one in the first Top Gun was an ‘85 model, identical to the ‘84 except for the black/red color scheme vs. the original ‘84 model’s gray/red.

It was the king of production superbikes that year, without a doubt. It was a game-changer. The year before (‘83) it was the Kawasaki 750 Turbo (also owned that one), and before that the Honda Magna, (a bike I called a “disco bike” because of its cruiser styling). The Ninja was much more practical than the 750 Turbo — the turbo’s power would lag badly up until about 6,000 rpm, and if you were below that in a turn and twisted the throttle you’d get a big surge that would break the rear tire loose, if you weren’t very careful.

The new H2 has very impressive power but is about 50 pounds too heavy — it’s more like a Suzuki Hayabusa, awesome acceleration, but sooner or later you have to turn or stop, and it gets awkward. Not really a track bike. I think a normally-aspirated Ducati Panigale would be better suited for the track.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/PM0815-220214/1984-kawasaki-ninja-900/

I spotted the 1972 H2 as well. My other half smacked me when blurted out loud “look at the effing Blue H2” while in the theatre. I bought my 1972 H2 well used in 1985 for $600. It has been redone a couple times over the years. Taking the old girl out for spin shortly.

Spin away, I’m jelly as hell…though not of the smack 😉

Maybe if the movie leads to the Green Team making a cajillion dollars selling bikes to Maverick wannabes, Kawasaki will jump back into MotoGP now that Suzuki is calling it quits.

Ha! Wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake.

Hard to tell, but next to the blue H-2 on the left looks like a 1969 H-1 500 (white with the blue streak)

Saw a smurf blue Honda CB-1 400 naked in the mojave hangar beginning of the movie

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Tom Cruise did that motorcycle stunt in ‘Mission: Impossible’ on Day 1 — here’s why

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More than half a year before the release of the upcoming movie “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One,” Paramount Pictures made sure audiences got to see Tom Cruise once again risking his life.

Cruise’s mind-blowing stunts have become a signature of “ Mission: Impossible ” films, each one seemingly topping the next. The key stunt in the franchise’s seventh installment involves Cruise driving a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff, dismounting and parachuting into a Norwegian valley. With the drop of its behind-the-scenes footage in December , the studio billed it as “the biggest stunt in cinema history.”

Though the moment has already been watched on YouTube more than 13 million times, and 30 million more times in the film’s trailers, it’s among the film’s most anticipated scenes. After all, we still don’t know how the stunt fits within the plot — What could be so dire that agent Ethan Hunt must jump off a cliff?

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While answers won’t come until the movie’s theatrical release July 12, we now know that the risky stunt was the first thing Cruise did on Day 1 of filming, which began in 2020. And it was all about risk assessment.

In a recent interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” Cruise said they started with the scene, in part, to allow the cast and crew to see whether he would be able to star in the $290-million film. After all, he could either get injured or die — or both.

“Well, we know we’re either going to continue with the film or not,” Cruise said, letting out a laugh. “Let’s know Day 1, what is gonna happen: Do we all continue, or is it a major re-run?”

Cruise added that he wanted to make sure his mind was clear enough to focus solely on the stunt.

Watch ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’ director Christopher McQuarrie on Ultimate Summer Movie Showdown

Week 13: ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’ director Christopher McQuarrie joins a live chat from London about the blockbuster franchise.

Aug. 4, 2020

“You have to be razor sharp for something like that; I don’t want to drop that and shoot other things and have my mind somewhere else,” Cruise said. “You don’t want to be waking up in the middle of the night, ‘It’s still, I still, I still,’ and it has that effect.”

Cruise is no stranger to aerial stunts with a high probability of death. The “Top Gun” actor said preparing for the recent stunt “was years of planning,” a culmination of all the training he’s done with motorcycles, cars and aerobatics.

In the franchise’s last film, “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” (2018), Cruise jumped into a helicopter in midflight , taking the controls to chase another helicopter. In the same movie, he parachuted from a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III from 25,000 feet, close to five miles up, becoming “the first actor” to do so in a major motion picture, according to Paramount (most skydiving attempts occur at 10,000 feet).

In 2011 for “ Ghost Protocol ,” the “Jerry McGuire” actor climbed along the exposed walls of the world’s largest building, the Burj Khalifa of Dubai. And in 2015 for “Rogue Nation,” Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus A400M Atlas as it was taking off, a stunt that veteran stunt coordinator and frequent Cruise collaborator Wade Eastwood called “a stressful experience.”

The recent motorcycle stunt, which Cruise had apparently repeated six times, was no exception. Though the film’s computer-generated images make Cruise appear to be jumping off the rocky surface of the cliff, the scene required a large ramp to be built.

While Cruise is seen atop the motorcycle in the behind-the-scenes video, accelerating off the ramp, a helicopter and drone fly overhead to gather footage. The film’s crew, including director Christopher McQuarrie, are huddled in a nearby tent, faces glued to a set of monitors. After he abandons the bike and hangs in the open air, Cruise releases his parachute and the crew erupts in cheers.

“The only thing you have to avoid when doing a stunt like this are serious injury or death,” Eastwood, who has managed stunts for the last three “Mission Impossible” films, said in the BTS video. “You’re falling. If you don’t get a clean exit from the bike and you get tangled up with it, if you don’t open your parachute, you’re not gonna make it.”

Review: Tom Cruise returns, crazy stunts and all, in ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’

See Tom run. See Tom jump.

July 13, 2018

The scene wasn’t the only stressful one to shoot: Cruise said he also worried about a car chase that involved him handcuffed to a small car, steering with one hand while drifting along the cobblestone streets of Rome, with his co-star Hayley Atwell in the passenger seat.

“It’s plenty of challenges,” Cruise said with a wide grin, laughing once again.

“Dead Reckoning” had its world premiere Sunday at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome with Cruise and other cast members, including Atwell and Vanessa Kirby , in attendance. “Part Two” is expected to be released in June 2024. Filming wrapped in September for what has been rumored to be Cruise’s final appearance in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.

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Tom Cruise Shot ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Motorcycle Stunt on Day One So the Crew Would Know: ‘Do We Continue or Is It a Major Rewrite’ If I Fail?

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“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” director Christopher McQuarrie made headlines at the start of June after revealing to Empire magazine that Tom Cruise ‘s insane motorcycle stunt was shot on the first day of filming. The stunt, billed as the most death-defying one of Cruise’s acting career thus far, finds Cruise riding a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff and then parachuting to safety while in free fall.

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“Well we know either we will continue with the film or we’re not. Let’s know day one!” Cruise recently told Entertainment Tonight about filming the stunt at the very start of production. “Let us know day one what is going to happen: Do we all continue or is it a major rewrite?”

“I was training and I was ready,” Cruise added. “You have to be razor sharp when you’re doing something like that. It was very important as we were prepping the film that it was actually the first thing. I don’t want to drop that and go shoot other things and have my mind somewhere else. Everyone was prepped. Let’s just get it done.”

“Dead Reckoning” is expected to be one of the biggest Hollywood tentpoles of the summer movie season, if not the biggest. Cruise is riding high off the blockbuster success of “Top Gun: Maverick” last year, which ended its run as the 11th highest grossing film in history (unadjusted for inflation) with $1.49 billion. While “Dead Reckoning” may not reach those box office heights, it’s certainly expected to outgross 2017’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” ($791 million) and become the franchise’s new top earner.

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” opens in theaters July 12 from Paramount Pictures.

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning  continues the franchise's trend of outlandish, unbelievable stunts with a motorcycle cliff jump involving Tom Cruise, but how did the cast and crew film the scene? The previous entry,  Mission: Impossible - Fallout , had Cruise learning to perform a HALO jump in camera and how to fly a helicopter for its over-the-top stunts. Previous Mission: Impossible  movies saw Cruise clinging to the side of a plane as it took off, or running down the side of the world's tallest building, proving his immense dedication to his craft.

Therefore, with  Mission: Impossible   7 , fans of the franchise were left wondering how Cruise and  director Christopher McQuarrie would top the already amazing stunts performed in the series thus far. With the added caveat of the next two  Mission: Impossible films being a two-parter, a first for the franchise, speculation began on not just the stunts and action details but what the story would entail as well. However, the trailer for  Mission: Impossible 7  provides some insight into the next big stunt: a motorcycle jump off a sickeningly high cliff.

Related:  Mission: Impossible 7 Can Pay Off A Cut Ethan & Ilsa Scene & Plot Point

As with all of Tom Cruise's productions, his dedication to authentic, in-camera stunts came into play here. He and the rest of the crew had to do an immense amount of preparation for the stunt, performing it six different times in their strive for greatness. Tom Cruise, a regular for dangerous stunts , trained heavily during pre-production to prepare for the jump. His preparation included doing over 13,000 motocross jumps and over 500 skydives. Given Cruise's previous action experiences involving all manner of different vehicles, one would excuse him for under preparing. However, with Cruise doing over 30 helicopter dives each day during pre-production in order to prepare for the base jump section of the fall, it's clear this wasn't the case and he remained as committed as ever. The feat involved Cruise riding the motorcycle off a cliff, before transitioning into a free fall and base jumping with a parachute. In order to achieve this, and make sure it didn't go horribly wrong, the crew of  Mission: Impossible 7  (meaningfully titled  Dead Reckoning )  digitally tracked each of the practice runs using a GPS attached to Cruise's back. Different variables, such as the wind, were tracked accordingly so the crew could figure out the best way to shoot the jump, and also so they could keep Cruise from any potential harm.

Due to the intense nature, and potential danger, of the stunt, it was filmed during the very first day of principal photography. Cruise outlined some of the ways the stunt could have gone wrong (via  Empire ):

“If the wind was too strong, it would blow me off the ramp... The helicopter [filming the stunt] was a problem, because I didn’t want to be hammering down that ramp at top speed and get hit by a stone. Or if I departed in a weird way, we didn’t know what was going to happen with the bike. I had about six seconds once I departed the ramp to pull the chute and I don’t want to get tangled in the bike. If I do, that’s not going to end well.”

Luckily, this  dangerous Mission: Impossible 7  motorcycle stunt went off without a hitch. Cruise's intense preparation and training, as well as the professionalism of the rest of the cast and crew saw that the day went smoothly, capturing the franchise's latest death-defying sequence without any major issues. Tom Cruise put his dangerous motorcycle jumps to the test, driving off the Norweigan mountaintop on which the sequence was filmed, with camera-mounted drones and helicopters catching the fall and base jump all on the first day of shooting.

If Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie have proven anything on  Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation , Fallout,  and now  Dead Reckoning , it's that their eye for breathtaking stunts hasn't faltered. Whether this motorcycle jump will be the main stunt of the film, or if the duo has anything else hidden up their sleeves remains to be seen. However, if this one sequence is anything to go by, it proves that  Mission: Impossible 7   will be another stellar entry in one of cinema's greatest modern action franchises .

Next:  Mission: Impossible 8's Cruise Sendoff Explains Returning Character Mystery

Key Release Dates

Mission: impossible - dead reckoning part one, mission: impossible - dead reckoning - part two.

• SR Originals

How the cast of Mission: Impossible felt watching Tom Cruise riding a bike off a cliff in Dead Reckoning

In the seventh and latest Mission: Impossible movie, actor Tom Cruise performs what director Christopher McQuarrie describes as his most dangerous stunt yet — driving a motorbike straight off a cliff.

"We have a motto on this movie now, which is, "that's a terrible idea. When do we start?" McQuarrie said in an interview with ABC News.

"The more ill-advised something seems, that's how we know we're onto something. And what you're seeing in this movie is just Tom and I taking everything we've learned from all the movies previously — not just Mission: Impossible — [but] Top Gun, Edge of Tomorrow. All the movies we've done separately and together and just applying it to this one."

In Dead Reckoning Part One, which releases in Australia this week, Ethan and his team of spies race across the globe to face off against a sophisticated, evolving AI threat.

Dead Reckoning is the seventh film in the Mission: Impossible series, and the first of two parts. 

It stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby and Pom Klementieff, who was present when Cruise made his death-defying leap.

"We all were watching, we were in Norway and we saw him do it seven or eight times in a row in front of us, it was insane," Klementieff, who plays new character Paris, said.

"It's easier to be there than it is to wait to hear if it went well," Pegg added.

"If you're back at the hotel or the cruise ship we were staying on at the time -- just watching your watch and just waiting, it's terrifying. It's better to be there. Get it over with, tear the bandaid off, see it happen. But my God it was extraordinary."

Still, McQuarrie says another stunt in Part Two, which is due out June 2024, will top even this one.

"So if you go back and look at the other Mission: Impossibles you can see within other sequences, the dress rehearsals for the sequences we're doing now, after every movie, we just look at one another and say 'we can do better'.'"

Currently, the Mission: Impossible series has grossed over $US3.5 billion worldwide ($5.3 billion)

Cruise is famous for performing his own stunts. In 2018's Fallout, he set a record and became the first person to ever execute a high altitude low opening, or HALO, jump on film.

Shooting during a pandemic

Production on Dead Reckoning occurred during the pandemic, and that allowed the filmmakers unprecedented access to cities like Venice, Rome and Abu Dhabi. The lockdown created both difficulties and opportunities, McQuarrie said.

"I don't think we could have shot in Rome or Venice the way that we did, had we not done so during the pandemic," he said.

"Everything was a challenge. And what we do is take advantage of those challenges. We just find ways to work within them and it permeates into the movie that everything you're feeling in this movie is in part and formed by the fact that we're shooting it during the pandemic."

Hayley Atwell's Grace

Hayley Atwell, known for her role as Agent Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe appears as new character Grace, who becomes embroiled in Ethan Hunt's mission.

Atwell says it was important for her to elevate Grace so that the character wasn't a stereotype or one-dimensional.

"So there were moments when, because a lot of it was ad libbed, I made choices where she would be full of self assurance, then she'd be, you know, overwhelmed by self doubt — so what you have is a kind of character that's consistently inconsistent," Atwell said in an interview.

"The choices she makes change the trajectory of the story, at several times in the film. Therefore, she's not just reactive to what the men are doing or what Tom [Cruise] is doing. She very much has her own agency in this."

The film has been described as a farewell to Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, but McQuarrie says that might not necessarily be the case.

"Even if I set out to end the franchise, I couldn't be sure that that's how it would end. These movies are changing all the time," McQuarrie says, adding that he would love to find a way to include Sydney as a location for Dead Reckoning Part Two.

Cruise along with Atwell, Pegg, Klementieff and McQuarrie will walk the red carpet at the film's Sydney premiere tonight.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning releases in Australian cinemas July 8.

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Tom Cruise just performed his most dangerous stunt yet – riding a motorcycle off a cliff and BASE jumping

By Caitlin O'Kane

December 21, 2022 / 10:00 AM EST / CBS News

Tom Cruise has performed another daring stunt for the "Mission: Impossible" film series. 

He called this one the most dangerous thing he's ever attempted. Shot in Norway, the stunt required Cruise to ride a motorcycle off a cliff and BASE jump — something he said he's wanted to do since he was a kid. 

Cruise, 60, is currently working on the two-part "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning" film. He's known for performing his own stunts, but this one took years to plan, he said in a video shared on Twitter. 

So excited to share what we’ve been working on. #MissionImpossible pic.twitter.com/rIyiLzQdMG — Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 19, 2022

In the video, writer and director Christopher McQuarrie said Cruise put together a "master plan" using experts to help execute the stunt.

He had a year of sky diving training, during which he was doing 30 jumps a day – more than 500 skydives, said Wade Eastwood, the film's stunt coordinator. He also had motocross training, doing over 13,000 motocross jumps. Once he got those skills down, the production team created 3D models to try and predict how Cruise would fly through the air during the stunt so they could film it.

Then, it came time for Cruise to execute the stunt — driving a motorcycle up a long ramp, which lead to a cliff, launching off of it and BASE jumping to the bottom. Cruise first jumped out of a helicopter over the cliff to practice, before attempting the full stunt for the cameras.

"The only things you have to avoid while doing a stunt like this are serious injury or death," BASE jumping coach Miles Daisher said. "You're riding a motorcycle, which is pretty dangerous, on top of a ramp that's elevated off the ground, so if you fall off the ramp, that's pretty bad. You're falling, so if you don't get a clean exit from the bike and you get tangled up with it, or if you don't open your parachute, you're not going to make it."

The behind-the-scenes video show Cruise not only execute the stunt once, but six times in one day. 

"Pretty much the biggest stunt in cinematic history," said BASE jumping coach John DeVore. Viewers can see the final product when part one of the film premieres July 2023. The "Mission: Impossible" series is from Paramount Pictures. (Paramount is also the parent company of CBS.)

Cruise has performed countless hair-raising stunts, including jumping off of scaffolding while filming "Mission: Impossible 6" in —  a stunt that left him injured and limping. 

Cruise has been in Europe filming the seventh and eight "Mission: Impossible" films for several years. The seventh movie was scheduled to premiere in November 2021, but the COVD-19 pandemic shut down production and was pushed to May 27, 2022,  according to Variety . The date was pushed several time after that, and the film will now premier next year. 

While shooting in the U.K. last year, Cruise, who was traveling by helicopter, needed a place to land,  BBC News reports.  He ended up landing in a family's backyard, and then let their kids go for a ride in the helicopter, making headlines.

Caitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," CBS News' streaming show that focuses on good news.

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Tom Cruise’s Bike Off A Cliff Stunt Was Day One On Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: ‘It’s Never The Easy Road’ – Exclusive Image

We’ve all seen it by now, in the various trailers and featurettes that have been shared ahead of the release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One . It’s perhaps pioneering action star Tom Cruise ’s biggest, most dangerous stunt yet – yes, we’re talking about him driving a motorbike off a cliff (for real!), letting go of the bike in mid-air (for real!), and falling to the ground (for real!). It’s an incredible, stomach-churning sight (which you can remind yourself of by watching the latest trailer, below) – and, as it turns out, was the very first day of shooting on the new Mission film.

That’s quite a first day, isn’t it? Arriving on set, saying hello to the crew… and then potentially plummeting to your death? It’s all part of director Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise’s fluid filmmaking approach to the Mission movies, where action set-pieces often come first and plot points are woven in later. The big bike stunt, shot in Helsetkopen, Norway, was an example of that. “Doing that on Day One gave us all the time in the world to understand why he [Ethan] was doing what he was doing,” McQuarrie tells Empire , in our world-exclusive new Ahsoka issue . “If we sat around and tried to figure out these movies the old-fashioned way, you’d never find it, simply because it’s such a living, breathing thing.” Shooting that jaw-dropping moment first was also the Mission team coming out of the gates in a big way, and a statement of intent for the two upcoming films – something that was important to Cruise. “It’s never the easy road,” Cruise tells Empire . “I have a responsibility to audiences, the studio, my crew, my cast and industry. We can’t compromise just because all of these things happened. I can’t compromise the storytelling.”

Mission ’s non-linear, non-traditional method of production ran through the entire shoot, and became the norm for more of the cast than just Cruise. “You always go back and forth between the beginning and the end of the movie,” says Pom Klementieff , who plays a mysterious, harlequin-esque adversary for Ethan Hunt. “They’re always checking what they have, and then we do reshoots within the shoot.” Vanessa Kirby , returning in Dead Reckoning as The White Widow, is also fully on board with this way of working. “We were shooting in a train carriage,” she says. “And because of Covid we had moved on from that location, and then we realised we needed to get something else to tie in. We even came back a couple of months ago to that scene. It’s cool that you know that it will be the best version, and that they don’t stop until they get it.” A cinematic experience like no other is the mission, after all.

Read Empire ’s exclusive Mission: Impossible feature in full – speaking to Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, Hayley Atwell , Simon Pegg , Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson , Pom Klementieff, Ving Rhames and Henry Czerny – in the upcoming July 2023 issue, on sale Thursday 8 June. Become an Empire member to access the digital edition in full on launch day, or pre-order a print copy online now here . Dead Reckoning Part One arrives in cinemas on 11 July.

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Tom Cruise’s new motorcycle in Top Gun: Maverick was chosen for a reason

By Parth Charan

It’s hard not to picture a twenty-something Tom Cruise’s trademark grin, as he throttles towards the danger zone running alongside an F14 Tomcat, when you think of the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun. Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell was pretty vocal about his need for speed, so naturally, his on-ground set of wheels had to pack quite a wallop. Being an ace fighter pilot, one on a government servant’s salary, obviously a hyper-quick supercar wasn’t going to make much sense, so Cruise’s character was given a superbike. Not just any superbike, but a Kawasaki GPZ900R aka the first Kawasaki Ninja. The “Ninja” designation came in a bit later, primarily because the alphanumeric didn’t sit well in the American market. The GPZ900R was, at the time of the movie’s release, the fastest production bike in the world.

It featured a 908cc, 4-stroke, transverse 4-cylinder engine with a double overhead camshaft with four valves per cylinder. It was also liquid-cooled which made it one of the most technologically advanced motorcycles of its time. Only a decade before, the Japanese motorcycle industry had begun to use its highly advanced and superlatively quick motorcycles as an example of the country’s manufacturing prowess. No one, not Ducati, not Triumph made motorcycles that quick. The GPZ900R made 115bhp and had a top speed of 245kph. Maverick’s now iconic motorcycle was, in real life, as close to a fighter jet as a road-legal motorcycle could get.

Thirty-six years later things haven’t changed much. We can see a suspiciously young looking Tom Cruise, grin wider than ever, astride another motorcycle, this time with a new love interest sitting at the back. The motorcycle is a Kawasaki Ninja H2, and the movie’s producers didn’t just pick the bike for the sake of continuity. The Kawasaki Ninja H2 is the genealogical successor to the GPZ900R and happens to be the present-day fastest production bike in the world (at the time of the movie’s filming). Since then, the Lightning LS-218 has taken the number 2 spot, with the number one spot going, once again, to the Kawasaki Ninja H2R. The H2 is no slouch though, it has a supercharger assisting its 1000cc, in-line four cylinder engine, putting out a massive 200bhp.

With that sort of power-to-weight ratio, it could actually go toe-to-toe against an F18 on a runway. How a helmet hating Cruise and Garner make it with their fabulous hair and facial muscles intact requires a greater suspension of disbelief than pulling an inverted, negative 4G manoeuvre on a Mig. With the Ninja H2, you’ll never really feel the need for more speed.

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‘Mission: Impossible 7’: Tom Cruise Drove a Bike Off a Cliff 6 Times to Nail Shot

CinemaCon 2021: The action star did a year of motocross and base jump training for one insane stunt

When Paramount is about to release a “Mission: Impossible” film, Tom Cruise usually shows up at CinemaCon to show off behind-the-scenes footage of his latest insane stunts. Though he wasn’t in Las Vegas, Paramount did show off what Cruise has spent the pandemic doing: riding a motorcyle off a giant cliff in Norway. Cruise did a year of base jump and motocross training for the stunt, with director Christopher McQuarrie building a track just for him to get the hang of the bike. “I have to get so good at this that there’s no way I will miss my marks,” he said. “Don’t be careful, be confident!” McQuarrie and his team then had Cruise jump the bike off a cliff into a foam pit while testing state-of-the-art drones that weren’t even around when “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” was filmed. CGI and telemetry was used constantly to get a sense of how far Cruise would fly off the motorcyle to make sure the camera was set up just right. And then, when it came time to go to the massive cliff to film the scene, Cruise performed the death-defying stunt six times, having to memorize how fast to launch the bike and at what point in his descent into the rocky cliffside to deploy his chute. If it isn’t clear yet, Cruise will do anything for his craft.

Cruise returns to the film for more death-defying stunts, as does director Christopher McQuarrie, who directed the last two films in the franchise and is already at work on “Mission: Impossible 8.” He’s joined by a returning cast that includes Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Simon Pegg and Angela Bassett, but newcomers to the franchise include Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Cary Elwes.

Anticipation is high after the release of 2018’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” which was by far the best reviewed movie in the long-running action series and was also the highest grossing movie of the bunch, earning $791.6 million worldwide.

It’s also been a long time coming for “MI7,” which started filming before the COVID-19 pandemic way back in March 2020 and managed to continue despite some delays and a now infamous rant from Cruise about the crew members being lax on COVID-19 safety protocols.

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Tom Cruise says 'Mission: Impossible 7' motorcycle stunt was shot on the first day of production so everyone knew if they could keep going or if it needed a 'major rewrite'

• Tom Cruise said the motorcycle stunt was done on the first day of shooting so everyone knew how to go forward.
• "Do we all continue or is it a major rewrite?" he told Entertainment Tonight.
• The director told Empire that doing it early also let production figure out how to use the stunt in the plot.

Tom Cruise says there's a simple explanation for why his thrilling stunt of driving a motorcycle off a cliff was completed on the very first day of production on "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1" — there would need to be a major change to the story if it wasn't successful.

"We know either we will continue with the film or we're not. Let's know day one!" Cruise told "Entertainment Tonight" (at the 2:00 mark). "Let us know day one what is going to happen: Do we all continue or is it a major rewrite?"

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"I was training and I was ready," Cruise continued. "You have to be razor sharp when you're doing something like that. It was very important as we were prepping the film that it was actually the first thing. I don't want to drop that and go shoot other things and have my mind somewhere else. Everyone was prepped. Let's just get it done."

The stunt is the latest thrilling moment in the "M:I" franchise that has seen Cruise do everything from hang onto the side of a plane as it takes off to perform a HALO jump with a broken ankle.

Though those stunts were all extremely dangerous for Cruise to pull off, this one might be the most death-defying to date for the superstar.

The stunt has Cruise driving a motorcycle off a cliff in Norway. Then in mid-air, he disposes of the bike and free-falls until he opens his parachute.

To train for it, Cruise did 500 skydives and over 13,000 motocross jumps. And that wasn't just so Cruise had the skill and comfort to pull off the stunt; the training also made it possible for director Christopher McQuarrie and his crew to map out camera angles to capture it. 

McQuarrie recently told Empire a stunt like this has to be done at the start of production because then plot points can be written into the movie as to why Cruise's character Ethan Hunt jumped off the cliff in the first place.

"Doing that on day one gave us all the time in the world to understand why he was doing what he was doing," McQuarrie said. "If we sat around and tried to figure out these movies the old-fashioned way, you'd never find it, simply because it's such a living, breathing thing."

Cruise ended up doing the stunt six times on the first day of shooting. That meant a lot of cleanup.

Insider has learned from a source close to production that after each jump, a team at ground level in Norway was responsible for recovering and disposing of all the broken pieces of motorcycle that shattered on impact before the next jump was attempted.

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11 Motorcycles From Tom Cruise's Collection (And 11 Cars)

Cruise has both vintage cars and newly released cars in his collection. He shares the same enthusiasm for the motorcycle as well.

The three-time Oscar-nominated American actor and a multi-millionaire Tom Cruise needs no introduction. He has a net worth of $480 million and started making huge bucks after his first major success , Risky Business .

Updated March 2022: A thrill-seeker and gearhead at heart, Tom Cruise owns a plethora of exciting cars and fast bikes. So many, in fact, that we've had to update this list to include more of the incredible vehicles in his collection!

Tom Cruise is an automobile enthusiast, a passion he inherited from his friend Paul Newman. He has a massive collection of cars and motorcycles in his garage. Cruise has also been an active participant in the "Celebrity Championship" car races for more than a decade.

Tom Cruise is known to love the thrill of living life on the edge. Performing stunts and racing at high speeds on expensive cars and bikes give him joys and satisfaction. His love for fast and powerful automobiles has resulted in having a garage full of collectibles. Cruise has both vintage cars and newly released cars in his collection. He shares the same enthusiasm for the motorcycle as well. You can spot Tom Cruise driving (and riding) his collection at high speeds both in his films and real life.

Related: 10 Coolest Cars (And 5 Motorcycles) From Tom Cruise's Collection

22 Triumph Thruxton

Edge of Tomorrow is arguably an awful action flick, yet Tom Cruise still got paid. And he got to ride a Triumph Thruxton. In fact, when all of the equipment was shipped, Cruise picked up the Thruxton and rode it himself back to the set.

The 865cc bike has a top speed of 115 MPH, plenty fast to do all the crazy stunts! Featuring a four-stroke parallel twin-cylinder engine, the Thruxton can make 69 horsepower, and the iconic Triumph styling makes it one of the most incredible bikes Cruise has driven on or off set.

21 Vyrus 987 C3 4V

Tom Cruise owns the most powerful and most expensive production motorcycle globally. The cost of this motorcycle is estimated to be around $103,769. Cruise was seen speeding away on his Vyrus from his 51st birthday.

He rode his flashy motorcycle and made a dramatic exit from the Hotel Chateau Marmont. It is a chopper made by an Italian manufacturer and powered by a 1.2-liter engine. It is a lightweight motorcycle that weighs around 154 kgs. It can hit a high speed of 209mph. Despite being fast, it is stable, making it safe and secure.

20 Kawasaki GPZ900R

Top Gun is one of Tom Cruise's most famous films . In it, he rides a Kawasaki GBZ900 and performs stunts with it. A couple of months ago, the star actor Tom Cruise posted a picture of his Kawasaki bike for the Top Gun 2 movie. He was also spotted on an airfield driving the Kawasaki Ninja H2R. The Kawasaki GPZ900 used in Top Gun was replaced by the Kawasaki Ninja H2R in the sequel.

This is a middleweight motorcycle with a 998cc engine with a maximum power of 322bhp. The top speed of this bike is 248mph.

19 Ducati 999R

Ducati is always on the top of the list when it comes to celebrity motorcycle collections. Cruise got himself a grey color Ducati 999R for his 46th birthday. He was spotted cruising with his Ducati 999R in LA, where he almost ran into a tree. His Ducati 999R was one of the 200 units that were ever manufactured.

The top speed of this Ducati 999R is estimated to be around 179mph. It was one of the most potent bikes ever built and claimed positive reviews from bike enthusiasts. This sporty bike was specially designed for racing purposes. It has a 6-speed gearbox.

18 BMW S1000 RR

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation featured BMW motorcycles . In the movie, the black BMW S1000 RR was used as a getaway bike. The top speed of this sports bike is around 188mph.

Michael Dunlop, a bike racer, won many races and championships with this bike making it iconic for BMW. It is one of the most potent, stable, and dependable bikes in the world. The production started off with 1,000 units, but that number increased to meet commercial demand.

17 Confederate Hellcat

Tom Cruise’s passion for bikes led to him giving a dramatic entry on his Confederate Hellcat for the premiere of Mission Impossible 3 . The Hellcat is known for its unique design. This bike is well ahead of its time. This bike has a special place in the hearts of bike enthusiasts.

M.S.Dhoni also owns this Confederate Hellcat, powered by a 2.2-liter engine that makes 121hp. The bike is mighty and stable compared to other bikes on the market. The cost of this bike is estimated to be around $65,000.

16 Honda CRF450X

Launched in 2015, this was a redesigned version of the Honda 450 model. It had a four-valve engine, single-cylinder, and four-stroke 449cc engine. The weight of this bike is around 110kgs. It has 5-speed transmissions. Cruise drove this bike in the movie Oblivion, and it featured a futuristic design for the film.

Unlike Cruise himself, who performs most of his own onscreen stunts, the bike is simply present in the film to showcase the design and is not involved with any notable performances. The top speed of this futuristic bike is estimated to be around 105mph.

15 BMW R nine T Scrambler

In his recent movie Mission Impossible: Fallout, Tom Cruise rides a BMW R nine T Scrambler. In this movie, he is seen racing with a brand new R nine T Scrambler until he crashes it. (Oops, spoilers.) The BMW R nine T Scrambler has a powerful 1170cc engine.

The seating position of this motorcycle is perfect and helps him glide along the road. The 55-year-old actor seems to be enjoying doing stunts and racing with this fantastic bike. It is not just a rugged bike but a legend. This bike can hit a top speed of 124mph.

Related: In Risky Business, It Was The Porsche 928 That Looked Better Than Tom Cruise

14 Ducati Desmosedici RR

Ducati Desmosedici was a symbol of both pride and passion for motorcycle lovers . Back in 2008, Cruise was spotted sharing a ride on this rare bike with Cameron Diaz, his co-star from the famous movie Knight and Day . The Desmosedici was a limited edition motorcycle and was one among 1,500 units that were built. It had a powerful 800cc V4 engine that could hit a top speed of 200mph. The price of a Desmosedici was estimated to be around $72,500.

13 Triumph Speed Triple

Tom Cruise rode a 1999 Triumph Speed Triple in his movie Mission Impossible II . The film was action-packed, and Cruise himself performed many stunts. Cruise is known for doing fantastic motorcycle stunts without a helmet, and this movie was no exception. The Triumph Speed Triple is considered the most engaging sports bike of its time.

It was powered by an 885cc and can hit a high speed of 143mph. This bike is easy to handle, and the seating position gives the proper comfort for riding this, making it great for long drives.

12 Triumph Bonneville Scrambler

The blockbuster movie Mission Impossible III featured the Triumph Bonneville Scrambler, which was driven by Tom Cruise. The Triumph Bonneville Scrambler came with stylish looks and was one of the five bikes specially built for the movie.

Although this movie didn’t feature Cruise performing major stunts like many of his others, that didn’t stop him from riding the famous Triumph, the bike that was used in this movie was later auctioned off to the Bonhams and was sold at a high price of $29,250.

11 Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron is an ultimate classic with a special place in Tom Cruise’s garage. The stylish design of this Bugatti Veyron makes it the best-made cars to date. The high speed of the 16.4 variant, which Tom Cruise owns, can reach the speed of 253mph, making it one of the fastest cars in the world.

Despite being fast, it is easy to drive. Tom Cruise is among the first buyers of this fantastic car. For the premiere of Mission Impossible III , Tom Cruise showcased his new Bugatti Veyron.

10 Ford Mustang Saleen S281

Tom Cruise's Ford Mustang Saleen S281 was one among the 100 that were initially built. Cruise drove a Mustang Saleen S281 in his movie Mission Impossible III which might be the reason for his connection to this car. After frantically trying to get that car for Tom Cruise, producer John Ficarra could get the car shipped from California to New Jersey overnight.

Cruise showcased this supercar during three movie openings in Manhattan that took place on the same day. The top speed of this Ford Mustang Saleen S 281 is around 150mph.

9 1958 Chevrolet Corvette

Tom Cruise owns a 1958 original series Chevrolet Corvette, an extremely iconic muscle car. In 2007, Cruise was spotted driving this car along with Katie Holmes for a romantic evening in LA to the eatery Mastro's Steakhouse. Cruise was also having some trouble starting his Chevrolet Corvette while the couple was leaving the restaurant.

The 1958 Corvette was a two-door coupe with exclusive hood louvers and twin trunk spears. Cruise's Chevrolet Corvette was one among the 9,168 units produced. It has a four-speed automatic transmission with an output range of 230 to 290hp.

8 Porsche 911 996

Porsche is one of the famous luxury brands which has consistently topped the list of celebrity collections. The Porsche 911 is considered the most successful competition car in its era. Cruise has a black Porsche 911 in his garage.

The Porsche 911 is a two-door coupe that has an elegant exterior. The 996 series was in production from 1997 to 2004. This fantastic sports car was well ahead of its time and used Tiptronic automatic transmission.

7 Mercedes CLK

Cruise owns a Mercedes CLK W209, powered by a 5.5-liter V8 engine. The CLK W209 launched in 2002, and the one Cruise owns has a five-speed automatic transmission. This legendary actor is known for collecting not just the fastest cars but also cars that come in style.

The Mercedes CLK W209 may not be the fastest, but it sure does give a comfortable and quality ride. This car might not be an expensive addition to his collection, but it certainly has excellent features. Cruise’s Mercedes CLK was last seen while the actor was still married to Katie Holmes.

Related: 5 Iconic Motorcycles Owned By Tom Cruise (5 He Rode As Captain Maverick and Ethan Hunt)

6 Mercedes-Benz S class

This luxury sedan car has always been a celebrity favorite. The vehicle is powered by a 3.0-liter V6 engine. It has driver assistant features that can drive for extended periods without intervention, even though keeping an eye on it at all times is always advised.

This car is loaded with technology which makes the ride fun. This luxury sedan can read traffic signals and change lanes at 50 to 112 mph. It can even navigate using the GPS. The cost of this car is high, but that doesn’t stop multi-millionaires like Tom Cruise from buying it.

5 Ford Excursion

One of the biggest cars that Cruise owns is his Ford Excursion. Cruise has always been in love with SUVs, and owning this is significant proof. It is a heavyweight automobile as it should be.

Tom Cruise used a decoy Ford Excursion to escape the paparazzi while leaving the hospital after his baby Suri was born. Cruise used two decoy Excursions which left at the same time in a different direction, to divert the paparazzi from stalking him.

4 1949 Buick Roadmaster

Cruise was first seen driving this 1949 Buick Roadmaster in the Oscar-winning film "Rain Man." Cruise has a great love for vintage cars, and owning this car is evidence of that. Cruise owns a 1949 Buick Roadmaster, a two-door sedan that introduced the concept of VentiPorts.

Buick Roadmaster was one of the most popular, stylish, and all-around appealing cars of its time. It was one of the first pillarless hardtop cars built by General Motors. The Roadmaster was one of the bestsellers of its era, making it highly sought after by car enthusiasts.

3 Chevrolet Chevelle SS

The Chevrolet Chevelle was owned by Cruise before his stardom days. It is one of the oldest cars in Tom Cruise’s car collection. The Chevelle SS was a two-door coupe powered by a 6.8-liter V8 engine that gave an output of 370hp. This car was in production from 1969 to 1977 and was later discontinued to give way to other new vehicles.

Tom Cruise is seen driving and performing stunts in the movie Jack Reacher with this midsized automobile. The top speed of this car is around 162 mph, and about 86,000 units of Chevelle were sold during its production run.

Cafe Racers, Scramblers, Trackers, and Bratstyle

What is the Motorcycle in Top Gun 2?

Tom Cruise to ride a supercharged Kawasaki Ninja H2 in Top Gun sequel!

The sequel to one of the most iconic films of the 1980s, Top Gun , will be released on June 26, 2020:  Top Gun: Maverick . Tom Cruise will reprise his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, now a captain and instructor at TOPGUN, the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School — now based at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada. Instead of his F-14 Tomcat, Maverick now pilots an F/A-18 Super Hornet.

The film focuses on the end of the dog-fighting era, the rise of drones in aerial combat, and features Val Kilmer reprising his role as Ice Man, Miles Teller as Goose’s son, and Jennifer Connelly as a single mom running a bar near the air station. Kenny Loggins has recorded a new version of the “Danger Zone” for the film, and the legendary Hans Zimmer will serve as the film’s composer.

For any of us who know the original movie, one of the most memorable scenes is Maverick on his Kawasaki GPZ900R , in his leather flight jacket, racing a jet down the runway at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego.  It seems Maverick’s original GPZ will make a cameo appearance in the new film, as revealed by Motorbike Writer :

However, in the new film, Maverick’s two-wheeled technology has evolved.  This time, Tom Cruise is on the mightiest production motorcycle on the planet, a supercharged Kawasaki Ninja H2.

Top Gun 2 Motorcycle: Kawasaki Ninja H2

The Ninja H2, along with the track-only H2R, is Kawasaki’s “halo model” — a supercharged superbike that represents the cutting edge of engine technology, turbine development, and aerodynamics. The street-legal, 228-hp 2019 H2 offers some 30 horsepower more than naturally-aspirated literbikes, while the track-only, 326-hp H2R is the most powerful production motorcycle ever sold, running 20.5 psi of boost. Said Road & Track of the H2R:

“The poster child of 2-wheeled insanity…so extreme it’s hard to comprehend.”

Many news outlets have erroneously reported that Cruise/Maverick rides the track-only H2R in Top Gun 2 . However, closer examination of on-set photographs from the new film show Cruise on a street-legal Ninja H2. The bike has an LED headlight and rear-view mirrors with built-in indicators. The H2R, on the other hand, has carbon fiber “ears” instead of mirrors and no headlight.

Other outlets have reported that Cruise rides a special-edition Kawasaki Ninja H2 Carbon, which has a carbon fiber upper cowl and “Mirror-coated Matte Spark Black/Candy Flat Blazed Green” paint.​ However, the bike appears to be a regular Ninja H2.

Cruise, who insists on doing many of his own stunts, is no stranger to motorcycles, as we’ve seen in films like Knight and Day and Mission Impossible: Fallout , and as you can see, spy shots were captured of Cruise riding the H2R on set.

“Many news outlets have erroneously reported that Cruise/Maverick rides the track-only H2R” and then you say at the end “and as you can see, spy shots were captured of Cruise riding the H2R on set.” Doh!

I think that he really is on a special modified bike, since its a one-seat bike, however to hold the chick behind him, the bike has to be modified for two person so it’s not a regular street bike.

Could be an H2SX

I guess the real question now is, will a Japanese motorcycle company do the American thing, and produce a “Topgun” edition H2? ???? One can only imagine.

He should have been on an AMERICAN made superbike the BUELL 1190RX, but the H2 is a beast.

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Tom Cruise’s 10 Best Non-'Mission: Impossible' Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes

If you want to see more of the actor behind Ethan Hunt, check out these highly-rated movies!

From his earliest days starring in comedic teen dramas to his current standing as a major blockbuster draw card the world over, Tom Cruise can only be viewed as one of the greatest movie stars cinema has ever seen. Ever since he starred in 1996’s reboot of Mission: Impossible , the action franchise has become a major part of his cinematic identity, and with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One in theaters from July 12, fans will be coming out in droves to see what Ethan Hunt and the IMF have in store.

Despite his action star image, Cruise has honed his skill set in a wide range of roles across many different genres. From unlikely heroes to terrifying antagonists and, of course, a couple of iconic action roles, these are Tom Cruise’s best movies outside the Mission: Impossible franchise, according to Rotten Tomatoes .

10 'Jerry Maguire' (1996)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

A sports management romance flick, Jerry Maguire excelled thanks to its wonderful cast and Cameron Crowe ’s unique style. It stars Cruise as the titular character, a successful sports agent who want to re-invent the way athlete management operates for the better, with only one client staying with him to see if it will work.

Ever on the brink of everything falling apart, Cruise brings out Jerry Maguire’s angst and desperation but also his convictions and humor to make for a charming and triumphant outing. With Renée Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr. also outstanding in their parts, the film remains a rewarding, endlessly quotable '90s rom-com classic.

9 'American Made' (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

A comedic crime drama based on true events, American Made had raucous and infectious energy befitting its stranger-than-fiction narrative. Cruise stars as Barry Seal, an American pilot hired by the CIA to gain intel on a communist threat in Central America only to end up working as a smuggler for the Medellín cartel.

A fun-fueled pressure cooker of a movie , it demanded Cruise shoulder the load of its tonal complexity. He delivered in spades, embodying the reckless, shameless moral debauchery that made the film such a spectacle. It encapsulates the freewheeling chaos of 1980s America and roars to an abrupt and violent ending.

8 'Born of the Fourth of July' (1989)

Possibly the single most underrated performance of Tom Cruise’s career, Born on the Fourth of July features the movie icon at his dramatic best. The biographical war drama follows Ron Kovic, a paralyzed veteran of the Vietnam War who becomes an anti-war activist as the world around him fails to comprehend what he lives with.

From director Oliver Stone , the film was an angry, exceptional swipe at so many aspects of American society and how it handled the war and its veterans in its entirety. Taking Kovic from an optimistic and naïve youth to a furious, jaded activist earned Cruise his first Oscar nomination and remains his most striking performance.

7 'Collateral' (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Tom Cruise has made a name for himself as one of the greatest action stars cinema has ever seen. As such, it is rather rare to see him in the role of the antagonist, which is a shame considering how fantastic he was at playing the villain in Collateral .

The thriller stars Jamie Foxx as an L.A. cabbie who realizes he’s been driving a rampaging hitman from one job to the next. The action is high-tempo and intense, and the tension only builds as Foxx’s innocent protagonist tries to figure out how to escape the night alive, but the film hinges its brilliance on Cruise’s magnetic and utterly intimidating performance as the psychotic gunman.

6 'The Color of Money' (1986)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88%

A legacy sequel before legacy sequels were a thing, The Color of Money succeeded The Hustler some 25 years after the first film was made. Paul Newman reprised his role as “Fast Eddie” Felson, a once legendary pub-crawling con artist who returns to scamming pool games and takes young accomplice Vincent Lauria (Cruise) under his wing.

The mentor-to-rivalry relationship between the two is a joy to watch, especially with legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese giving the film a real visual punch. While Newman was the leading man, the film showed that Cruise wasn’t out of his depth rubbing shoulders with major stars on the big screen and still stands as a pivotal moment in his career.

5 'Rain Man' (1988)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

From director Barry Levinson , Rain Man was an early opportunity for Cruise to capitalize on his early success in a dramatic road trip film which would win four Oscars, including Best Picture. It follows a sketchy car dealer who, upon learning his estranged father has died, returns home and learns his inheritance has been left to a mental institution that houses an autistic older brother he never knew he had.

Wanting to get his hands on the inheritance, Charlie (Cruise) checks his brother out of the facility, leading to a chaotic, comedic, and heartfelt road trip across America. With good humor, great character development, and a wonderful sense of adventure, Rain Man has become a deserving classic and one of the most memorable films of Cruise’s career.

4 'Minority Report' (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%

2002’s Minority Report presented moviegoers with a mouth-watering collaboration between Tom Cruise and veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg . As a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller, it did not disappoint, taking place in a future where police can arrest murderers before they strike. The movie follows a Precrime officer accused of murdering a man he is yet to meet.

As a high-concept action blockbuster, the movie is quite remarkable in giving audiences high-octane thrills while still delivering a contemplative story about right and wrong in law enforcement. It also gave Cruise plenty of room to showcase his acting chops, with intense scenes involving the mystery of his missing son and the prospect of vengeance against the man who took him from him.

3 'Edge of Tomorrow' (2014)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

It seems as though every genre has given its own spin on the time loop narrative, from romantic comedies like Palm Springs and Groundhog Day to horror flicks like Happy Death Day . However, few are as good as Edge of Tomorrow , an action sci-fi thriller following an alien invasion of Earth and a soldier who becomes humanity’s last hope when he falls into a time loop.

While the film has astonishing action sequences and visual effects, the most enjoyable aspect of it is seeing Cruise portray Major William Cage, an officer who has never seen combat and desperately tries to wriggle out of battle any way he can. The role brought Cruise’s underrated comedy chops to the fore and gave audiences a noble character arc that was fun and engaging.

2 'Risky Business' (1983)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

An early star-making flick for Cruise, Risky Business unveiled Tom Cruise as a leading man with strong comedic presence. It follows an upper-class high schooler from Chicago suburbia whose night of wild fun leads to a desperate, farcical adventure as he must rack up money fast, leading him to use his parents’ house as a brothel.

The flick is quintessentially '80s, but it does work exceptionally well, thanks to its focus on teenage angst and its willingness to incorporate darker themes. It also features a famous scene showing a baby-faced Tom Cruise relishing his newfound freedom by lip-syncing, air-guitaring, and dancing to Bob Seger ’s "Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll."

1 'Top Gun: Maverick' (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

A rousing, triumphant, glorious throwback to '80s action, Top Gun: Maverick could well go down as Tom Cruise’s crowning achievement. The legacy sequel follows an aging fighter pilot brought back to Top Gun to train a cohort of pilots ahead of a dangerous mission.

In addition to its romantic nostalgia, the film boasted a truly staggering visual display, making it an incredible big-screen experience appreciated by fans and critics alike. It won an Academy Award for Best Sound and currently sits as the second-highest-rated Tom Cruise film on Rotten Tomatoes, just behind Mission: Impossible – Fallout .

KEEP READING: Every 'Mission: Impossible' Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

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The Bikeriders

After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must cho... Read all After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club. After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.

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• Trivia In October 2018, Jeff Nichols revealed he had been thinking about making a biker film set in the 1960s for five years, although he did not at that stage have a script, and mentioned the idea on the set of Long Way Back Home to Michael Shannon who reportedly told him "You've been talking about that damn idea for so long. You're never gonna make that [film]".

Johnny : [from trailer] I've been thinking, I can run this club forever. I've built this from nothing. This is our family. You and me kid.

• Soundtracks Lonely Room Written by J. M. Rigter and Willie Murray Performed by Mickey Murray Courtesy of Sun Records

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Pom Klementieff asked Tom Cruise to kick her in the stomach for Mission: Impossible fight scene

"I kept telling him to just kick me here," the Guardians of the Galaxy actress recalls to EW, indicating her midsection. "I was squeezing abs... But he wouldn't do it."

Senior Writer

Tom Cruise got strapped to the outside of a plane for 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and rode a motorbike off a cliff for the latest sequel, Dead Reckoning Part One . But there is at least one thing the Top Gun star won't do in pursuit of on-screen verisimilitude while making the action franchise — kick Pom Klementieff in the stomach.

In the latest Mission: Impossible film, the Guardians of the Galaxy actress plays a highly dangerous character named Paris who is partnered with the movie's main antagonist, Gabriel, played by Esai Morales. During a sequence set in Venice, Paris has a fight with Cruise's super-spy Ethan Hunt and it was while shooting the encounter that Klementieff asked her co-star to give her a kick in the guts for real.

"I kept telling him to just kick me here," the actress recalls to EW, indicating her midsection. "I was squeezing abs. [I said], 'You can just go for it.' He was like 'No, no, no, no, no.' I was like, 'But it's going to help me!' But he wouldn't do it."

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One director Christopher McQuarrie cast Klementieff after seeing her playing Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 and describes her character as "very, very, very much a chaotic element in the story. It doesn't matter how deep in the background she is, you're going to be watching her at all times and wondering what she's going to do." The actress herself says that Paris is someone who "destroys everything in her path. She's a rebel, she's a killer, she's extremely skilled and quite lonely too."

Much of the destruction caused by the character takes place in Rome during a sequence in which a Humvee-driving Paris pursues Cruise's Ethan Hunt and Hayley Atwell 's character, who are in a small yellow Fiat. "I had so much fun shooting this scene," says the French actress. "It was so special to be on location in Rome. We were shooting during COVID, so we were very lucky to be here. I was trying to not laugh too much because I was having so much fun in the car following the Fiat."

Klementieff reveals that her character's name is a nod to the Great Paris, the magician-spy played by Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy on the original Mission: Impossible TV show. "When Christopher McQuarrie cast me for the role, he didn't know which name the character would have," she says. "It was cool to name me Paris, me being from France, and then they decided that I would speak French because I speak French in real life."

It is unlikely that Nimoy ever wore anything as eye-catching on the TV show as the looks sported by Klementieff in the movie.

"She's very different style-wise from every other actress in the Mission: Impossible franchise," Klementieff says. "She has a side that's a bit more punk and she doesn't really give a f---. So that was cool."

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One will release in theaters July 12.

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A Look At Suri Cruise's Stunning Height Through The Years

While the nepo baby conversation has been raging on across social media, there's one child of nepotism who, instead of striking out into film and TV, has been keeping a rather low profile. Suri Cruise's name has been emblazoned across tabloid headlines ever since she entered this world on April 18, 2006. However, the daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise has only been seen in fleeting glimpses through images captured by the long lenses of paparazzi and eager fans' sneaky phone cameras.  

Whether this now-grown daughter of Hollywood royalty will eventually make a bid for her own career in entertainment remains to be seen, but the shots we've seen over the years make clear that she has the kind of physique usually seen on catwalks or in basketball arenas. That's right — it seems Suri has had plenty of growth spurts and now stands at an impressive height. 

While her exact measurements are unknown, it seems the teenager has now exceeded the height of her father, who is widely known to be on the shorter side . With Tom's height making headlines every time he's caught standing next to a taller actress (and even one tabloid speculating that he wears secret heels inside of his shoes), it's something of a pop culture scandal to see his estranged daughter climbing in inches. Let's take a trip down memory lane and see how Suri's statuesque status came to be. 

Suri Cruise made her media debut at 5 months old

While some celebrity parents are incredibly private when it comes to the birth of their children, in 2006, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise couldn't help but gush over their newborn daughter to the press. In fact, Suri Cruise's photo was printed on the cover of Vanity Fair  magazine before she even knew how to crawl. In the exclusive cover story, writer Jane Sarkin recorded inside details about the baby's appearance, Suri's unique name , and her parents' budding relationship with their newborn daughter. 

Coming in at just 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and 20 inches in length, baby Suri was a pipsqueak by adult standards. However, she was right on track to develop normally, as the average length for a newborn is 19 to 20 inches. Her small stature wasn't the only way she resembled her famous father, either. As a baby, Suri had what Sarkin called Tom's "famous helmet of dark-brown hair." First-time mom Katie agreed, saying, "I think she has Tom's eyes. I think she looks like Tom." 

The doting father disagreed, saying, "She has Kate's lips and eyes. I think she looks like Kate." The young parents were the perfect image of the nuclear family and, thanks to their comments, the public couldn't get enough of beautiful Suri either. In the years to come, the press would keep a close eye on her to see just exactly which parent she would turn out to resemble the most.

The paparazzi couldn't get enough of her

As the daughter of a "Dawson's Creek" alum and one of Hollywood's last true movie stars, it was inevitable that Suri Cruise would have to deal with more cameras in her face than most. However, the media attention that the little girl attracted in her early years was chaotic, to say the least. In the early 2000s, almost every photo of Suri shows her carried in her parents' arms with her head bowed down. 

With a flurry of photographers following her and her family every time they stepped outside their home, it's no surprise that the public didn't get too many peeks at young Suri during her first few years. Understandably, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise seemed protective of their little girl. However, differences in the pair's parenting philosophies can be seen in the conflicting statements they've given to the press over the years.

Katie opened up  i n a rare "Today" show appearance about her desire for her daughter to have a similar upbringing as she did as a child, growing up out of the spotlight (via E! News ). Tom, on the other hand, admitted that he sees the media attention as something his daughter will just have to get used to after a while. Speaking with "GMTV" in 2009, the "Mission Impossible" star admitted that he doesn't want his youngest daughter "to be sheltered in any way," (via RTE ).

Suri Cruise joined dad Tom Cruise on his movie sets

Like many a nepo baby before her, Suri Cruise has logged many hours toddling around on film sets. While images of young Suri on her own two feet were hard to come by in the early days, reports from behind the scenes of her dad's film projects gave fans insight into how Hollywood's new "It" baby was developing. 

In the lead-up to Tom Cruise's 2010 film "Knight and Day," co-star Cameron Diaz couldn't help but open up about her fellow actor's 4-year-old daughter's on-set shenanigans during an interview with "GMTV." Despite the movie bombing at the box office, it seems Suri made the set her playground, and Diaz spoke positively about Suri's imaginative games. She said, "It was like, 'These are what muffins we have today', and she played out all these scenes, it was so fun ... Suri was going around serving all of us," (via Marie Claire ).

While there are sadly no photos of all the fun and games that reportedly took place on the "Knight and Day" set, these little anecdotes shared during the film's press tour hinted at the fact that Suri was not only up and running, but also up and running businesses. Tom, for his part, also couldn't help but brag about his daughter's creative powers: "She draws, she acts, she writes," he said. "In between takes she would have her own little scenes going on."

As a toddler, she was photographed walking around New York City

By 2008, Suri Cruise was strutting her stuff in public. While the world's rare glimpses into the tot's life had included the lush Vanity Fair cover story and quick paparazzi snaps of Suri's face buried in her parents' necks, by the time she turned 2, the public celebrated their first peeks at the toddler exploring the world on her own. 

Her impressive height had yet to make itself known, with the bob-rocking little girl still standing pretty low to the ground. In tabloid photos from this time, Katie Holmes can be seen reaching down to hold Suri's little hand, most likely to make sure that she didn't take a tumble in front of the cameras. 

That same year, the toddler was voted "Hollywood's Hottest Tot" by Forbes magazine. While this may seem like a fluff title, in actuality, it's empirical evidence of just how big a role Suri played in the pop culture landscape. The top honor was calculated by measuring press clippings and blog mentions of all the biggest celebrity kids of the day, with E-Poll Market Research also factoring in the consumer appeal of both parents. In the end, it was the soon-to-be statuesque Suri who won out.

Suri Cruise got athletic with her mom

If anyone had any worries about Suri Cruise's development, they were put to rest when photos were released of the 3-year-old running along a track with her mother in October 2009. While cities like New York and Los Angeles had become fishbowls for the famed actress and her daughter, the duo seemed to enjoy a newfound freedom when they traveled to Massachusetts that year. 

Far from the smoky eyes and diamond-dripping looks that Katie Holmes' fans were used to seeing her don on red carpets, the "Batman Begins" star was dressed head to toe in track and field gear, including navy sweatpants and a white tee. Little Suri also traded in her chic dresses and miniature-sized ballet flats for an adorable set of polka-dot trousers, a light purple tank top, and sporty tennis shoes. Most wholesome of all, though, was the sight of Katie carrying Suri's baby doll in her arms.

For a family unit so private, this quiet moment revealed a lot about their mother-daughter dynamic. For one, it showed that Katie wasn't afraid to get active with her daughter. And with her pigtails bobbing along as she ran, the Hollywood tot was already foreshadowing to fans just how strong, tall, and athletic she would one day grow up to be.

She suited up for a gymnastics class

Although she has famous parents, Suri Cruise's childhood wasn't all helicopter rides and red-carpet premieres — although, admittedly, there were a few of those too. Paparazzi pics from Suri's childhood reveal that Katie Holmes was determined to give her Hollywood princess some ordinary experiences of girlhood as well. 

In 2011, the youngster was photographed in a gymnastics studio, all suited up in her pink and black leotard and taking directions from a woman who appeared to be her coach. Over the years, more leaked photos showed Suri advancing in her gymnast skills, including photos that showed her leaping atop a balance beam and smiling at the crowd as she completed a backbend. Katie is also seen lurking in the background of a few snaps, no doubt looking on with equal parts nerves and pride. 

Not only did these tumble-ready pics show that Suri was being raised with some semblance of normality, but they also gave fans a look at just how much Suri had grown since her iconic Vanity Fair cover. Most notably, she was growing up tall despite her famously short father. With Tom Cruise and Katie's divorce on the horizon, the then-5-year-old's impressive height was foreshadowing the great divide that would eventually grow between father and daughter, who are now completely estranged, according to insiders.

Suri Cruise learned how to ride a bike

In the summer of 2012, Suri Cruise took to the streets — and no, not in the back seat of a limousine, but on her very own bright pink bicycle. The then-6-year-old was an adorable sight, giving some of her stuffed animals a ride in the bicycle's basket. While she wasn't wearing any kneepads, Suri was rocking a matching pink helmet. But not to worry: Mom Katie Holmes was photographed smiling as she walked alongside her daughter. She even had one hand on the handlebars, making sure her small bicyclist didn't take a tumble.

According to a report published in the medical journal Children , learning to ride a bicycle not only helps young children with their motor skills, but it also benefits their emotional development. We might never know if Suri was cycling around Manhattan's West Side bike path that sunny August day as a rite of passage or as a form of holistic therapy amid the media storm surrounding her family. But one thing's for certain: The celebrity daughter was clearly continuing to grow up with a passion for athletics and was well looked after by her movie star mother. 

She was only 6 when her famous parents divorced

After five years of marriage, the sad news broke on June 29, 2012 that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were divorcing. For a couple who had garnered an extreme amount of publicity during their time together, including a blockbuster wedding ceremony in Bracciano, Italy, and their very own portmanteau, TomKat — à la  Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie's "Brangelina" or  Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's "Tayvis" title  — the news of their divorce was a pop culture shocker. 

However, it wasn't just their fans who were affected by the news of their split. The couple's daughter, Suri Cruise, was only 6 years old when her parents went their separate ways and, according to reports, it wasn't the most amicable of splits. While Katie has refrained from speaking out about her reasons for filing for divorce, many believe that it was her fear of her husband's Scientologist faith that led her to go her own way. 

At the time, Katie's lawyer Jonathan Wolfe issued a statement to People  that read, "Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest." Tom's people issued their own statement which read, "Kate has filed for divorce and Tom is deeply saddened and is concentrating on his three children," (via the Daily Mail ). Despite the star's claim, Suri's parents' divorce concluded with her mom receiving sole custody. As the years have rolled on, insiders claim that Suri's look-alike father has no role in her life. 

As Suri Cruise grew up, she became her mom's mini-me

When she was younger, paparazzi pics often showed little Suri Cruise's father carrying her. However, as reports of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' divorce raged on, these father-daughter outings became less frequent. Sadly, one of Suri and her father's last public appearances together came in July 2012. 

Meanwhile, the little girl's bond with her mother seemed to only grow stronger. When the news of her parents' divorce officially broke, Suri was seen walking around New York City on her own two ballet flat-clad feet in matching outfits with her mother. The Hollywood tyke wore a summery dress in a light pink blush color paired with bright red shoes.

Holding onto Suri's hand was mom Katie, who wore a casual pair of tight blue jeans, brown suede boots, and a flowing button-up top in the same summer blush shade as her daughter's dress. To shield her eyes from the sun and, most likely, the flash of the paparazzi's cameras, she also donned a pair of dark sunglasses. Even though Suri hadn't even reached the age of 10 yet, photos of this sweet twinning moment showed that she was already elbow-high next to her mother, who reportedly stands at an impressive 5' 9".

Suri and Katie Holmes made a rare appearance at The American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala

In 2012, Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, and Suri Cruise were swept up in what could only be called a media storm as the press continued to follow their every move in light of Cruise and Holmes' divorce news. However, the years that followed proved a calmer time for the newly reconfigured family. With Suri now living in New York full-time with her mother, the duo was dodging the camera less frequently and accepting more invitations to high-profile events. 

In 2018, Katie and Suri attended the American Ballet Theatre's yearly Spring Gala, hosted in the Big Apple's Metropolitan Opera House. As she'd spent much of her earlier life dodging the paparazzi, it was a surprise to see the smiling 12-year-old by her mother's side. The twosome wore matching floral dresses, right on theme for the May event. 

Katie donned a Tiffany blue Zac Posen dress that featured embossed blue floral details while Suri stunned in a blue Dolce & Gabbana dress, except her mini-version of the frock included red floral designs. Both mom and daughter wore cream-colored shoes; however, Suri took the prize for the greatest accessory of the night with her dainty flower crown. Side by side, the tween's height reached her mom's shoulders, proving she was on her way to becoming a tall teenager.

Tall and proud, Suri Cruise was photographed leaving a yoga class

As the years rolled on and the fervor over TomKat's demise died down, public sightings of Suri Cruise with her mother became an altogether more relaxed affair. In 2019, the pair were spotted strolling along New York's Upper West Side without a single security guard or chauffeur in sight. According to the Daily Mail , the mother-daughter duo had just attended a yoga class together, proving their close relationship wasn't just the stuff of tabloids. 

The close pair wore matching athletic gear. Katie Holmes had her hair tied up in a loose bun with black yoga pants, and then-13-year-old Suri donned a pink T-shirt and galaxy-print yoga pants. The two walked off their yoga moves, jovially chatting in the sun and seemingly ignoring the paparazzi's cameras. As they walked side by side, it was hard not to notice just how tall the once-small infant had grown. Suri reached well past her mother's shoulders, and it seemed all signs were pointing to her growing taller than her famous mom.

Teenage Suri Cruise is almost all tall as her mom

Suri Cruise and her mom Katie Holmes were seen strolling the streets of New York City once more in the winter of 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, mother and daughter were both rocking face masks as they casually walked and talked together, each with a shopping bag under their arm, reportedly from the local boutique Scotch & Soda. Suri was the spitting image of her brunette mom, although her aesthetic was far more colorful. 

The "Dawson's Creek" star rocked a pea-green coat and jeans while Suri wore a pastel blue bubble coat over a bright pink sweater. Most eye-catching of all, though, was how tall Suri had grown. Far from her tiny baby days and even her early tween years, the girl once dubbed "Hollywood's Hottest Tot" proved she was nearly a full-grown woman, standing at nearly the same height as her 5'9" mother. Will we see Suri strutting her stuff down the catwalk one day, like other celebrity daughters turned supermodels Kendall Jenner or  Gigi Hadid ? Or might she follow in her mother's footsteps and pursue a career on the screen? Only time will tell, but one thing is clear — the famous teenager has her statuesque frame on her side. 

4 Facts About The Kawasaki GPz900R Motorcycle Only Hardcore Ninja Fans Probably Know

Kawasaki began producing motorcycles in the early 1960s and soon expanded across the globe, introducing the 500 cc H1 Mach III at the end of the decade. The four-cylinder Z1 followed in 1972, and fuel injection appeared on the GPz1100 a decade later. In 1984, Kawasaki produced the GPz900R, otherwise known as the ZX 900A or the Ninja 900. This bike was the first in the long and famous series of sport bikes that includes the street-friendly Ninja 400 and 650 models , as well as the racetrack-only Ninja H2R . 

None of those beasts would exist if not for the original Ninja, which kick-started a 40-year run for the super bike that is still going strong. The Ninja series is now famous across the world and well-known even to folks who have never sat on a motorcycle. Here are a few tidbits of information even loyal Kawasaki riders may not know about the granddaddy of the Ninja line.

The Ninja 900's engine marked an industry first

The engine that powered the GPz900R had some pioneering technology: it was the first liquid-cooled 16-valve motorcycle engine, and it helped the GPz900R crack the 150 mile per hour barrier. The 908 cubic centimeter engine produced 115 horsepower and 61 lb-ft of torque. In comparison, the 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit had a 1.7 liter engine that made 74 horsepower and 90 pound-feet of torque and maxed out at 99 miles per hour.

During the GPz900R's development process, Kawasaki's engineers realized a diamond-frame construction could be achieved by using the engine as part of the bike's structure. Extensive road testing showed that the engine could be used as a stressed frame member, and production moved forward with a steel main frame and aluminum seat rail. The production version of the Gpz900R had a dry weight of just over 500 pounds, allowing it to cover a quarter mile from a stop in 10.9 seconds.

The GPz900R was relatively low tech

Other than the innovative frame configuration and groundbreaking engine design, the GPz900R was fairly low tech. Although many 1980s vehicles featured digital gauges and LCD screens that overloaded the driver with unnecessary information, the Ninja 900's gauge cluster was a simple layout of four round analog dials. A large speedometer and combination volt meter and tachometer sat side-by-side just below where the windscreen met the fairing, and smaller fuel and temperature gauges were placed between the handlebars. All four gauges were given white markings on a black background, making them easy to read at speed.

There was no fuel injection on the GPz900R, just an array of four 34 millimeter Keihin carburetors; one for each engine cylinder. The transmission was an old-school six-speed manual, and the most advanced major feature on the bike was the anti-dive hydraulic front suspension. The GPz900R was by no means primitive, with electronic ignition as opposed to points and a push-button starter instead of a kick lever. 

Maverick's GPz900R in 'Top Gun' was almost a Honda

Many recognize the GPz900R as the terrestrial vehicle of choice for Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) in the two "Top Gun" films, but that famous Ninja was almost a Honda. When the first movie was in the works prior to its 1986 release, producers went to Honda seeking permission to use one of their bikes as Maverick's ride. Honda seemed willing to provide the product placement until producers revealed that Cruise would be riding without a helmet. California had no mandatory helmet law at the time, but Honda wanted to keep an emphasis on safety, and the filmmakers moved on to Kawasaki.

In the 2022 sequel, "Top Gun: Maverick," Mitchell's primary ride is once again a Ninja, but it's a newer H2 Carbon. He does take his old Ninja for a ride in the film after pulling a tarp from it in his dusty, crowded garage. The GPz900R used in the sequel was a restored bike owned by collector Norm Bigelow, who displayed it at that year's Japanese Classic Car Show . "I happened to have a good running example of an unrestored correct year model and agreed to let the studio use it for the movie," Bigelow said. "I researched the paint scheme from the original bike and had it copied to be a perfect replica as possible."

The GPz900R was developed in secret

The Ninja 900's development was a secretive six-year process that likely would not have been possible to keep under wraps in the era of social media leaks and ubiquitous camera phones. The patience displayed by Kawasaki's executives allowed its engineers to wring the most from the engine and develop the rigid, lightweight frame structure. A prototype that was produced in 1980 had a six-cylinder engine that ran so smoothly that the development team felt it seemed too tame to bring to market underneath a performance bike. 

When engineers went back to a four-cylinder, 16-valve architecture, they employed a second external balancer to control vibration. The Ninja name was only used in the United States and came from Kawasaki U.S.A. Marketing Director Mike Vaughan, who had used it on the transom of his sailboat 10 years before the GPz900R was ready for market.  Vaughn told Hagerty the sailboat's name was an inspiration from his time living in Asia while serving in the Army. "Ultimately, it took a decade and a lot of effort for the name to get from the idea stage through all the corporate channels here and in Japan, but in the end it was perfect," he said.  

KCRA Sacramento

Here's what to know about 2024 Bike Fest in Carmichael

Posted: May 17, 2024 | Last updated: May 17, 2024

Bike Fest, a community ride and festival, starts Saturday morning at William B. Park in Carmichael. The touring ride is 7 a.m. Ride 26 miles downstream to Discovery Park then 20 miles upstream to Nimbus Fish Hatchery, or combine them. The 5-mile cruiser ride is 9 a.m. Ride upstream to Hagan Park, then head back.

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