Tom Cruise would’ve never pursued a career in acting if this injury hadn’t taken away his original career plan as a wrestler

It’s no wonder that Tom Cruise performs risky stunts for his films since he has a background in wrestling. Cruise was looking at a career in the sport when he wrestled for the varsity team at Glen Ridge High School. However, he had to drop that dream due to an injury which worked out well for him in a way.

Tom Cruise performing a bike stunt in Mission: Impossible 7 | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Cruise soon joined the school musical instead, which made him realize his place in the film industry. He left school to pursue acting in New York and started finding gigs soon. Cruise went on to become one of the highest-paid actors in the industry after almost becoming a wrestler.

Tom Cruise Chose Wrestling As His Career Path In High School

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise was a troubled child because his family moved places frequently and he attended 15 schools in 14 years. After his mother separated from his abusive father and remarried, she brought him and his three sisters along with her to New Jersey when he was still a teenager.

According to Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor, Cruise recalled that he wanted to focus and do something with his energy and creativity as a seventeen-year-old (via RogerEbert.com). When he started as a senior in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, he found the perfect passion project to settle on—wrestling. Cruise was a natural on the mat and easily won competitions.

The Mission: Impossible actor dreamed of getting a college wrestling scholarship and pursuing the sport as a career. However, his dreams came crashing down when he got himself injured in an awful accident. According to Amy Nicholson’s book, the actor pulled a tendon in his knee and it sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Losing his one outlet was tough on Cruise, but he immediately found another passion. Cruise had an affinity for acting in dramas in his formative years and auditioned for his high school musical, Guys and Dolls. He landed the lead role of Nathan Detroit and the opening night of the show changed everything for him.

He decided to pursue acting and skipped graduation. The Top Gun actor relocated to New York and asked his mother to give him ten years to prove himself as an actor. Cruise soon landed his first acting gig and the rest is history. His brief wrestling stint became handy when he took on challenging roles in action-intense films.

Tom Cruise’s Friend Recalls Wrestling With Him In High School

Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Tom Cruise’s friend from Glen Ridge High School, Tom Jarrett, provided some insights into that brief wrestling career of the actor. He also provided pictures to the Daily Mail as his father had taken pictures of every bout they had participated in. According to the former wrestling captain of Glen Ridge, Cruise found wrestling as a way to deal with his aggression.

He shared that he had nothing bad to say about the actor from their high school days and called him a “real go-getter”. Jarrett shared that it was wrestling that made Cruise feel at home in New Jersey. Jarrett shared with Daily Mail:

He saw Kentucky as his home, not New Jersey and this was his coming of age. He never felt part of the community, a bit like how I always felt as I was from out of state. He had times where he was struggling to be accepted. With wrestling, you made your own mark at school, he certainly felt like that. It wasn’t a popularity contest, but we both were looking to make our own mark.

Jarrett shared that he ran into Cruise’s mother one time after high school, who wanted Jarrett to convince Cruise to go to Duke University. He shared that he was grateful that he never spoke to him about pursuing college.

Fans are grateful as well since Cruise built a $600 million net worth, according to Celebrity Net Worth, out of his acting career.