Top Gun & Beyond: Tom Cruise’s 10 Best Characters Who Aren’t Ethan Hunt

Published Sep 30, 2026, 12:45 PM EDT Sky Blanton is a Movie Contributor at ScreenRant with professional experience covering movies, television, and pop culture. Her published work spans news, interviews, features, and opinion pieces, with a focus on film, franchise storytelling, and the entertainment industry. She earned her bachelor's degree in Communications with a concentration in Professional Writing and a minor in Business Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Ethan Hunt has survived so many impossible situations over the years that trusting the Tom Cruise character to overcome increasingly dire odds has become part of the fun. Whatever goes wrong, you expect him to find a way out. But Cruise has also spent much of his career playing men you wouldn’t trust at all, and he can be just as entertaining when a character’s biggest problem is himself. Give him someone selfish, insecure, or convinced he’s the smartest person in the room, and there’s plenty to watch before anyone throws a punch. Those roles let him be funny, petty, even unpleasant in ways an ongoing franchise rarely allows its hero to be. He’s willing to look foolish and let an awkward moment drag on without giving the character an easy recovery. He can also make you care about someone you’ve spent most of a movie disliking. That takes more than turning on the charm, and it’s a big reason his work outside Ethan Hunt is worth revisiting. There’s more to choosing Cruise’s best characters than remembering their biggest moments. We’re looking at what makes each character memorable, how much we come to understand them, and what Cruise does with the part. A small comedic role can belong here just as easily as a dramatic lead, though the higher spots go to characters who give us more to unpack. Similarly, a better movie doesn’t automatically mean a better Cruise character. 10 Risky Business (1983) Joel Goodsen Joel Goodsen wants to get into Princeton and avoid disappointing his parents. Running a brothel out of their house wasn’t part of the plan, but the unsettling joke is that it impresses a Princeton admissions representative (via Criterion). His respectable future and questionable behavior turn out to be perfectly compatible. Cruise keeps enough nervousness in Joel that his growing boldness never feels effortless. He’s still a teenager trying to cover his tracks, even as he discovers how profitable breaking the rules can be. That makes him more interesting than the famous underwear dance scene suggests. His place here comes from the uncomfortable possibility that getting away with everything is the worst lesson he could learn. 9 Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) William Cage William Cage is happy to sell a war he has no intention of fighting. Sending this military spokesman into combat immediately exposes how little his polished delivery is worth when someone expects him to survive an alien attack. Cruise makes his panic funny without pretending Cage has secretly been brave or stoic all along. Cage's training with Rita makes him work for every improvement, with painful mistakes regularly ending in another reset, though Cruise gradually trades William's frantic objections for weary concentration. Cage earns his spot because we get to watch him become the capable hero Cruise usually plays from the opening scene. Even his eventual competence carries the exhaustion of having failed so often. 8 A Few Good Men (1992) Daniel Kaffee Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection Daniel Kaffee would rather negotiate a plea bargain than discover what he can do in a courtroom. His jokes and casualness make him entertaining, but they also let him avoid the responsibility of defending his clients properly. Cruise gives that evasiveness enough charm that it takes a while to become frustrating. His confrontation with Colonel Jessep matters beyond Jack Nicholson’s famous outburst. Kaffee risks his career by pressing an accusation he needs Jessep himself to confirm. This shows that Kaffee's intelligence was always there, even if a willingness to put himself on the line wasn’t. His coming-of-age arc keeps him below the more complicated characters, but Cruise makes the moment he finally commits enormously satisfying. 7 Tropic Thunder (2008) Les Grossman Les Grossman hears that his leading actor has been kidnapped and starts considering the insurance payout. He even offers the actor's agent money and a private jet to cooperate. Somewhere inside this man, every human relationship has already been converted into a financial calculation. Cruise makes Grossman funny by playing him as a boss who’s used to getting his way. He barely pauses after saying something appalling, already expecting someone to carry out the order. Even the dancing feels right for a man whose employees would never dare laugh at him. He doesn’t have the depth of the characters above him, but every appearance gives you another reason to be glad you don’t work for him. 6 Jerry Maguire (1996) Jerry Maguire Jerry Maguire wants to be a better agent, and writing a mission statement arguing for fewer clients and more personal attention seems like a good start. Then he gets fired and has to live up to it. Dorothy believes in him enough to leave her job, but being grateful for her support doesn’t mean he’s ready to be her husband. Jerry keeps making promises before he understands what keeping them will involve. Cruise lets Jerry look desperate when his charm stops working. He needs Rod’s business and Dorothy’s belief in him to succeed, and neither relationship lets him coast on being likable. You root for him because he does care, even when he’s too caught up in his own problems to show it. That makes his progress satisfying without making him a saint. 5 Born On The Fourth Of July (1989) Ron Kovic Ron Kovic goes to Vietnam believing he’s doing something honorable, and coming home paralyzed doesn’t immediately change his mind about the war. Cruise makes his determination to defend it painful to watch. Admitting he was wrong would mean questioning much of what he was taught to be proud of. His arguments at home become so bitter because he’s still trying to make sense of what happened to him. When Ron visits the family of the Marine he accidentally killed, he can barely get through telling them what happened. Cruise makes him look frightened of their response, but determined to finish. The scene helps explain why this role belongs so high on the list. Ron has good reason to feel betrayed, yet he also has to answer for something he desperately wishes he could undo. 4 Interview With The Vampire (1994) Lestat de Lioncourt Image via Warner Bros. Lestat enjoys being a vampire and has very little patience for Louis feeling guilty about it after Lestat turns him into a creature of the night. Cruise gets plenty of laughs out of his irritation, treating Louis’s reluctance to kill as a tiresome habit he ought to have outgrown. Beside Brad Pitt’s miserable Louis, he seems almost offended that someone could spend eternity with him and still find things to complain about. When Louis wants to leave, Lestat turns Claudia, a dying girl, into a vampire to keep him around. He traps her in a child’s body forever because he wants his own home life to improve. That selfishness makes Lestat such a strong character. Cruise lets you enjoy his company, then shows exactly what happens when someone tries to stop doing the same. 3 Top Gun (1986) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022) Pete “Maverick” Mitchell Via MovieStillsDB Maverick is happy to risk his own life as a pilot. Sending his former teammate Goose’s son into danger is another matter, however. The young pilot in Top Gun wants to prove how good he is, but Goose’s death leaves him with doubts that survive into the sequel. Decades later, being responsible for Rooster brings them back. During his visit with fellow prior teammate Iceman, Maverick would rather volunteer himself than risk losing another member of the Bradshaw family. This moment is the narrative heart of the story and Maverick's character development, as Cruise sounds like someone asking an old friend for help because he’s run out of answers. That scene helps Maverick serve as one of Tom Cruise's best character, as after all those years of watching him defy authority, it means something to see him need another person’s advice so badly. 2 Magnolia (1999) Frank T.J. Mackey Frank T.J. Mackey is a pickup artist who teaches men how to manipulate women, then struggles to answer one who’s done her homework. When an interviewer challenges his account of his childhood, Cruise drops the swagger and lets Frank sit there furious, realizing he can’t charm his way through questions he never wanted anyone to ask. His visit to his dying father is even harder to watch. Frank arrives with years of resentment, only to find that he still wants something from the man who abandoned him. Cruise makes his inability to stop crying feel humiliating to Frank himself. That’s what makes the character so engaging, and the ending of Magnolia so engaging, as you can despise what Frank teaches and still ache for him in that room. 1 Collateral (2004) Vincent Vincent can spend a cab ride telling taxi driver Max to stop wasting his life, then step outside and end someone else’s. Cruise plays the advice sincerely enough that you might appreciate it from another passenger. Coming from the man forcing Max to drive him between murders, it’s almost insulting. The jazz-club scene makes him even harder to stomach. He enjoys hearing his target Daniel talk about the musician Miles Davis, then kills him anyway. Cruise barely changes his expressions, leaving us to realize that Vincent’s interest never meant Daniel was safe. He earns first place because even his friendliest moments demand attention. You keep looking for some feeling that might stop him, and he keeps disappointing you. Release Date August 6, 2004 Runtime 120 minutes Director Michael Mann