How Tom Cruise makes and spends his millions

Playing a teen who has a wild time when his folks are away, Cruise showcased in "Risky Business" the star quality that would give him global fame later in his career.

For his efforts, he was reportedly paid $75,000. Not bad for a 19-year-old. But his asking price would only grow from there.

Cruise made $2 million to play hotshot Navy pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in "Top Gun" and became a heartthrob in the process.

By the time Cruise teamed with Steven Spielberg on the remake of this classic sci-fi thriller, the actor's going rate was $20 million a movie. But Cruise was one of the first to be shrewd enough to understand that he could make more if he bet on himself.

So for this movie, he skipped on the upfront pay and instead agreed to take a percentage of the movie ticket gross.

The movie took in over $600 million at the worldwide box office. Cruise walked away with a cool $100 million.

By 2012, Cruise was at a difficult moment in his career; his involvement in Scientology and divorce from Katie Holmes were making headlines more than what he was doing on the big screen.

Despite all of that, Cruise made major coin. According to Forbes, Cruise earned $75 million between May 2011 and May 2012, making him the highest-paid actor of the year. Most of it was earnings from 2011's "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol."

Though in his 50s, by 2016 Cruise was kicking into another gear and distancing himself from the pack to becoming one of the last huge movie stars.

Forbes put him in fourth place that year on its list of highest-paid actors with $53 million thanks to "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation." But things were only going to get better.

In 2020, the site Casumo calculated just how much Cruise makes per word by cross-referencing salary data and the scripts of several of Cruise's films.

It found that Cruise averaged $7,000 per every line he delivers. And for how much screen time the star has in his movies, yes, that's a whole lot.

Thirty-six years after playing Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Cruise returned to the role and surprised everyone by making the "Top Gun" sequel a global sensation.

In the process, he made a small fortune.

As he did with "War of the Worlds" and several of the "M:I" movies, Cruise opted to take a percentage of the box office gross for "Top Gun: Maverick."

"Maverick" made $1.5 billion worldwide at the box office, Cruise's all-time biggest hit to date. He pocketed over $100 million for his efforts.

Cruise has real estate holdings all over the world, though, within the last decade, he's listed or sold many of his properties.

In 2013, he listed two of his properties in New York City: his East Village condo ($3 million) and his Greenwich Village townhouse ($28 million).

In 2016, he sold his Beverly Hills property for $38 million. Cruise had originally paid $30.5 million for it in 2007.

And in 2021, he sold his 10,000-square-foot Telluride mansion for $39.5 million. It features a gym, library, eat-in kitchen, two fireplaces, and a three-bedroom guest house.

Cruise has a garage of fancy cars.

In 2020, GQ highlighted some of his prized wheels: a 1958 Chevrolet Corvette C1, a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, and a 2010 Saleen Mustang S281.

He also has a 2005 Bugatti Veyron, which he drove to a "Mission: Impossible III" fan screening in Los Angeles with then-wife Katie Holmes. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the passenger-side door to open.

It seems Cruise has been a major financial supporter of the Church of Scientology, the religion he's been involved with for nearly 40 years.

It was reported in 2008 that Cruise had given the church at least $25 million.