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Adorable 'Jerry Maguire' star Jonathan Lipnicki opens up about anxiety, bullying

Twenty years ago, the spiky-haired, bespectacled Jonathan Lipnicki totally upstaged Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger in "Jerry Maguire."

But Lipnicki was only 6 when he made his film debut and as he's revealing now that working as a child actor came with high costs.

As he explained on Instagram Tuesday, he was "relentlessly" bullied and called a "has-been" as a child. The frequent bullying contributed to his panic attacks and anxiety as a young man.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRlajQdAlNK

RELATED: That cute 'Jerry Maguire' kid can probably kill you with his hands now

As a child actor Lipnicki continued to act in movies like "Stuart Little" and "The Little Vampire," and has been able to continue his acting career in smaller films and occasionally on TV. As he noted in his Instagram post, he's done more films as a grown-up actor than as a child. He also trains regularly in mixed martial arts.

Lipnicki put up an additional post Wednesday acknowledging the attention the first one has drawn:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRozPq5AZIH

The actor, now 26, is clearly not alone in his experiences. Last night singer and actress Demi Lovato, who also experienced bullying and mental health issues while working as a child actress, revealed she's been sober for five years.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRqfcHcgDLJ

RELATED: 'Jerry Maguire's' Jonathan Lipnicki (and His Dog) Freaked Out by Petite Ex-Girlfriend

It's not an easy road to travel, but it is easy to applaud these young actors' positive attitudes.

Follow Randee Dawn on Twitter .

‘Jerry Maguire’ Then & Now: See How Tom Cruise & More Have Changed 24 Years Later

Show us the stars! 'Jerry Maguire' hit theaters on Dec. 13, 1996, and became an instant classic. It's been 24 years since Tom Cruise, Jonathan Lipnicki, and more stole our hearts. See the cast then and now.

Jerry Maguire is just one of those great movies you can watch over and over. Everyone always swoons when Tom Cruise’s Jerry Maguire says to Renée Zellweger’s   Dorothy Boyd, “You complete me.” And then Dorothy later replies, “You had me at hello.” Simply legendary! Plus, no one can forget Jonathan Lipnicki’s  scene-stealing performance as the adorable Ray Boyd.

Jerry Maguire featured an all-star cast. The movie became a box-office hit in 1996 and was nominated for 5 Academy Awards. See how the cast has changed in 24 years and what they’re up to today.

Tom Cruise , 58, starred as the titular Jerry Maguire in the 1996 film. He an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role and won a Golden Globe for his performance in Jerry Maguire . Tom has gone on to become one of the most successful action stars of all-time. His most notable action films include the  entire  Mission: Impossible  franchise ,  Minority Report , The Mummy , and more.

The actor is currently filming Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8. He will reprise his breakout role of Maverick in the Top Gun  sequel,  Top Gun: Maverick , which will be released in 2021.

When Jerry Maguire was released, Tom was married to  Nicole Kidman  at the time. They adopted two children , Isabella , 27, and  Connor , 25, during their marriage. The couple divorced in 2001. He married  Katie Holmes  in 2005. They had a daughter, Suri , now 14, in 2006. Tom and Katie got divorced in 2012.

Renée Zellweger

Renée Zellweger’s breakout role was playing Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire . She won her first Golden Globe just a few years later for her performance in the 2000 film Nurse Betty . Renée, 51, became a global star through playing Bridget Jones in the 2001 rom-com Bridget Jones’s Diary , which spawned two sequels.

She was nominated for Oscars three consecutive years before winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 2003 drama Cold Mountain. Renée went on to star in other films like White Oleander, Cinderella Man , and more before taking a 6-year hiatus from acting.

Renée returned to acting in 2016 with Bridget Jones’s Baby and had her first major TV role in the Netflix series What/If . She portrayed Judy Garland in the 2019 biopic Judy and won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

When it comes to romance, Renée was briefly engaged to Jim Carrey from 1999 to 2000. She married country singer Kenny Chesney in 2005, but they had their marriage annulled four months later. She dated Bradley Cooper from 2009 to 2011 and Doyle Bramhall II from 2012 to 2019.

Jonathan Lipnicki

Jonathan Lipnicki  was just 6 years old when he starred alongside Tom and Renee in Jerry Maguire , his film debut. Jonathan was one of the most in-demand child actors in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Jonathan also starred in both Stuart Little movies, The Little Vampire , and Like Mike .

Jonathan is now 30 years old and recently appeared in an episode of The Resident and the film Broil . He also has an upcoming movie titled Pooling to Paradise .

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Cuba Gooding Jr . , 52, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Rodney “Rod” Tidwell in Jerry Maguire . His other major movies include Men of Honor , Pearl Harbor , Radio , American Gangster , and more. He portrayed O.J. Simpson in the FX series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story . Cuba later starred in American Horror Story season 6.

Cuba has had many legal troubles over the years. In Aug. 2020, the Oscar winner was accused of allegedly raping a woman twice in 2013. His lawyer said in a statement to our sister site Variety that the allegations are “completely false.” In 2019, Cuba pleaded not guilty to charges of groping 3 women at New York City nightclubs.

Kelly Preston

Kelly Preston starred as Jerry’s ex-fiancee Avery Bishop in the film. In the years after Jerry Maguire , Kelly had notable roles in What a Girl Wants , Sky High , Old Dogs , and The Cat in the Hat . She also starred in the Maroon 5 music video for “She Will Be Loved” in 2004.

Kelly was married to John Travolta , and they have three kids: Jett , Ella , and Benjamin . Kelly and John’s son Jett died in 2009 while the family was on vacation in the Bahamas after suffering a fatal seizure. He was 16 years old. Kelly and John later opened up about Jett’s autism and created the Jett Travolta Foundation to provide relief to children with special needs.

The actress sadly died on July 12, 2020, following a two-year battle with breast cancer. She was 57 years old. John and Ella revealed the tragic news via Instagram. Kelly had not disclosed her breast cancer battle to the public.

Jay Mohr , 50, played Bob Sugar in Jerry Maguire , which was his feature film debut. Jay has starred in a number of films over the years, including The Adventures of Pluto Nash , Street Kings , The Incredible Burt Wonderstone , and more. The actor is also an avid sports fan. He hosted Jay Mohr Sports , a sports radio talk show on Fox Sports Radio, from 2015 to 2016.

He was the initial host of Last Comic Standing in 2003. Jay, who was also an executive producer, earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for his hosting.

Bonnie Hunt

Bonnie Hunt , 59, played Laurel Boyd, Dorothy’s sister, in Jerry Maguire . Bonnie has had an amazing career both in television and film. She starred in the sitcom Life with Bonnie from 2002 to 2004, and then hosted her own talk show, The Bonnie Hunt Show , from 2008 to 2010. She earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host.

One of Bonnie’s most well-known role is Kate Baker in the Cheaper By The Dozen remake and its sequel. She’s also widely recognized for her voice roles in animated films like Cars , Toy Story 3 , Toy Story 4 , Zootopia , and Onward .

Jerry O’Connell

Jerry O’Connell , 46, starred as superstar quarterback Frank “Cush” Cushman in Jerry Maguire . A year after the film was released, Jerry starred in the highly-anticipated Scream 2 . He’s been a prominent actor in both TV and film over the years.

The actor played Detective Woody Hoyt for all 6 seasons of Crossing Jordan . He’s currently voicing the role of Commander Jack Ransom on Star Trek: Lower Decks . In 201, he served as a guest host on The Wendy Williams Show for a number of episodes. He married actress Rebecca Romjin in 2007. Their twin girls were born in 2008.

'Jerry Maguire' Star Jonathan Lipnicki Is Nearly Unrecognizable in New Interview, Shares Major Life Updates

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Jonathan Lipnicki looks nearly unrecognizable in a new interview with Joey, Matthew and Andrew Lawrence for their popular Brotherly Love podcast.

The 33-year-old actor, best known for playing Renee Zellweger's scene-stealing son, Ray Boyd, in  Jerry Maguire , is now sporting long locks to go along with his infectious smile. But the look won't last long. Lipnicki told the Lawerence brothers in the latest episode of their podcast that he's getting rid of the hairdo any day now. He said he's reached his threshold.

Lipnicki also shared with the Lawrence brothers some major life updates, like the fact he's left his hometown of Los Angeles for -- literally -- the greener pastures of Oklahoma City. He moved to the Sooner State about three months ago and he's loving it so far. 

As for why he made the move, Lipnicki says his parents moved years ago to Colorado and he had no family left in L.A. On top of that, he realized working in Hollywood didn't really require him to be in Hollywood. So he sold all of his belongings and only brought with him whatever fit into his Jeep Wrangler and off he went.

"I just hit a point where I realized I was self-taping everything," he explained. "Everything I do is either Zoom or self-tape anyway. I wanted to see what it's like to live somewhere else."

So far, Lipnicki's loving the experience. He has three childhood friends who live nearby, and he's enjoying the growing filming community, too. Lipnicki, who says he's still acting but is also producing with Buffalo 8 Productions, is also teaching acting in Oklahoma. All in all, Lipnicki says things couldn't have gone any better since relocating, though he admits that experiencing tornadoes is still quite eerie, especially when they test the tornado sirens on weekends. 

Lipnicki also shared that he'll be on a new TV show next year, though he didn't share the name of the project. The new uncle (he said he'll meet his nephew for the first time on Dec. 20) is still in love with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He's been training for 15 years now, and he reached black-belt status during the pandemic. But the sport, as expected, has brought on some gruesome injuries.

Lipnicki shared that he had a cauliflower ear not that long ago that required a trip to an L.A. dermatologist to fix it. Then he had an inner-ear cauliflower that, thankfully, has improved. But at its peak, the injury was intense.

"It's better now but for a while I couldn't wear AirPods," he shared. "They would just pop out. That one settled down a bit and it isn't feeling as angry in there."

Lipnicki, who had done just two commercials before landing the 1996 rom-com role starring Tom Cruise, shared that he initially didn't get the part. Instead, the role went to another kid, who got fired two weeks into production. Producers scrambled to find a replacement, but they wouldn't look at Lipnicki because producers weren't looking at anyone that had already auditioned.

Luckily for Lipnicki, his agent called the casting director and staked his reputation on the line. The agent proved convincing, and Lipnicki was on his way to audition for the casting director again. 

"And I went and I read for the casting director and in the room they were like, 'How would you like to fly today to Arizona where they're filming the football scenes and meet Tom Cruise?'" Lipnicki recalled. "And I read for him. I was excited to go on a plane, is what I remember. And I was excited to meet Maverick, because I love Tom Cruise."

Lipnicki says his mom and dad got to Arizona and they walked into Cruise's trailer. Lipnicki said he read a few scenes with Cruise and locked the role. All these years later, Lipnicki looks back on his whirlwind experience with so much fondness.

"It was a blur for the next five, six years, just moving through time really fast, doing a lot of different projects," the Stuart Little star said. "You hear a lot of negative stories [about child actors in Hollywood], but there's nothing I would take back at all. I love it and I found out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life when I was 5 years old."

He added, "It's the best job in the world. I'm willing to stress over this forever."

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Jonathan Lipnicki On 20 Years Of 'Jerry Maguire'

Since he's talking about the 20th anniversary of Jerry Maguire , out on Blu-ray now, Jonathan Lipnicki would like to clear something up. At just six years old, the actor informed the world about the weight of the human head and chastised an adult for his pottymouth in his first film role as Ray Boyd, son of Renee Zellweger's widowed character Dorothy. At the end of the movie, Ray lets a baseball rip, much to the delight of Jerry (Tom Cruise), his sports agent step-dad. "I threw that ball!" Lipnicki tells Bustle in an interview . "I practiced all day the day before, and I really threw that ball."

Ray is an extraordinary kid. And in the part, a very young Lipnicki is just as special. It's not just the cherubic face, spiked hair, or the Harry Potter glasses perched on his nose, nor is it that slight and adorable lisp in his voice as he solemnly counsels a drunk Jerry. Jerry Maguire is a movie about grown-ups with grown-up problems and it features one of the most memorable performances by a child actor in the last two decades. Lipnicki, who says he remembers all the feelings associated with working on the Cameron Crowe film if not the actual process, isn't eager to take too much credit. "It would have been an amazing film if I’d been involved or not," he says. "And I’m lucky to be a small part of that."

A good portion of Jerry Maguire 's appeal lies with the chemistry of the ensemble. It's there between the newly idealistic Jerry and his adoring employee Dorothy and between Jerry and his only client Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.). It practically radiates from any scene involving some combination of Ray, Dorothy and Jerry. And that's for a very simple reason, according to the now 26-year-old actor. "I genuinely loved them," Lipnicki says. "Loved Renee, loved Tom. And they were so warm to me, so welcoming...I don’t think we had to do much to establish it; it organically happened."

This big break almost didn't happen, however. Originally, another actor was cast in the part of Ray. The change was so last minute that Lipnicki and his mother were flown to the Arizona set on the day he was offered the part and then whisked into a reading with the filmmaker and the star. "That was my first meeting with Tom," Lipnicki says. "I was so excited because I loved Top Gun . He comes with his big movie star smile into his trailer and I’d never met anyone like him. And to this day, I’ve never met anyone like him. He has so much charisma and so much focus, it’s a beautiful thing."

Lipnicki's relationship with Cruise mirrors Ray's to Jerry in that he's still a bit in awe of him. They keep in intermittent touch, and the younger actor says Cruise has "always left the door open" and been a fountain of advice. Still, the hero worship is hasn't quite gone away. "It’s amazing," Lipnicki says. "I could meet the guy a million times and it’s always a surreal thing, seeing him again. I still look up to that guy. I still see every Tom Cruise movie that comes out in theaters."

And if you're still in the industry like Lipnicki is, you couldn't have a better mentor. After stealing scenes and hearts in Jerry Maguire, Lipnicki became a hot commodity, scoring roles in family films like Stuart Little, The Little Vampire, and Like Mike. But like many actors who found fame at a young age, Lipnicki is now striving to redefine himself as an adult for audiences who'd like him to stay a kid forever. "I’m never going to sugarcoat things when I talk to people in interviews," Lipnicki says. "It’s been a really hard transition. It’s hard to shake people’s ideas of who I was in the past, but if you really love something... anything worth doing is going to be difficult."

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One of Lipnicki's outlets for dealing with the quirks of the business is humor. He's poked fun at his forever-young status in comedy sketches like "You Used To Be Cute," a parody of a casting call in which he plays himself. Lipnicki says it took "a lot of growing up" to get to a place where he can brush off those type-casting frustrations. "For me, it was embracing [the past], not trying to fight it," he says.

During his 20-year career, Lipnicki has seen the industry change. "Now you have tentpole projects and you have indies. There's really no mid-range stuff anymore." Even if he were looking to recapture the singular success of Jerry Maguire , those changes mean that movies like it are not poised to attain the same kind of box office receipts. "Right now it's about finding really interesting roles," he says. Lipnicki's recent work includes the high school comedy Loserville , co-starring Matt McGorry and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, and Interns Of F.I.E.L.D. , a web series parody of the similarly named Marvel series.

So Jonathan Lipnicki's past and future lie in Hollywood. But what about Ray? Was that pitch the harbinger of future sports celebrity? "I do think Ray grew up to be a baseball player," the actor muses. "I hope he grew up to visit the zoo many times. I hope a lot for Ray."

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10 Moments That Prove Jerry Maguire Is Tom Cruise’s Best Performance

David ehrlich.

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The idea of “movie stars” has been on life support since the turn of the 21st Century — we live in a world where brands and intellectual property have become more important than people — but Hollywood as we know it will continue to hang on by a thread for as long as one man keeps running for its life. Tom Cruise isn’t just one of the greatest movie stars in the history of the medium, he might just be the last (depending on how Leonardo DiCaprio wants to play middle age). His face is known all over the world. His name is synonymous with big-screen entertainment. His incredible career has spanned more than 35 years, 45 roles, and hundreds upon hundreds of wild tabloid headlines. He’s been a Vietnam vet, a super-spy, a misogynistic self-help guru, a different super-spy, a samurai, a contract killer, another super-spy, a handsy bartender, a horny Chicago teenager, a New York City doctor on a sexual vision quest, whatever the hell he was supposed to be in “Rock of Ages,” and more. He’ll probably be a fourth super-spy before he’s ready to retire and spend the rest of his days sailing with Sea Org .

READ MORE: Watch Tom Cruise Spin Through The Air While Shooting A Zero Gravity Stunt In “The Mummy”

But of all those roles, none lingers in the mind (or in the recesses of cable television) quite like Jerry Maguire. It’s not Cruise’s most dangerous part, or his most athletic. There are no special effects, and no death-defying stunts. For all of the vulnerability and candor of his work, it’s not even the rawest thing he would do that decade. But, however unassuming it may be, his 1996 performance as an emotionally disoriented sports agent doubles as a comprehensive one-stop shop for everything that makes Cruise a unique force of nature. This week, as the man formerly known as Mapother unwraps “ The Mummy ” and accepts the most impossible mission of his career by trying to compete with the legendary charisma of Brendan Fraser, IndieWire looks back at 10 moments from the one movie that always reminds us why he’s the best in the business.

10. Cush-lash

At the height of his career, just months after the first “Mission: Impossible” film had cemented his status as the world’s leading action star (and netted him a cool $70 million paycheck after profit participation), Tom Cruise decided to downshift by playing the title role in a plucky Cameron Crowe drama about a sports agent who experiences a sudden crisis of conscience. Of course, for a sports agent in a cynical world of tough competitors, having a conscience is just about the greatest crisis there is. And so it goes for fast-talking, floppy-haired Jerry Maguire, who finds his career in ruins after he loses his “ability to bullshit” (and his job along with it). It’s a hard world out there for people who care about people, especially when they care about people more than they do endorsement deals; when they care about the love of the game more than they do about the length of a contract. Capitalism isn’t really the most accommodating environment for compassion.

Watching the highest-paid actor on the planet try to sell us on the human angle should have been a noxious exercise in hypocrisy, but Cruise’s performance is anything but. Bending his usual intensity towards saving himself rather than saving the world, Cruise’s turn as Jerry Maguire is an incredible high-wire act of moral desperation. The first scene where we get to see how hard it’s going to be for Jerry to sustain his awakening is utterly savage stuff, as he learns that his number one client — top NFL draft pick Matt Cushman (Jerry O’Connell) — has betrayed him and signed with Jerry’s devious former protégé, Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr). The frozen smile on Cruise’s face as he privately learns the news, the way he slips on that “Team Cushman” hat like he still has a chance, the unblinking stare he wears when he realizes how he’s the only person in that hotel suite with any scruples whatsoever… it’s heartbreaking. “This is business, not friendship” Sugar says. But, in that moment, you can tell that Jerry Maguire is never going to choose between the two again.

9. Dorothy Boyd Wants a Divorce 

When Jerry leaves his job, there’s only one person who’s willing to come with him: a 26-year-old single mom named Dorothy Boyd ( Renée Zellweger ). They eventually get married, both of them trying to will their best lives into existence. He wants to be a people person, she wants to meet the man of her dreams, someone who will be as good a partner to her as he will be a father to her young son, Ray (Jonathan Lipnicki). But change isn’t easy, and sometimes wanting something doesn’t mean a thing if you’re not willing to work for it; for most of the movie, this is the only kind of work that Jerry isn’t willing to do.

The scene where he and Dorothy realize that their unattended marriage is falling apart — or, rather, the scene where Dorothy realizes that for the both of them — is one of those moments that earned Cruise his second Oscar nomination (and earned Zellweger her first Oscar snub). “What do you want, my soul or something?” he asks. “Why not?” she replies. “I deserve that.” Cruise plays the beat super casual, but that’s part of its power. This is such a powerful break-up scene because it’s so gentle, because it wouldn’t be happening if Jerry had earned the happiness that’s sitting right in front of him.

8. Jerry Tells Ray That The Zoo Is Closed 

“The fucking zoo’s closed, Ray.”

Weaponizing the sheer adorableness of Tom Cruise drunkenly spilling his guts to a giant-headed kid, Jerry Maguire’s first heart-to-heart with his future step-son is such a memorable touchpoint because of how much pain (and blunt character detail) it manages to disguise in a whirlwind of cuteness. Jerry Maguire, always vulnerable but finally transparent, opens up about the fact that his predatory existence has made him kind of a non-entity. He’s a facilitator, not a person. “My whole life I’ve been trying to talk — I mean, really talk — but no one wants to listen to me.” Meanwhile, Ray just wants to go the fucking zoo.

The genius of the scene (and the point beyond its central curse word) is in Cruise’s unwillingness to adjust for his audience. Jerry Maguire is a guy who’s success depends on being able to read a room, and here he’s tipsy, flushed, and talking to some kid like he’s the therapist he would never admit he needs. Ray’s purity makes him the perfect foil for Jerry, he’s completely void of the bullshit that has come to define Jerry’s existence, and the fun that Cruise has with letting his character get pleasantly lost in that exchange makes for some great cinema. Cruise has done that half-crazed smile in just about every movie he’s ever made, but seldom has it felt so real.

7. Bottom-feeders

Tom Cruise doesn’t get enough credit for being one of cinema’s great non-verbal actors. Sure, no one questions the physicality of his screen presence — all that running and climbing and clenching — but the man is an artist even when he’s standing still. For proof, look no further than the scene in which Cruise’s eponymous sports agent wakes up the morning after a romantic encounter with his only employee and eavesdrops on her telling her sister that she loves him. That she loves him for the man he wants to be and she loves him for the man he almost is. All the while, Cruise is posing silently in a hallway just on the other side of the wall, and you can see the wheels turning behind his face. A flash of the eyes and a little dip of his head is all he needs to let you inside Jerry’s head, to feel him wrestling with what he wants and trying to make sense of what’s available to him. Then the charm takes over, and Cruise — like only Cruise could do — ends the scene with the best kiss of his career. And it’s not even on the lips.

6. The Bro-Hug Of Dreams 

“Jerry Maguire” is probably the most romantic film of Tom Cruise’s career (depending on what you make of “Eyes Wide Shut,” that is), so much so that its sense of romance is woven into every one of its plot threads. Cameron Crowe’s humanistic masterpiece might be remembered for its tear-jerking love scenes between Tom Cruise and Renée Zellwegger, but the heart and soul of the story is the bromance between Jerry Maguire and Rod Tidwell ( Cuba Gooding , Jr, in his Oscar-winning role as the brash football star who Jerry manages to salvage from his rolodex). Jerry is more than Rod’s “ambassador of Quan,” he’s also his double, his measuring stick, his greatest test. Both men are fighting their way through the same thing, they’re both trying to sort out their priorities and see if it’s possible to strike a profitable balance between  doing what they love, and loving what they do.

It’s a volatile relationship, but then they’re little company has a very big night. A very big night. And Rod emerges from a euphoric post-game media scrum to see his agent standing there by himself, sporting the greatest “I’m not gonna cry” face of all time. Of ALL TIME. After that — and the stiff finger-point that Cruise does along with it — the massive bro hug is just icing on the cake. This moment is the culmination of two long, wayward paths simultaneously arriving at the same truth about what really matters in this sick sad world. The truth is too sweet for Bob Sugar to enjoy.

The list continues on the next page.

Continue Reading: 10 Moments That Prove Jerry Maguire Is Tom Cruise’s Best Performance Next »

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Jerry Maguire’s rarely seen child star Jonathan Lipnicki is unrecognisable 26 years after starring alongside Tom Cruise

• Sarah Tetteh
• Published : 12:55, 26 Dec 2022
• Updated : 13:23, 26 Dec 2022
• Published : Invalid Date,

HE shot to fame as Renee Zellweger's adorable son who won the heart of Tom Cruise, and the nation, in Jerry Maguire.

Now Jonathan Lipnicki, 32, is barely recognisable - 26 years on from his days as Ray Boyd in the Oscar-winning classic.

With lines including 'the human head weighs eight pounds,' the actor delivered a performance that helped make the 1996 movie a box office hit.

Fast forward 26 years and the tattooed hunk is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blackbelt, producer and actor.

The ripped star has now become a heart-throb showing off his toned physique and passion for martial arts on his Instagram page.

Among the charities and causes close to his heart, the Jewish star supports anti-Semitism-opposing movements and cancer charities.

Jonathan was catapulted into the limelight playing little Ray Boyd, but that was only the beginning for him.

After Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise , he won roles in The Single Guy, The Jeff Foxworthy Show as well as episodes of Dawson's Creek and the sitcom, Meego.

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His next big break came in 1999, when he starred in the film Stuart Little, playing a boy whose family adopts a talking mouse - who was voiced by fellow former child star Michael J. Fox.

Jonathan was soon snapped up to reprise the role in the film's sequel in 2002.

He also played the lead, Tony Thompson, in the 2000 film, The Little Vampire and co-starred with hip-hop rapper Bow Wow in the 2002 sports film, Like Mike.

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The kid from Jerry Maguire pays tribute to Tom Cruise

By Leanne Bayley

Remember the kid from Jerry Maguire ? Um, of course you do because he was amazing and adorable and just the sweetest little thing.

Well, the actor - Jonathan Lipnicki - is obviously all grown up now (24-years-old), but he hasn't forgotten his roots - mainly because Hollywood won't let him!

The former child actor, who played Tom Cruise's "son" in 1996's hit movie Jerry Maguire , has decided to celebrate Father's Day a little early with a video tribute to his onscreen dad, Tom Cruise.

As part of Screen Junkies' Dads of Our Lives series (which features child stars paying tribute to their movie dads), Lipnicki will make you laugh out loud with his honest, yet endearing, message to good ol' Jerry.

Scroll down and watch the video...

"I'm here to thank you, Jerry Maguire, for everything you did for me - from drunkenly brooding on my mom's couch having a nervous breakdown to dropping completely unnecessary f-bombs when I wanted to go to the zoo," he says in the clip. "Sure, you were probably experiencing an episode of clinical mania, but hey, it was never a dull moment."

The 24-year-old goes on to say how hard it is to only be remembered for his role in the movie. "How could one child be so ludicrously, almost illegally adorable? And who could forget those glasses, am I right? Certainly not any producer, director or casting director in Hollywood, because everybody still thinks of me as the cute little kid from Jerry Maguire ," he says, before delving into a full-fledged rant. "Never mind that I'm a talented, classically trained adult actor capable of playing a wide variety of roles. 'Hey, it's the cute little kid from Jerry Maguire !' 'Say Show me the money!' That's not even my f---ing line, you f---ing f---!"

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He adds, "That's right. I'm the cute little kid who taught you that the human head weighs eight pounds. But now, I bench 250 and I'm a competitive Brazilian jujitsu fighter."

By Lian Brooks

See the Cast of ‘Jerry Maguire’ Then and Now

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Released in 1996, Cameron Crowe's 'Jerry Maguire' starred Tom Cruise as the titular character -- a sports agent who, fed up with the lack of heart in his work, sends out an incendiary "mission statement" and heads out to start his own venture with the help of his new assistant (and love interest) Dorothy Boyd. It was the fifth consecutive film to gross more than $100 million for Tom Cruise, making him guaranteed box-office gold. We take a look back at Cruise and the rest of the cast from the film -- 17 years later -- to see what they're up to now.

Tom Cruise, Jerry Maguire

Then:  Cameron Crowe actually wrote the part of Jerry Maguire for Tom Hanks , but the role went to the  other  Tom, Tom Cruise. Cruise played the disgruntled sports agent, who leaves his firm to start a more personal business. Other actors considered for the role were Alec Baldwin, Johnny Depp, Bruce Willis and John Travolta.

Now:  Cruise recently appeared in the sci-fi thriller 'Oblivion' and can be seen next in 'Edge of Tomorrow.' He's also set to reprise the role of Ethan Hunt in a fifth 'Mission: Impossible' film. Cruise is a leading member of the Church of Scientology.

Cuba Gooding Jr., Rod Tidwell

Then:  Jamie Foxx auditioned for the role of Rod Tidwell, Arizona Cardinals football player and the first -- and only -- client to follow Jerry to his new business. The part went to Cuba Gooding Jr.

Now:  Gooding Jr. recently appeared in 'Red Tails' and ' Lee Daniels' The Butler ,' and can be seen next in ' Machete Kills .' He also has a cameo as himself in Joseph Gordon-Levitt 's directorial debut, ' Don Jon .'

Renee Zellweger, Dorothy Boyd

Then:  Cameron Diaz, Parker Posey, Mira Sorvino and Courtney Love were considered for the role of Jerry's love interest, single mother Dorothy Boyd. The part was originally written for Winona Ryder to star opposite Tom Hanks. Jennifer Lopez was offered the part but turned it down, feeling it wasn't right for her, while Connie Britton of 'Friday Night Lights' fame was the second choice for the part and was famously -- and narrowly -- beaten by Zellweger. The role made her career.

Now:  Zellweger hasn't acted in a few years -- her last films were 'Case 39' and 'My Own Love Song,' but she's reportedly returning for a third 'Bridget Jones' film.

Kelly Preston, Avery Bishop

Then:  Jennifer Connelly and Meg Ryan were offered the role of Avery, Jerry's tenacious girlfriend who dumped him when he left the firm. Alyssa Milano, Tori Spelling and Diane Lane all auditioned for the role, but it went to Kelly Preston. Her husband, John Travolta, was considered for the role of Jerry.

Now:  Preston starred alongside her husband in the film 'Old Dogs' and had a cameo in Travolta's other recent film, 'From Paris with Love.' She appears next in 'Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father.' Like Cruise, Preston and Travolta are also Scientologists.

Jerry O'Connell, Frank "Cush" Cushman

Then:  Jerry O'Connell, star of 'Standy by Me' and 'Calendar Girl,' played Frank "Cush" Cushman, an up-and-coming football player whom Jerry is desperate to sign.

Now:  O'Connell appeared in 'Scary Movie 5' and will next tackle the 'Veronica Mars' movie. He's made appearances on Adult Swim's 'NTSF: SD: SUV' and starred in Bryan Fuller's 'Mockingbird Lane' pilot, which was not picked up by NBC. He is married to actress and former model Rebecca Romijn.

Jay Mohr, Bob Sugar

Then:  Jerry Maguire's story is based on real sports agent Leigh Steinberg (who makes a cameo in the film). Steinberg's ex-partner David Dunn tried to steal away his colleague's clients, just like Bob Sugar does to Jerry in the film. Sugar was played by comedian and sports fan Jay Mohr.

Now:  Mohr made an appearance in this year's magician comedy ' The Incredible Burt Wonderstone .' He hosts his own sports radio show on Fox Sports Radio and has a podcast called Mohr Stories.

Regina King, Marcee Tidwell

Then:  Janet Jackson read for the role of Marcee Tidwell, but the part went to her 'Poetic Justice' co-star Regina King. Marcee played Rod's determined wife, who clearly wore the pants in the family.

Now:  King's last film appearance was in 2010's 'Our Family Reunion.' She is the voice of Riley and Huey Freeman on the animated series 'The Boondocks,' and she had a lead role on the recently canceled drama series 'Southland.'

Bonnie Hunt, Laurel Boyd

Then:  Bonnie Hunt played Dorothy's protective sister, Laurel Boyd. Hunt previously starred with Cruise in 'Rain Man,' but Cruise didn't remember Hunt being in that film. When he showed up on set for 'Jerry Maguire' and Hunt told him they worked together before, Cruise thought she was joking. Smooth.

Now:  Hunt does a lot of voice work for Pixar and has lent her talents to 'Cars,' 'Cars 2,' the ' Toy Story ' films and ' Monsters University .' She has not made an appearance on film since the 2006 indie 'I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With.'

Jonathan Lipnicki, Ray Boyd

Then:  Jonathan Lipnicki made his acting debut in 'Jerry Maguire' at the age of 6, playing Ray, Dorothy's precocious son. Lipnicki showed up on set one day by announcing, "The human head weighs eight pounds." Crowe liked it so much that he wrote it into the script.

Now: Lipnicki took a break from acting for a few years but recently appeared in 'For the Love of Money' and 'Tag.' He can be seen next in the film 'Bad Asses.'

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Tom Cruise Has Twitter Reunion With Onscreen 'Jerry McGuire' Co-Star Jonathan Lipnicki

Tom Cruise and Jonathan Lipnicki reunited on Twitter last week thanks to a viral Jerry Maguire [...]

By Michael Hein - December 17, 2018 01:23 pm EST

Tom Cruise and Jonathan Lipnicki reunited on Twitter last week thanks to a viral Jerry Maguire meme.

Earlier this month, a tweet from screenwriter Noel Pascual took off with a joke about Cruise, Lipnicki and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie. In it, Pascual joked that McQuarrie looked like a grown-up version of Lipnicki's character from the 1996 classic, Jerry Maguire , placing pictures of them side by side.

"Remember Tom Cruise and the kid from Jerry Maguire ? This is them now," Pascual wrote dryly. "Feel old yet?"

They grow up so fast. //t.co/2D4bgO7Ddp — Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 14, 2018

The post picked up thousands of likes and retweets and, after a week, it gained the attention of Cruise himself . Cruise retweeted it on Friday night, to the delight of some followers and confusion of others.

"They grow up so fast," Cruise joked. Many of his followers were fooled by the picture, actually believing that McQuarrie was the actor who had played Ray Boyd. Before long, however, Lipnicki showed up to settle the score.

"Working with you was great," he wrote to Cruise. "Getting trolled by you, even better." He included a series of fire emojis and laughing crying emojis for good measure.

working with you was great. Getting trolled by you, even better🔥🔥🔥🔥😂😂😂 — Jonathan Lipnicki (@JLIPNICKI) December 15, 2018

By the end of the ordeal, Pascual's harmless joke had drawn the attention of everyone involved except for McQuarrie. If the director had seen the post, he did not throw his two cents in online. The picture of McQuarrie and Cruise together came from a video Cruise had posted several weeks ago, where they discussed HD video quality on modern TVs.

McQuarrie and Cruise have a long working history together in Hollywood. McQuarrie wrote the screenplay adaptation of Jack Reacher , as well as the screenplay for Edge of Tomorrow, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and Mission: Imposssible: Fallout. He also directed Jack Reacher, Rogue Nation and Fallout , and produced the latter, as well as the Jack Reacher sequel , Never Go Back .

I’m taking a quick break from filming to tell you the best way to watch Mission: Impossible Fallout (or any movie you love) at home. pic.twitter.com/oW2eTm1IUA — Tom Cruise (@TomCruise) December 4, 2018

Many replied to Lipnicki tell him how much Jerry Maguire means to them, and how well the movie holds up to this day. They felt that he should join Cruise and, presumably McQuarrie in the next installment of Mission: Impossible , whenever it comes.

Any future projects will have to wait a while, as Cruise is apparently on set filming his long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick . The movie comes over 30 years after the original, revisiting one of Cruise's most beloved roles. Top Gun: Maverick is expected to hit theaters some time in 2020.

The man next to Tom Cruise in this photo is not the child from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire

A collage of two pictures of Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, one with a child in 1996 and the other one allegedly with the same child now grown up, is viral on social media. Let’s check the facts behind this picture through this article.

Claim: The child from the movie Jerry Maguire now looks older than Tom Cruise in their latest photo together. Fact: The persons in these two photos of the collage are two different people. The top picture is a still from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire; the name of the actor sitting next to Tom Cruise is Jonathan Lipnicki and the image at the bottom features Tom Cruise with filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie. Hence the claim made in the post is False .

To know the details behind each picture, we performed a reverse image search on Yandex. The top photo led us to an article which contained the same photo titled ‘ You won’t believe what the kid from ‘Jerry Maguire’ looks like now. . ‘ Jerry Maguire ( here and here ) is a 1996 film starring Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr. among others.

The child actor in the photo is Jonathan Lipnicki , and you can see in the image below to know how he looks now. Jonathan is 32 years old now; he uploads his pictures on his Instagram profile , on which he also penned a note on the 25th anniversary of Jerry Maguire.

After establishing how Jonathan looks now, it is evident that the man in the bottom picture is not him. The person in it is actually filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie , who directed two Mission Impossible films and is the director of the upcoming two instalments of the franchise starring Tom Cruise. This picture was taken during the world premiere of Mission Impossible: Fallout in 2018 in Paris and is available on Getty Images .

To sum up, the photo of Christopher McQuarrie is falsely shared as the latest photo of the child actor in the movie Jerry Maguire.

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'Jerry Maguire' child actor Jonathan Lipnicki is all grown up! Star, 32, now wants to land action film roles

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIFORNIA: Jonathan Lipnicki, who once portrayed a young child in ' Jerry Maguire,' now discusses his love of martial arts online and has a significantly different appearance. After starring in the Academy Award-winning classic as Ray Boyd, Renee Zellweger's son, 26 years ago, Jonathan is now a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt.

The now 32-year-old delivered trivia-peppered lines with an adorable lisp as a child actor like "the human head weighs eight pounds" in the 1996 blockbuster, which helped 'Jerry Maguire' become a successful movie . He currently shares images on Instagram that demonstrate his love for martial arts and display his lean physique. 

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Of Jewish descent, Jonathan also supports organizations that fight anti-Semitism and cancer charities. After appearing in 'Jerry Maguire' as a child, he went on to land roles in 'The Single Guy,' 'The Jeff Foxworthy Show,' and 'Dawson's Creek' episodes. After that, he acted in the sitcom 'Meego' before breaking out once more in 1999 as the lead in the successful movie 'Stuart Little.' He portrayed a little child whose parents take in a talking mouse. Michael J. Fox, a fellow former child star, provided the voice for Stuart Little, the mouse. 

He took on roles in the 2000s 'The Little Vampire' and 2002's 'Like Mike,' a sports drama he co-starred in with hip-hop superstar Bow Wow. In 2016, Lipnicki told DailyMail that it had been challenging to persuade movie directors and producers to see him as anything other than the charming youngster from the movie ever since 'Jerry Maguire.' 

The star claimed that acting is a constant hustle but that he has still managed to land parts in action movies and that his goal was to become a well-known adult actor. He also considered it a blessing that he still keeps in touch with his former co-star, Tom Cruise, who served as a mentor to him. In the competitive world of Hollywood, Lipnicki believes that his rigorous martial arts training keeps him focused and mentally strong. He also claims that having a six-pack makes it easier for him to land roles. 

Daily Mail reported that 'Jerry Maguire,' that Lipnicki made his acting debut, is one of the all-time highest-grossing romantic comedies. It generated a cool $274m globally and was a resounding box office hit. As a five-year-old, Lipnicki reflected on his time spent on the set: "Every year the memories get less and less, but Tom and Renee were really great to work with. Everyone was really a pleasure to work with, and I got lucky that that was my first role with such a positive environment. What I remember was how warm everyone was to me."

Lipnicki claims he has stayed in touch with most of the cast, but especially with Cruise, whom he contacts occasionally and last spoke to around a year ago. "That was the last thing, I had a new car - I had a 67 Mustang for a while - and [Cruise] wanted to see it so I sent him a picture of that. He’s a dude!" Lipnicki holds Cruise in the highest regard and refers to him as his hero. Additionally, he admires Cruise for performing all of his own stunts, which he freely acknowledges he would like to do more of. 

The actor shared his adorable Jerry Maguire photo in 2021 and captioned it, "25 Years ago Jerry Maguire came out in theaters and my life changed forever. I'm beyond grateful that I got to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life when I was five years old. The best is yet to come, I promise you that."

Jerry Maguire child star looks unrecognisable 27 years after Tom Cruise movie

Jonathan Lipnicki, who starred alongside Tom Cruise in her Oscar-winning movie Jerry Maguire, looks completely different 27 years after featuring as a child in the Hollywood movie

• 10:00, 6 May 2023
• Updated 10:01, 6 May 2023

Jonathan Lipnicki has stunned fans with how different almost three decades since starring as a young child in Jerry Maguire.

The movie, starring Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger follows Tom's character and sports agent Jerry Maguire as he tries to get back on his feet after being fired from his job.

The only client he has is Rod Tidwell, played by Cuba Gooding Jr, who is a disgruntled football player who wants a better contract.

Jonathan played young Ray Boyd in the sports comedy, which went on to bag an Oscar in 1996, helped by young Jonathan, who was six at the time and delivered lines like "the human head weighs eight pounds."

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about his rise to fame, Jonathan admitted it wasn't easy and confessed to being "made fun of relentlessly," leading to anxiety and panic attacks.

He added that as he entered his teen years, he needed time out to take acting lessons and regain his confidence.

"It wasn't really traditionally a break," he said. "I was still auditioning here and there. I was kind of in an awkward phase, and I wasn't as confident in myself, and the best thing as an actor you can bring to a role is yourself."

As a teen, he took up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and credits the art for helping him become "confident" and stay "humble." He also does Muay Thai and mixed martial arts (MMA).

Nine years after debuting his new physique online and surprising the internet with his look in 2011, Jonathan earned his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

The ripped star shows off his toned physique regularly on his Instagram alongside his passion for martial arts. Fans in his comments have swooned over his new look, with one writing: "When did yo get all Sexyyyyyy!"

A second put: "My crush has been reignited," while a third added: "oh lawdy Lipnicki! Hotter than the sun."

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Jerry Maguire: 9 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Tom Cruise Movie

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Every moviegoer remembers the first time they heard the words "Show me the money" or "You had me at 'Hello.'" This was 25 years ago when Jerry Maguire, the Academy Award-winning third feature by writer and director Cameron Crowe , was released to universal praise from critics and audiences alike, impressive box office returns, and a succeeding legacy as one of the most iconic, quotable, and inspirational comedy-dramas that technically qualifies as a sports movie. Equally as interesting as plot of the Tom Cruise movie , about a hot shot agent to pro athletes whose moral epiphany sends him on a drastic journey of self-rediscovery, is the behind-the-scenes facts that craft the story of how it was made, starting with the some of people whose own lives contributed to the story.

Jerry Maguire Is Loosely Based On Real Sports Agents, Including Leigh Steinberg

In a making-of documentary included on the 20th Anniversary edition Blu-ray of Jerry Maguire , Cameron Crowe recalls how the inspiration for the film came from multiple avenues - some personal and some from the modern world of business. To put a face to a name, Leigh Steinberg was one of the more notable sports agents who largely served as the inspiration for the title character played by Tom Cruise . Steinberg told Sky Sports that Crowe spent a a year and a half shadowing the agent, whose most famous clients at the time included Dallas Cowboys’ Troy Aikman (who makes a cameo) and one who also sparked a few ideas in Crowe’s mind.

Leigh Steinberg’s Client Tim McDonald Inspired Cuba Gooding Jr.’s “Show Me The Money” Line

The aforementioned doc sees Cameron Crowe go on to mention an athlete whom Leigh Steinberg represented when he was researching for Jerry Maguire named Tim McDonald. He recalls conducting an interview with the former football player that led to one of the film’s more memorable moments:

He was there with his buddy and his buddy was watching CNN Moneyline and [McDonald] had one eye on Moneyline, too, and he just said, ‘I have gotten my butt kicked for five years. My contract is finally up and I have told my agent one thing: “Show me the money.”’ And a little chill went through me because I just knew that was such a defining thing for him and I couldn’t get the line out of my head and I spent more time with this guy and found out he’s not greedy at all. He’s just got a few more years left where he can get paid for what he does and he had a family that was supported. And I just thought, That’s a hero, you know? That’s a hero - a guy who is, on the surface, perhaps, in the desperate pursuit of cash but, in fact, what is greed if greed is paying for the people you love and allowing them to survive?

Cameron Crowe then explains how that one sentence, which he adapted into one of the most recognizable movie quotes of all time, was the spark that led to the creation of Rod Tidwell - an Arizona Cardinals wide receiver who becomes Jerry Maguire’s sole client after he gets fired. The character is also remembered as the role that earned Cuba Gooding Jr. his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1997.

Jerry Maguire’s Mission Statement Was Inspired By A Real Disney Memo By Jeffrey Katzenberg

Say, speaking of Jerry Maguire getting fired, the inciting incident of this is what the hot shot agent calls a "mission statement" for his company about emphasizing personal relationships over monetary gain that he pens after suffering a moral crisis. As it turns out, Cameron Crowe also borrowed this creative and inspiring plot device from reality as well - specifically a 28-page memo that Jeffrey Katzenberg wrote when he was head of Disney after becoming dissatisfied with the company’s box office-driven mentality. The producer sent this manifesto to his employees in 1991 - three years before leaving to develop DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.

Jerry Maguire’s Post-Firing Fall Was A Secret Between Tom Cruise And Cameron Crowe

Of course, Jerry Maguire’s exit came much quicker after releasing his statement, courtesy of Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr), who chooses to announce the termination at a public restaurant to avoid causing a scene. Jerry still manages to create a rousing moment at the agency when he returns in such a rush to contact his clients that he falls flat on his face on the way to his office - an unforgettable instance of physical comedy that, apparently, was not in the script. According to Cameron Crowe on the 2016 Blu-ray featurette, he suggested the stable to Tom Cruise last-minute without telling anybody else on set, resulting in the completely natural reaction we see in the final cut.

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Cameron Crowe Wrote The Jerry Maguire Role With Tom Hanks In Mind

It is off-the-cuff decisions that end in great results like that which are why it is impossible to imagine anyone else but Tom Cruise playing the title character of Jerry Maguire . However, the Mission: Impossible movies star was not the first choice in mind Cameron Crowe, who actually wrote the part the intention of casting Tom Hanks originally. However, while on The Dan Patrick Show in 2017, the filmmaker revealed that, by the time he finished, the two-time Oscar winner was committed to his directorial debut, That Thing You Do! , which would prove to be a blessing in disguise when Cruise stepped in.

Jonathan Lipnicki Introduced His Famous Line To Cameron Crowe, According To The Director

Bonus fun fact: apparently Cameron Crowe was warned by some about Tom Cruise using his star power to try taking control of production if hired on Jerry Maguire , which he said could not have been further from the truth. In fact, it even worked in the film’s favor to cast relatively unknown actors (at the time) around the A-lister, such as then five-year-old Jonathan Lipnicki who won the hearts of many with his debut role as Ray Boyd. The now 30-year-old actor has said that people still come up to him to ask if he knows that “the human brain weighs eight pounds,” which, according to Yahoo! , Cameron Crowe claims the young actor would tell people on set, inspiring him to put it in the movie and, unwittingly, make history.

Renée Zellweger Thought Her Iconic Jerry Maguire Line Was A Typo

A more historical quote from Jerry Maguire , however, is said by Jonathan Lipnicki’s on-screen mother Dorothy Boyd, played by Renée Zellweger. After Tom Cruise’s character finally professes his genuine love for his estranged wife by saying she “completes” him, she shuts him up by replying, “You had me at ‘Hello.’” It is one of the most romantic, oft-quoted movie lines ever, but, as the future two-time Oscar-winner revealed to Newsday , she was not sure what to make of it at first:

Cameron had me say it a few different ways. It's so funny, because when I read it, I didn't get it — I thought it was a typo somehow. I kept looking at it. It was the one thing in the script that I was looking at going, 'Is that right? Can that be right? How is that right?' I thought, 'Is there a better way to say that? Am I not getting it? I just don't know how to do it.

In defense of Renée Zellweger , if the line had turned out to be a typo, it would not be the only time that Jerry Maguire benefitted from a happy accident as we have already established.

Paula Abdul Choreographed Rod Tidwell’s Post-Concussion Dance In Jerry Maguire

Another memorable moment from Jerry Maguire that was also not by accident was the elaborate dance that Rod Tidwell performs after miraculously waking up from a concussion (which is something that doctors would strongly advise against these days). However, it is still an exciting moment that was achieved with the choreography of Paula Abdul - the pop star and future American Idol judge also known for lending her dance talents to films like Coming to America in 1988. When commenting on the dance in Jerry Maguire for Entertainment Tonight in 1996, Abdul mentions she had previously met Cuba Gooding Jr. after casting him in an ad for Bugle Boy.

Cameron Crowe’s Mom Makes A Cameo In Jerry Maguire

Someone who is frequently cast in Cameron Crowe’s movies is his own mother, Alice Marie Crowe, who notably appears in the Almost Famous cast as a guidance counselor who convinces Elaine ( Frances McDormand ) to let William (Patrick Fugit) follow Stillwater on tour. Her claim to fame from Jerry Maguire , according to Slate, is playing a member of the divorced women support group hosted by Dorothy’s sister, Laurel (Bonnie Hunt), who excitedly reveals to the other that she “finally got in touch with [her] anger.”

Believe it or not, that line might have gotten a harder laugh out of me than any other line in the film. Of course, Jerry Maguire is the kind of movie where the script tends to become a part of your vocabulary even before you see it - especially for those of younger generations like myself who caught the full experience a bit later. Luckily, the romantic sports dramedy is also the kind of film that never fails to entertain and inspire no matter if you are seeing the first time of the one-hundredth time, which is why it remains a classic a quarter of a century later.

Jason Wiese writes feature stories for CinemaBlend. His occupation results from years dreaming of a filmmaking career, settling on a "professional film fan" career, studying journalism at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO (where he served as Culture Editor for its student-run print and online publications), and a brief stint of reviewing movies for fun. He would later continue that side-hustle of film criticism on TikTok (@wiesewisdom), where he posts videos on a semi-weekly basis. Look for his name in almost any article about Batman.

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'Jerry Maguire' at 25: Renée Zellweger says Tom Cruise really had her at 'hello' when they first met

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

If Renée Zellweger was nervous en route to her try out for Jerry Maguire , the 1996 hit that would ultimately help turn the up-and-coming Texas-born actress into one of Hollywood’s most in-demand performers, she had a solid coping mechanism to deal with it.

“I drove to my audition that day, and I was laughing to myself the whole time,” Zellweger said of her experience landing the film — released 25 years ago, on Dec. 10, 1996 — during a 2016 Role Recall interview (watch above). “That was just hilarious to me, you know? Because Tom Cruise was down at Sony waiting for me [laughs]. I mean, that’s funny, you know?”

At the time, Zellweger’s profile was steadily rising after roles in such films as Reality Bites , 8 Seconds, Love and a .45 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation , opposite fellow up-and-coming Texan Matthew McConaughey. Cruise, however, had already been cemented as one of the world’s most bankable movie stars, and was fresh from a string of acclaimed films, including A Few Good Men , The Firm and Interview With the Vampire .

Zellweger fondly recalls her first meeting with Cruise where, to quote her loyal colleague-turned-love interest Dorothy Boyd, he had her at “hello.”

“You walk in the room, and the whole superstar thing of this person disappears. And the truth of who he is is right there,” she said. “He shakes your hand, looks you in the eye, [says] ‘Happy to meet you,’ and he is. And he’s curious about you and wants to get to know you. And it’s very easy to like him.”

Cruise clearly liked Zellweger back. Among the other actresses reportedly considered for the part were the more well-established Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Uma Thurman, Marisa Tomei and Winona Ryder. The part of the eponymous sports agent whose moral epiphany gets him forced out of a job was actually written by filmmaker Cameron Crowe with Tom Hanks in mind. But Crowe took so long writing the script, he’d ultimately deem Hanks too old for the part, so it instead went to Cruise, six years his junior.

Jerry Maguire was both a major commercial and critical hit, earning $153 million in the U.S. and $273 worldwide. It earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, with Cuba Gooding Jr. winning Best Supporting Actor for his live-wire performance as football player Rod Tidwell.

It was the 18th highest grossing movie of 1996, but probably the No. 1 most quotable thanks to lines like “Show me the money!,” “You complete me” and Zellweger’s own “You had me at ‘hello.’”

Zellweger admits she initially grappled with the line, which reportedly made no sense to her when she first read it.

“I asked Cameron about it a lot,” said Zellweger, who has won two Academy Awards since (for Cold Mountain and Judy ), and has been nominated two other times (for Bridget Jones’s Diary and Chicago ).

“And we did it a couple times. He would throw out suggestions [for alternate lines], and keeps it rolling. And he did that a lot and I loved it. I loved it. Because you didn’t have to stop and reset everything in order to get back to where you were, in order to sort of branch out from there and see where it would go. You could just keep on expanding on what it is that you’re exploring. I loved it.”

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Jerry Maguire (1996)

Tom cruise: jerry maguire.

• Photos (80)
• Quotes (50)

Photos 

Quotes 

[Rod has just told Jerry he will keep him as his agent] 

Jerry Maguire : That's, that's great. I'm very... happy.

Rod Tidwell : Are you listenin'?

Jerry Maguire : Yes!

Rod Tidwell : That's what I'm gonna do for you: God bless you, Jerry. But this is what you gonna do for me. You listenin', Jerry?

Jerry Maguire : Yeah, what, what, what can I do for you, Rod? You just tell me what can I do for you?

Rod Tidwell : It's a very personal, a very important thing. Hell, it's a family motto. Are you ready, Jerry?

Jerry Maguire : I'm ready.

Rod Tidwell : I wanna make sure you're ready, brother. Here it is: Show me the money. Oh-ho-ho! SHOW! ME! THE! MONEY! A-ha-ha! Jerry, doesn't it make you feel good just to say that! Say it with me one time, Jerry.

Jerry Maguire : Show you the money.

Rod Tidwell : Oh, no, no. You can do better than that, Jerry! I want you to say it with you, with meaning, brother! Hey, I got Bob Sugar on the other line; I better hear you he can say it!

Jerry Maguire : Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. Show you the money.

Rod Tidwell : No! Not show you! Show me the money!

Jerry Maguire : Show me the money!

Rod Tidwell : Yeah! Louder!

Rod Tidwell : Yes, but, brother, you got to yell that shit!

Rod Tidwell : I need to feel you, Jerry!

Rod Tidwell : Jerry, you got to yell!

Jerry Maguire : [screaming]  Show me the money! Show me the money!

Rod Tidwell : Do you love this black man!

Jerry Maguire : I love the black man! Show me the money!

Rod Tidwell : I love black people.

Jerry Maguire : I love black people!

Rod Tidwell : Who's your motherfucker, Jerry?

Jerry Maguire : You're my motherfucker!

Rod Tidwell : Whatcha gonna do, Jerry?

Rod Tidwell : Unh! Congratulations, you're still my agent.

Jerry Maguire : [babbling and struggling]  I love you. You... you complete me. And I just...

Dorothy : Shut up,

[pause] 

Dorothy : just shut up.

[Pause] 

Dorothy : You had me at "hello". You had me at "hello".

Jerry Maguire : [to Rod]  I am out here for you. You don't know what it's like to be ME out here for YOU. It is an up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about, ok?

Ray : [while in the backseat of their car]  Did you know that the human head weighs 8 pounds?

Jerry Maguire : Did you know that Troy Aikman, in only six years, has passed for 16,303 yards?

Ray : D'you know that bees and dogs can smell fear?

Jerry Maguire : Did you know that the career record for hits is 4,256 by Pete Rose who is NOT in the Hall of Fame?

Ray : D'you know that my next door neighbor has three rabbits?

Jerry Maguire : I... I can't compete with that!

Jerry Maguire : The fuckin zoo is closed, Ray.

Ray : You said fuck.

Jerry Maguire : Uh... yeah... I...

Ray : Don't worry. I won't tell.

Jerry Maguire : [pleading to Rod]  Help me... help you. Help me, help you.

Rod Tidwell : I feel for you, man. But a real man wouldn't shoplift the pootie from a single mom.

Jerry Maguire : I didn't shoplift the pootie.

[Rod gives him a long Look] 

Jerry Maguire : All right. I shoplifted the pootie.

Jerry Maguire : [over the phone]  I will not rest until I have you holding a Coke, wearing your own shoe, playing a Sega game *featuring you*, while singing your own song in a new commercial, *starring you*, broadcast during the Superbowl, in a game that you are winning, and I will not *sleep* until that happens. I'll give you fifteen minutes to call me back.

Jerry Maguire : [to Dorothy]  We live in a cynical world. A cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you. You... complete me.

Jerry Maguire : What do you want from me? My soul?

Dorothy : Why not? I deserve that much.

Rod Tidwell : [while leaving the stadium after a game]  Maybe you don't. Because it's not just the money I deserve. It's not just the "coin." It's the... - "the kwan".

Jerry Maguire : That's your word?

Rod Tidwell : Yeah, man, it means love, respect, community... and the dollars too. The package. The kwan.

Jerry Maguire : But how did you get "kwan?"

Rod Tidwell : I got there from "coin," dude. Coin, coin... kwaaaan.

Jerry Maguire : [after having been fired]  Don't worry, I'm not gonna do what you all think I'm gonna do, which is, you know, FLIP OUT!

Jerry Maguire : This is going to change everything.

Dorothy : Promise?

Jerry Maguire : [after having been fired]  But if anybody else wants to come with me, this moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together! Who's coming with me besides... "Flipper" here?

Laurel : [after Marrying her sister without considering it thoroughly]  You fuck this up, I'll kill you!

Jerry Maguire : I'm glad we had this talk.

Jerry Maguire : [while on a plane]  What are you doing with me, Rod?

Rod Tidwell : Why?

Jerry Maguire : I'm finished, I'm fucked. Twenty-four hours ago, man, I was hot! Now... I'm a cautionary tale. You see this jacket I'm wearing, you like it? Because I don't really need it. Because I'm cloaked in failure! I lost the number one draft picked the night before the draft! Why? Let's recap: because a hockey player's kid made me feel like a superficial jerk. I ate two slices of bad pizza, went to bed and grew a conscience!

Rod Tidwell : Well, boo-fucking-hoo.

Avery Bishop : There is no real loyalty.

Jerry Maguire : None.

Avery Bishop : And the first person who told me that, Jerry Maguire, was you.

Jerry Maguire : I think I was trying to sleep with you at the time.

Avery Bishop : Well, it worked.

Jerry Maguire : [Narrating]  I hated myself... no, I hated my place in the world.

Rod Tidwell : [over the phone]  I am a valuable commodity! I go across the middle! I see a dude coming at me, trying to kill me, I tell myself "Get killed. Catch the ball!' BOO YA! Touchdown! I make miracles happen!

Jerry Maguire : Rod...

Rod Tidwell : I'm from Arizona, Jerry! I broke Arizona records! I went to Arizona State! I'm a Sun Devil, man!

Jerry Maguire : And now you want Arizona dollars?

Rod Tidwell : Exaaaacctly!

Jerry Maguire : Have you ever gotten the feeling that you aren't completely embarassed yet, but you glimpse tomorrow's embarrassment?

Jerry Maguire : [to Avery]  Jump in my nightmare, the water's warm!

[Jerry and Dorothy are in the elevator and a hearing impaired couple gets on. The man of the couple starts talking with his hands, then they get off] 

Jerry Maguire : I wonder what he just said.

Dorothy : My favorite aunt is hearing impaired. He just said "You complete me".

Jerry Maguire : [Jerry Maguire is lying in bed one morning when suddenly the radio comes on and wakes him up with a jolt after having slept with Dorothy the night before] 

[flash to Dickey Fox in his office] 

Dicky Fox : I love the mornings! I clap my hands every morning and say, 'This is gonna be a great day!'

[flash back to Jerry Maguire who accidentally steps on a toy] 

Jerry Maguire : [mutters]  I don't believe this. How'd I get myself into this?

Jerry Maguire : I have a question for you, Rod: are we really friends?

Rod Tidwell : Why not?

Jerry Maguire : I mean, because, friends can tell each other anything if we have our friends hats on, right?

Rod Tidwell : I think so.

Jerry Maguire : All right. I'll tell you why you don't have your ten million dollars yet. Right now, you are a paycheck player. You play with your head, not your heart. In your personal life, heart. But when you get on the field, it's all about what you didn't get, who's to blame, who under threw the pass, who's got the contract you don't, who's not giving you your love. You know what? That is not what inspires people. That is *not* what inspires people. Just shut up and play the game. Play it from your heart, and you know what? I will show you the quan. And that's the truth, man! That's the truth. Can you handle it? It's just a question between friends, you know? Oh, and when they call you "shrimp", *I'm* the one who defends you!

Rod Tidwell : I don't want to be friends no more.

Jerry Maguire : Fine.

Rod Tidwell : And quit using that word, "quan", that's my word!

Jerry Maguire : I'll see you in L.A.

Rod Tidwell : No heart... no heart?

[shouts] 

Rod Tidwell : I'm all heart, motherfucker!

Jerry Maguire : [to Matt Cushman]  I'm still sort of moved by your "My word is stronger than oak" thing.

Jerry Maguire : [to Dorothy]  I won't let you get rid of me.

Jerry Maguire : [over the phone]  I don't like black people? I am Mister black people.

[narrating first lines] 

Jerry Maguire : So this is the world, and there are almost six billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three. It's hard to keep up.

Jerry Maguire : [while leaving the stadium after a game]  How's your head?

Rod Tidwell : Bubblicious.

Jerry Maguire : [Looking over an inadequate contract sent by fax to his office] 

Jerry Maguire : I'll go back to them.

Marcee Tidwell : And say what? "Please remove your dick from my ass"?

Jerry Maguire : I started talking to Dennis Wilburn about your re-negotiation this morning.

Rod Tidwell : [after stepping out of the shower]  Talking. Jerry Rice, Andre Reed, Chris Carter... I smoke all these fools! Yet, they are making the big, sweet dollars. They are making the... quan, and you are talking.

Jerry Maguire : What'd you know about dating a single mother?

Rod Tidwell : [after filming a commercial]  Plenty, I was raised by a single mother.

Jerry Maguire : Tell me everything because after this I think she's going to have to take that job in San Diego.

Rod Tidwell : Single mothers don't date they've been to the circus they've been to the puppet shows and they've seen the strings do you love her?

Jerry Maguire : How do I know?

Rod Tidwell : What'd you mean? How do you know? You know when you know.

Jerry Maguire : I don't want her to go, we hang out at her place a lot

Rod Tidwell : Wait a minute that's bullshit you have to be fair to her a single mother is a scared thing you've got to have the talk, she loves you, if you don't love her you've got to tell her.

Jerry Maguire : Towel?

Rod Tidwell : No, I air-dry.

Jerry Maguire : [after breaking up with Avery]  I'm not trying to make history here.

Rod Tidwell : [after showing up late to his game]  Thanks for coming.

Jerry Maguire : I missed ya. What can I say? You're all I've got.

Jerry Maguire : Rod, think about back when you were a little kid. It wasn't about the money, was it? Was it?

[Questionably] 

Jerry Maguire : Was it?

Jerry Maguire : [to Dorothy before their date]  That's more than a dress. That's an Audrey Hepburn movie.

Marcee Tidwell : [while waiting impatiently for him in his office]  I'm glad to see you finally made it. Rod is very upset.

Jerry Maguire : How can I make your life better?

Marcee Tidwell : This is humiliating and I'm pregnant and incapable of bullshit. Where is our offer from Arizona? I don't know what you do for your four percent but my husband has a whole plan, an image and when you put him in a waterbed warehouse commercial you're making him common, when you know he deserves the big four: shoes, cars, clothing line, soft drink. I know about the four jewels of the celebrity endorsement dollar. I majored in marketing and so did my husband. We came to play.

Jerry Maguire : [Over the phone]  Tell me you got lost on your way to the restaurant because I know you wouldn't stand up a friend.

Dennis Wilburn : Something came up.

Jerry Maguire : [Referring to Rod's contract]  Ten million dollars for four years.

Dennis Wilburn : It's early, you're still dreaming

Jerry Maguire : Ten for four and it's a deal.

Dennis Wilburn : The guy's got an attitude problem.

Jerry Maguire : I can help you with that. He listens to me.

Dennis Wilburn : He's a shrimp.

Jerry Maguire : He broke every receiving record you had last year.

Dennis Wilburn : I want a prototypical wide receiver. I want someone who is six foot three inches tall, two thundered twenty pounds, not someone who's five ten and bitches in the locker room.

Jerry Maguire : I'm asking you for a favor. I introduced you to your wife, we've spent Christmases together.

Dennis Wilburn : You're reaching.

Jerry Maguire : Don't do this, we have history.

Dennis Wilburn : Yeah, we have history. You've drove up the prices on me for years and now it's time for you to spend some time at the back of the line.

Rod Tidwell : [while on a plane]  Ya know! Ya know! We're together on this one! Ya know! Ya know!

Jerry Maguire : Oh my god.

Jerry Maguire : [Narrating]  I'm the guy you don't usually see. I'm the one behind the scenes. I'm the sports agent, you those photos where the new player holds the team jersey and poses with the owner? Inside that building, that's where I work: S.M.I.,Sports Management International, thirty three out of shape agents, guiding the careers of one thousand five hundred eighty five of the most finely tuned athletes alive. I handle the lives and dreams of seventy two clients and I get an average of two hundred sixty four phone calls a day, that's what I do, this is what I do best, but I'll be honest with you. I started noticing a few years ago and I didn't say a word but the quest for the big dollars and a lot of the little things were going wrong, but lately, it's gotten worse who did I become? Just another shark in a suit?

Jerry Maguire : [Over the phone]  I hear what you're saying and that's why I'm calling.

Rod Tidwell : I hear that you hear what I'm saying, but do you truly "hear" what I'm saying? Didn't you tell my wife more "personal attention"? Did you not tell my wife more "personal attention"?

Jerry Maguire : I said more "personal attention".

Rod Tidwell : We need to get started on my list of things you need to know. You can take notes if you want to. I'm sitting here with an ant problem. I got ants going up and down my hallway, my brother's room has a flood. My house is falling apart, nobody's looking out for me, we don't know where we'll be living in a year and I'm supposed to be a superstar. I am a role model. I have a family to support. I like you, my wife likes you, you're good to my wife. I will stay with you.

Jerry Maguire : But tonight, our little project, our company, had a very big night. A very, very big night. But it wasn't complete, wasn't nearly close to being in the same vicinity as complete, because I couldn't share it with you.

Jerry Maguire : [after having sex, while lying on their bed by himself]  I don't think we need to do the thing where we tell each other everything

Avery Bishop : This is what intimacy is, don't forget tomorrow we have the dinner with Wade Cooksey

Jerry Maguire : I know about the bachelor party

Avery Bishop : Your buddy Dooler worked his ass off to make the tribute film all those guys from your office are coming, everybody loves you just calm down relax and act surprised and have an amazing time

Jerry Maguire : [Narrating]  America still sets the tone for the world of sports. In Indiana I signed Clark Hodd. He's only thirteen years old and is considered the best point guard in the country and last week he scored a hundred points in a single game. I also signed Erica Sorgi, you'll see her in the next Olympics. In Seattle I signed Dallas Malloy, she's sixteen years old and her lawsuit helped paved the way for women boxers everywhere. Whenever she fights she thinks about her ex-boyfriend. In Indio, California I signed Art Stallings, he plays the sport with what pure joy. In Odessa, Texas I signed the great Frank Cushman. This April, twenty-six teams will be falling all over themselves in order to sign him in the next NFL draft. He's my client, my most important client. Believe me, there's genius everywhere, but until they turn pro it's like popcorn in the pan: some pop, some don't.

Jerry Maguire : [Narrating]  Two days later at our corporate conference in Miami: a breakthrough, a breakdown? No, a breakthrough. I had so much to say and no one to listen and then it happened, an unexpected thing: I began writing what they call a "mission statement." Not a memo, a "mission statement", a suggestion for the future of our company. A night like this doesn't come around very often. I seized it. What started out as one page slowly became twenty-five. Suddenly, I was my father's son again. I was remembering the simple pleasures of this job: how I ended up here out of law school, the way a stadium sounds when one of my players performs well on the field, the way we are meant to protect them in health and in injury. With so many clients we've forgotten what's important. I wrote and wrote and wrote and I'm not even a writer. I was even remembering the original words of my mentor, the late, great Dicky Fox. Suddenly it was all clear: the answer was fewer clients and less money, giving more attention to them, caring for them, caring for ourselves. I'll be the first to admit it, what I was writing was somewhat "touchy feely". I didn't care, I had lost the ability to bullshit. It was the me I always wanted to be. I put the mission statement into a bag and took it to a Copy Mat in the middle of the night, printed a hundred and ten copies. Even the cover looked like The Catcher in the Rye. I entitled it, "The Things We Think And Do Not Say: The Future of our Business."

Jerry Maguire : [Over the phone with different clients]  Right now you're paying twenty five percent to SMI. I would cut my commission by seven percent, I'm going to make this choice easy for you: what does your heart tell you?

Jerry Maguire : [over the phone with a client, after declining his offer to have him represent them independently and cut ties with their current sports agency firm]  I'm sorry to hear that. I think you're making a big mistake. I'm concerned about you, your family and your future and if you stay here, I don't know what's going to happen.

Jerry Maguire : [During lunch]  what's up?

Bob Sugar : I came here to let you go

Jerry Maguire : Pardon?

Bob Sugar : I came here to fire you it's real, you should say something

Jerry Maguire : In a crowded restaurant so I won't make a scene you ungrateful...

Bob Sugar : [interrupts him]  You should see yourself you said "fewer clients" and put it all down on paper what about me? What I had to go through, knowing I had to fire my mentor? Carrying that all in my head for a week, can you get past yourself for a minute?

Jerry Maguire : You'll lose

Bob Sugar : You wanted it smaller

Jerry Maguire : I'm over it and I want all my clients and yours too

Jerry Maguire : [to his friends and colleagues after having been fired eventually leaving with Dorothy]  let me just say as I ease out of the office I helped build. I'm sorry but that's a fact that there's such a thing as "manners," a way of treating people: these fish have manners, in fact I'm taking them with me, call me "sentimental" but I'm taking because they have manners, we'll see you all again, sleep tight.

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The cute kid from Jerry Maguire is now a ripped jiu-jitsu fighter, still calls Tom Cruise his mentor

By Ashley Spencer | 8 years ago

As little Ray Boyd in  Jerry Maguire , Jonathan Lipnicki 's lisp and chubby little cheeks charmed their way through adorable scenes with Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger . (You'll never forget that the human head weighs eight pounds, thanks to him.)

"Tom and Renee were really great to work with…What I remember was how warm everyone was to me," he told Daily Mail in a new interview.

"It was my first film and they don’t pay crazy on the first film. But for a five year old it was amazing - it beats allowance definitely."

Now 25, the former child star has spent the last decade diligently training in martial arts. He's got a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and he's RIPPED.

He also casually still emails with Tom and says he's his mentor.

"If I have a question he’s been very open if I need advice," Jonathan said. "He’s always said if you have any questions the door’s always open and he’s always been really responsive and helpful.

And devout Scientologist Tom even supported Jonathan's Jewish bar mitzvah at age 13.

"He’s super respectful - when I had my bar mitzvah he sent me a letter to congratulate me," said Jonathan. "He’s honestly the most stand-up individual that I’ve ever met in my life."

You can catch Jonathan in a new movie next year with Denise Richards called Altitude , which he describes as "like a female-driven Die Hard." And thanks to those early gigs, he's pretty much set for life.

"By no means am I a multi, multi, multi-millionaire, but I have a really nice life and a really nice lifestyle," he says. "I’m extremely grateful that I get to do with my life what I want right now and just focus on acting and have no other job."

Did you know that his next-door neighbour has three rabbits ?

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Then and Now: See Jerry Maguire Star Jonathan Lipnicki and More Former Child Actors All Grown Up

We're checking in on jonathan lipnicki, who played scene-stealing smarty-pants ray in 1996's jerry maguire , and a host of other actors who got their start at an early age..

Did you know that the human head weighs 8 pounds? And that bees and dogs can smell fear? And that the kid from  Jerry Maguire is 31?

Jonathan Lipnicki , who played Ray, the adorable fact disseminator with big glasses and a promising throwing arm in the sports-and-romance classic, is celebrating his birthday Oct. 22.

Which, when you do the math, makes sense, even if the all-grown-upness of the situation is hard to wrap your 8-pound head around. 

But without a doubt, 1996 was a big year for the Los Angeles native, who joined the cast of  The Jeff Foxworthy Show  at 5 and at 6, a few months later, was on a red carpet celebrating with Tom Cruise   and the actor's then-wife, Nicole Kidman .

So, it's been a minute.

Lipnicki's precocious turn in Jerry Maguire , his movie debut, earned him Best Child Performance honors at the Critics' Choice Awards in 1997, after which he starred in the short-lived sitcom Meego  and, most notably, voiced Baby Tiger in the blockbuster Doctor Dolittle  with Eddie Murphy  and played George Little in the  Stuart Little  films.

And he remains a working actor, but he had the mixed fortune to be  so  memorable right out of the gate, stealing his scenes as an adorable child star, that he remains best known for his first-ever film. Which took some time to come to terms with, but he did, after hitting pause on his career to immerse himself in the role of regular high school kid, following what Lipnicki called "definitely the worst three years of my life."

Aka, middle school.

"Yeah, it was horrible," Lipnicki recalled in 2018 on  The Real , talking about the bullying he faced as a tween. "At the end of the day, I have a lot of perspective. It's a lot worse for a lot of people, you know, and I grew from it, I learned a lot. And," he added with a smile, "I knew that that wasn't going to be my prime age. I wasn't going to peak in middle or high school."

He also may have been motivated to get into fighting shape, his Brazilian Jui-Jitsu practice (he's now a black belt) resulting in some intense muscles that he showed off  in 2011.

Besides, Lipnicki had already been encouraged—in his career and in life—by one of the most relentlessly positive-thinking actors in all of Hollywood. 

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"I have never [since] worked with anyone with that amount of charisma. He can make you believe in yourself like nobody else," he told E! News in 2019, referring to none other than Cruise. "He's great, and he gave me a lot of great advice. He told me to keep creating."

And so Lipnicki did, adding writing and producing to his resume while he continued to seek out acting roles.

"I've thought about other career paths, especially during my teenage years, and there's nothing I'd rather do with my life," Lipnicki also said on The Real . "Whether I'm doing big movies like I did in my childhood, or—I've actually done more work as an adult, it's just that the films I've done haven't hit quite as hard as the ones I did as a kid.

"But," he added, "if you love what you do, you've got to chase that."

Making that leap, from adorable child star to grown-up-actor-with-staying-power, isn't easy—and so many have failed to clear the gap. And here are many more examples of actors who started at a single-digit age, some you still see all the time onscreen, and some you don't.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas

JTT rose to fame playing brainy and adorable middle child Randy Taylor on Home Improvement starting in 1991. His big-screen roles that decade included voicing young Simba in The Lion King (though that's not him singing) and starring with Brad Renfro in 1995's Tom and Huck  and  Devon Sawa in 1997's Wild America . 

He left  Home Improvement  in 1998 (Randy went to Costa Rica) to focus on school, but kept acting on his list of extracurriculars.

He had a recurring role on 8 Simple Rules in 2004 and in 2013 reunited with TV dad Tim Allen to direct (and appear in ) several episodes of Last Man Standing.

But though JTT backed away from the spotlight to live his life, which included graduating from Columbia in 2010, Thomas doesn't need to be onscreen to cause a splash: On the rare occasions the paparazzi snap him, the sightings go viral .

Few 6-year-olds have made splashier movie debuts than Lipnicki, who went toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise  in the charm department in  Jerry Maguire and got almost as many memorable lines. He went on to roles in the  Stuart Little  films,  Doctor Dolittle  (voicing Baby Tiger),  The Little Vampire and  Little Mike , and he guest-starred on Dawson's Creek , but took a break to have a normal high school experience.

He's still in showbiz as an adult, starring in the 2023 Lifetime movie Secrets at the Museum . The L.A. native is also a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and in May 2021 he volunteered to provide additional security outside a mid-city synagogue amid a rise in anti-Semitic vandalism and harassment. 

In 2017, Lipnicki opened up on Instagram about the bullying he experienced in middle school, hoping that sharing his experience could lend some comfort to others. 

He was "made fun of relentlessly" by some kids who then, down the road, must have forgotten their bad behavior and tried to friend him on Facebook. "I was told I was a has-been and would never book a job again," he recalled. He started having nightly panic attacks, anticipating the next day's humiliation. Yet he had survived, adding, "I am grateful for the amazing life I have and I hope I can pass on that it DOES get better."

Wilson starred in  Mrs. Doubtfire  at 6 and  Matilda at 9 before putting acting on the back burner.

The writer and activist released her memoir Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame  in 2016 as well as appeared on Broad City and loaned her voice to the animated shows BoJack Horseman , Big Hero 6: The Series and Helluva Boss.

"Once, someone I'd considered a friend asked, with a big smile, 'How does it feel to know you've peaked?'" Wilson recalled in a February 2021  New York Times  op-Ed  about the perils of early fame for girls. "I didn't know how to answer, but now I would say that's the wrong question. I haven't peaked, because for me, The Narrative isn't a story someone else is writing anymore. I can write it myself."

Gordon-Levitt was a veteran actor by the time he starred as Tommy Solomon, a member of an alien fact-finding mission posing as an average human family, on  3rd Rock From the Sun . The show premiered when he was 14 in 1996, also the year he was seen as Demi Moore 's son in the thriller  The Jury .

Soon, he was the nice guy with a crush in 1999's  10 Things I Hate About You , a hustler in 2004's  Mysterious Skin  and the determined teen sleuth trying to find out what happened to his missing ex-girlfriend in the 2005 noir drama  Brick .

He could still pass for a teen well into his twenties, but once he started playing adults, his various highlights have included  500 Days of Summer ,  G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra ,  Inception ,  50/50 ,  The Dark Knight Rises ,  Looper ,  Lincoln ,  Don Jon (which he also wrote and directed) and  Snowden . Gordon-Levitt explored more real moments in history as a prosecutor in 2020's The Trial of the Chicago 7  and he played Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick in the series Super Pumped .

He quietly married Tasha McCauley in 2014 and they share two children.

Thanks to her preternaturally poised performance at the age of 12 in 1994's The Professional , Portman was tagged with a certain gravitas at an early age—and she's still living up to her reputation. Since her auspicious debut, she's starred in huge blockbusters ( Star Wars: Episodes I through III ; the  Thor  franchise and Avengers: Endgame ), indie favorites ( Beautiful Girls ,  Garden State ), comedies ( Mars Attacks! ,  Your Highness ), intense dramas ( Closer , Brothers ) and apocalyptic thrillers ( V for Vendetta ,  Annihilation ).

She won the Best Actress Oscar for her turn as a ballerina who's losing her mind in 2010's Black Swan earned another nomination for channeling newly widowed Jacqueline Kennedy  in  Jackie . She made her feature directorial debut with 2015's A Tale of Love and Darkness , adapted from  Amos Oz 's autobiographical novel.

She married her  Black Swan choreographer, Benjamin Millepied , in 2012 and they're parents of son Aleph and daughter Amalia .

Jones was best known as the son of Jon Cryer 's sadsack divorcé (and nephew of Charlie Sheen 's playboy songwriter) on the '00s hit sitcom  Two and a Half Men . In 2012, a video of Jones trashing the comedy, calling it "filth," surfaced online. The footage was from a 15-minute religious testimonial for Forerunner Chronicles, an Alabama-based Seventh-day Adventist ministry.

Jones later apologized for "showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed."

The actor soon left the series, but returned for the finale in 2015.

Jones, who earned a reported $350,000 per episode during his final season as a full-time cast member on the CBS sitcom, told Houston TV station KHOU that the show "was making light of topics in our world that are really problems for a lot of people, and I was a paid hypocrite because I wasn't okay with it, but I was still doing it."

Until an uncredited 2023 notch on his IMDb from the Max series Bookie , his last acting credit was Louis C.K. 's 2016 limited series  Horace & Pete.

Jones attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, living what he called a "normal existence," he told People in 2016 .  "I got pretty doomsday with my thinking for a long time, but now I'm having fun and enjoying where I'm at," he added. "I no longer feel like every step I take is on a land mine."

Speaking of actors who could've been attached to one iconic role forever, Radcliffe has done an admirable job putting himself out there for anti-Potter parts—whether on stage in dramas like Equus  and   The Cripple of Inishmaan or the classic musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ; on film as Beat poet Allen Ginsberg  in  Kill Your Darlings or a flatulent corpse in  Swiss Army Man ; or on TV as an opioid-addicted physician in  A Young Doctor's Notebook.

Most recently he wrapped up a four-season run on MIracle Workers , played the title entertainer in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story   and returned to Broadway in  Merrily We Roll Along .

On a personal note, Radcliffe is dad to a son with longtime partner Erin Darke .

She made her acting debut at around 6 in the Andy Griffith Show spinoff  Mayberry R.F.D.  and earned her first Oscar nomination at 14 for her turn as a girl being prostituted by a creepy pimp in Taxi Driver , her plight being what drives Robert De Niro 's Travis Bickle to take violent action. Also in 1976, Foster starred in the original  Freaky Friday , the tonal opposite of  Taxi Driver , which made her more of a mainstream child star.

The serious student took a break to attend Yale, after which she re-broke through—and won her first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress—playing a gang-rape victim who presses charges against her attackers, not realizing that she'll end up on trial in a different way, in 1988's  The Accused . She made her feature directing debut with Little Man Tate  in 1991, then won a Best Actress Oscar for her turn as an intrepid FBI trainee in  The Silence of the Lambs in 1992.

The actress and filmmaker was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for life achievement at the 2013 Golden Globes and in the last few years has done more directing for TV, helming episodes of  House of Cards ,  Black Mirror  and  Orange Is the New Black.  Her major big-screen credits in the 21st century include  Panic Room ,  Inside Man ,  Elysium , Hotel Artemis and The Mauritanian , which earned her a surprise Golden Globe win in 2021 for supporting actress.

In real life, she's a mother of two sons with ex-partner Cydney Bernard , and she married photographer and director Alexandra Hedison in 2014.

It was natural for onetime child actress Jodie Foster to take Stewart under her wing when they played mother and daughter in David Fincher 's 2002 thriller  Panic Room . Like her mentor, Stewart has gone on to have a mixed-bag relationship with fame, but on a whole other Internet-enhanced level after winning the coveted, life-changing role of Bella Swan in the Twilight  series when she was about 16.

"I remember her thinking there wasn't a chance I'd continue being an actor," Stewart said of Foster, talking to  Stellar  magazine in 2019. That, of course, had nothing to do with her talent, and everything to do with her very non-showboating personality. Stewart added, "I really love my job, but I understand why she would have thought that about me as a kid. I love her."

The actress and Chanel muse hasn't had trouble finding work since concluding the five-film Twilight  saga, but other than the 2019 stab at reviving the  Charlie's Angels franchise, she has preferred taking on more intimate films, including  The Clouds of Sils Maria , for which she became the first American actress to win a Cesar Award (France's equivalent of the Oscars), the eerie drama  Personal Shopper and the not-quite-biopics Seberg  and  Spencer .

After her much-chronicled relationship with Robert Pattinson ended, Stewart has primarily dated women, and she's been engaged to Dylan Meyer   since 2021.

Several decades before he snapped his fingers and made half of Earth's population disappear, the son of actor  James Brolin  got his start playing the cool and exasperated but also protective and big-hearted big brother Brandon Walsh (yes, Brandon Walsh) in 1985's  Goonies.

Brolin went on to do a few (dozen) movies, including  Flirting With Disaster ,  Mimic , No Country for Old Men  (which won the Best Picture Oscar and reinvigorated his career),  American Gangster ,  W.  (playing 43rd President George W. Bush ),  Milk  (he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Dan White , the San Francisco councilman who killed city official and gay rights activist  Harvey Milk ),  Jonah Hex ,  True Grit ,  Sicario ,  Deadpool  2  and, of course,  Avengers: Infinity War  and  Endgame , cloaked in CGI as super-villain Thanos, and the sci-fi epic  Dune (parts one and the upcoming two).

Brolin has two children from his first marriage, to  Alice Adair , after which he was married to Diane Lane  from 2004 until 2013. He and wife  Kathryn Boyd , whom he married in 2016, welcomed daughter  Westlyn Reign Brolin  in 2018 and another daughter, Chapel Grace Brolin , in December 2020.

She was barely 10 when she made her movie debut alongside Cher   and Winona Ryder   in 1990's  Mermaids  and  The Addams Family , co-starring Ricci   as the amusingly morose Wednesday Addams, came out the next year.

More classic 1990s moments were made with  Casper  and  Now and Then  before Ricci embarked on a career peppered with complicated characters in films such as  The Opposite of Sex ,  Buffalo '66 ,  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ,  Sleepy Hollow , Prozac Nation ,  Pumpkin  and  Monster , in which she played the girlfriend of serial killer Aileen Wuornos ( Charlize Theron , in her Oscar-winning role). 

Whatever Ricci has been up to for the past 30 years, almost all of it has been adventurous, whether it's playing a glamorous '60s-era flight attendant in the short-lived  Pan Am  or being chained to a radiator in  Black Snake Moan , or taking on fascinating real-life women, such as ax murderer Lizzie Borden  in The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, author and literary muse  Zelda Fitzgerald  in  Z: The Beginning of Everything.

Ricci is mom to son Freddie with ex-husband James Heerdegen .

In December 2021, the Yellowjackets star welcomed daughter Cleopatra with hairdresser Mark Hampton , whom she married that October.

The  Home Alone  star cemented his icon status in one fell scream when he was barely 10, but he had already been hard at work since around the age of 5 in TV movies,  Uncle Buck ,  Jacob's Ladder   and more. He gave it a nearly decade-long rest after 1994's  Ri¢hie Ri¢h ,   but the musician and painter has bounced in and out of the acting game as he sees fit, mainly in small films with big cultural footprints such as  Party Monster and  Saved .

After providing his voice to Adult Swim's Robot Chicken  and playing a barista version of himself on The Jim Gaffigan Show , and presuming all the pandemic protocol gets sorted out, Culkin will be joining the 10th season of  American Horror Story , due to premiere in 2021.

The actor is engaged to Brenda Song and they share two sons, Dakota Song Culkin  (named after Culkin's older sister Dakota, who died in a car accident in 2008) and another boy born in 2023 whose name is yet to be revealed but who made his public debut at his dad's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony on Dec. 1, 2023.

It seems as if Dakota went from playing Ally McBeal's 5-year-old self and Sean Penn 's 6-year-old daughter in  I Am Sam  to blazing a trail as the first female employee of the New York Police Department turned private detective in the period drama  The Alienist  overnight. But no.

She's actually just been working her tail off for more than 20 years, turning in memorable performances in  Uptown Girls ,  Man on Fire ,  Hide and Seek ,  War of the Worlds ,  Charlotte's Web ,  The Secret Life of Bees , three  Twilight  movies,  American Pastoral and  Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood , playing real-life Charles Manson acolyte Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme .

In addition to starring in  The Nightingale with little sister Elle Fanning , she's due to topline an adaptation of The Bell Jar ,  Sylvia Plath 's classic (and only) novel about a young woman battling mental illness in the 1950s.

She may have gotten her start playing "Lucy 2 years," a younger version of her sister Dakota 's character in  I Am Sam , but this Fanning has blazed her own acting and style trail apart from her also-very-successful sibling.

Elle amassed the usual roles as the child of the grown-up stars in various films ( Daddy Day Care ,  The Door in the Floor ,  Babel ,  Reservation Road ) and guest-starred on multiple  CSI franchises , Criminal Minds , House ,  Law & Order: SVU and more stuff she was probably still too young to watch when she was in it. But as a teen and into her twenties, her movie work continued to span genres, from family fare ( We Bought a Zoo , Maleficent ) and YA ( Super 8 ,  Twixt ) to prestige dramas ( Trumbo ,  20th Century Women ) and disturbing fantasias ( The Neon Demon ,  The Beguiled ).

Along the way, she's played Mary Shelley in a film of the same name and Catherine the Great on the Hulu satire  The Great . And next, she and Dakota are signed up to play sisters in the anticipated big-screen adaptation of Kristin Hannah 's World War II-era epic  The Nightingale .

The actress and singer has grown older since her star-making days on the Disney Channel's  Lizzie McGuire , through which she seamlessly segued into family-friendly fare such as  Agent Cody Banks , Cheaper by the Dozen  and  A Cinderella Story .

But, after a bit of a noticeable-role drought, Duff has excelled once again in  Younger , playing the more-layered-than-meets-the-eye colleague of  Sutton Foster 's 40-year-old posing as a millennial in the critically acclaimed TV Land series, which is due to return for a seventh season. And though the prospect of a spin-off centered on Duff's Younger character Kelsey is exciting, O.G. fans really couldn't wait to see her return as Lizzie, though, in a reboot planned for Disney+. Unfortunately, the revival of the beloved series was shelved .

She has since starred in two seasons of   How I Met Your Father .

Duff and hockey player Mike Comrie , the father of her son, Luca Comrie , separated in 2014 after about four years of marriage and eventually divorced. She and songwriter  Matthew Koma  welcomed daughter Banks Violet Bair in 2018 and got married in 2019. In 2021, they welcomed another baby girl ,  Mae James Bair .

The younger sister of  Growing Pains  star Kirk Cameron became crimped-hair fashion inspo for 12-year-olds everywhere playing studious eldest Tanner sister D.J. on  Full House , which ran from 1987 until 1995.

She has starred in a parade of TV movies, some with major messages to send, such as 1996's  No One Would Tell , based on the true story of a high school student who was murdered by her 16-year-old boyfriend after she silently suffered his abuse for months. (Yes, we're still haunted.)

But more recently, after spending two seasons as a co-host on  The View , and in addition to reuniting with almost the whole Tanner family for five seasons of  Fuller House  on Netflix, Candace has become queen of the Hallmark Channel Christmas lineup, as well as the star of the network's Aurora Teagarden murder-mystery franchise, based on the books by Charlaine Harris .

In 2021 she celebrated 25 years of marriage to former NHL player  Valeri Bure , with whom she has three children.

After playing middle sister Stephanie Tanner on  Full House  for eight seasons, Sweetin struggled with drug and alcohol abuse—a journey she candidly described in her 2009 memoir, unSweetined .

Three marriages between 2002 and 2016 also added to the headline fodder, as did her brief engagement to Justin Hodak, who, among his various issues, ended up violating a restraining order she had in place against him and in 2019 was sentenced to more than six years in prison for possession of a deadly weapon and falsifying evidence.

Sober since 2008, the mother of daughters  Zoie and Beatrix  rejoined the Tanner family for five seasons of  Fuller House  on Netflix and has starred in several Hallmark Channel movies, including 2019's Christmas-themed  Merry and Bright and the romantic comedy  Just Swipe .

It took two to play the role of Michelle Tanner, who grew from a wide-eyed baby to a precocious 6-year-old on the classic ABC sitcom  Full House , after which the fraternal twins   parlayed their success into a series of big-screen and direct-to-video movies, a production company, kids clothing lines, books and other products, making for a full-blown Olsen empire.

While Mary-Kate continued to act past 2004's New York Minute , joining the cast of Weeds  for a season and appearing in the films The Wackness and  Beastly , Ashley largely left it behind—and now both are merely fashion industry superstars as the co-founders of CFDA Award-winning The Row and Elizabeth & James.

Ashley quietly welcomed her first child with Louis Eisner, her partner since 2017, in 2023. Mary-Kate married Olivier Sarkozy in 2015 and filed for divorce in 2020.

Before the movie stardom, the production company, the activism, the Oscar for The Revenant , the model girlfriends, the perpetual yacht life... he was homeless teen Luke, who comes to live with the Seaver family on  Growing Pains  in 1991. Also an actor whose baby face made him appear extra youthful well beyond his teens (he was already 16 on  GP  and had been acting for years), DiCaprio earned his first of six Oscar nominations (for acting) for  What's Eating Gilbert Grape , and played a series of troubled kids, in  A Boy's Life ,  The Basketball Diaries ,  Marvin's Room  and—troubled by love, anyway— Romeo + Juliet .

He still kinda looked like a kid in  Titanic , but at 22 he had reached full-on heartthrob status.

Over the past decade, DiCaprio has starred in films such as  Inception ,  The Wolf of Wall Street ,  Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood , The Revenant (winning his first Best Actor Oscar) and  Killers of the Flower Moon .

Accio, adulthood!

Moving beyond her auspicious start as Hermione Granger in eight Harry Potter  films, the English actress moved on to YA fare such as  The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Bling Ring , co-starred with Tom Hanks  in  The Circle , and has dedicated her platform as a UN Goodwill Ambassador to empowering women and advocating for gender equality around the world.

The New Mexico native hit the jackpot his first time out, earning a Golden Globe nomination at 15 for his debut role as a sullen kid who bonds with his family's housekeeper in the 1988 TV movie Clara's Heart . But it could've all gone wrong for the star of the dramedy  Doogie Howser, M.D. , in which he played a 16-year-old genius doctor—and NPH pretended that it did when he gleefully spoofed himself in  Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle .

But though he had a dry spell while he unwound from overdoing it as a youngster adrift in Hollywood, he did tons of theater, including three Broadway shows, and the right TV role eventually presented itself in the form of genial playboy Barney Stinson on  How I Met Your Mother , for which he earned four Emmy nominations. In 2010 alone he was nominated for three Emmys and won two, for co-producing the 2009 Tonys and guest-starring on  Glee . 

The quadruple-threat—acting, singing, dancing, magic!—entertainer has now hosted the Tonys four times (winning the Emmy for special class programing as a producer every time), as well as the Emmys twice and the Oscars once, in 2015. He also won a Tony in 2014 for Best Actor in a Musical as the star of  Hedwig and the Angry Inch .

Harris and longtime partner David Burtka  welcomed twins Gideon and Harper via surrogacy in 2010 and tied the knot in 2014.

At the age of 4, she was ridiculously cute as the scene-stealing Olivia on The Cosby Show , after which she appeared in films such as The Little Rascals ,  Doctor Dolittle  and  Doctor Dolittle 2 . She landed her own beloved Disney Channel sitcom,  That's So Raven , in 2003, and while playing the psychic teen with inimitable fashion sense she also popped up on a bunch of the network's other productions, such as  The Cheetah Girls ,  The Suite Life of Zack & Cody ,  Kim Possible  and  Sonny With a Chance.

Her TV work in the ensuing years after her show ended in 2007 included American Dad ,  Nashville , State of Georgia ,  The Jim Gaffigan Show ,  Master of None and  Drunk History , and she's had a recurring role on  Black-ish since 2015. Raven-Symoné also spent three seasons as a co-host on  The View  and, in June 2020, she married Miranda Maday .

( Originally published Oct. 22, 2020, at 4 a.m. PT )

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Suri Cruise turns 18 and is still estranged from Tom: ‘Not a Scientologist, never will be’

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Suri Cruise was once the most famous baby in America.

The arrival of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter on April 18, 2006, sparked a global frenzy for the first glimpse of the A-list infant.

But it wasn’t until five months after her birth that she made her debut — on the cover of Vanity Fair, wrapped in the arms of her doting parents, in glossy photos taken by photographer to the stars, Annie Leibovitz.

Now she turns 18 on Thursday and faces a choice: Whether to return to the level of fame she had as a kid — when there were blogs devoted to her fashion — or maintain the carefully-guarded life Holmes has built for her since she blindsided Cruise by filing for divorce.

The dark-haired teen has grown up in Manhattan largely shielded from the spotlight by her loving and highly protective mom, 45, far removed from her 60-year-old father’s Church of Scientology.

As Page Six revealed last year, Suri is estranged from her famous father and the pair have no relationship.

An industry source told us this week that the “Mission: Impossible” star has not seen Suri since 2012. “Katie has safeguarded Suri and she’s a devoted mom,” the source said.

“This is a girl who is a private citizen. She hasn’t lived her life in public.”

Holmes told Glamour magazine in 2023 that she likes to “protect” Suri from the public eye “because she was so visible at a young age.”

“I’m very grateful to be a parent, to be her parent. She’s an incredible person. She’s my heart,” she added.

Being the only daughter of a protective single parent is a stark contrast to how Suri’s life began, of course.

“My whole life I always wanted to be a father,” Cruise gushed to VF back in 2006.

“I always said to myself that my children would be able to depend on me and I would always be there for them and love them — that I’d never make a promise to my kids that I couldn’t keep.

“I’m not one of those people who believe you can spoil a child with too much love. You can never give a child too much love. There’s just no way.”

He already had two adopted children, Bella, now 31, and Connor, now 29, from his marriage to Nicole Kidman and after her Vanity Fair debut was happy to parade Suri for the paparazzi.

Cruise had famously declared their romance by jumping up and down on Oprah Winfrey’s couch in May 2005, yelling “I’m in love!” 

But when Suri was just 6, Holmes filed for divorce after six years of marriage with the help of her dad, Martin Holmes, a fierce attorney, and through a secret plan that entailed using burner phones.

Cruise was taken completely by surprise by the filing while he was on the set of “Oblivion” in Iceland in June 2012.

He and Suri were last seen together at Disney World in the summer of 2012.

In November 2013, during a deposition in his $50 million court battle against a pair of tabloid magazines, the “Top Gun” star admitted that Holmes had filed for divorce “to protect Suri from Scientology,” court documents revealed.

Despite not having a relationship; as per their divorce agreement, Cruise, who has an estimated $600 million fortune, agreed to pay Holmes $400,000 a year until Suri turns 18 as well as future “medical, dental, insurance, education, college and other extracurricular costs”.

Scientology lies at the heart of the question over Suri’s future.

Holmes, who rose to fame in the TV hit, “Dawson’s Creek,” is believed to have signed multiple non-disclosure documents that will prevent her from ever talking about her marriage to Cruise — and her time inside Scientology.

But when Suri turns 18, NY state declares that she is at the age of majority, when an individual is legally considered an adult.

That would allow her to speak about her father, his beliefs and their rift.

Tony Ortega, who has covered Scientology in depth for decades, told Page Six, “Suri would have been too young to sign any agreement, but she will now be free to talk if she wants to and it’s going to be really interesting if she has something to say.”

We have reached out to reps for Cruise, Holmes and the Church of Scientology. 

“Part of why Katie left when she did when Suri was 6 was that Katie would have seen Isabella and Connor going through Scientology,” said Ortega.

Cruise is of course Scientology’s most famous follower and seen as one of its most powerful figures, possibly second only to its leader, David Miscavige.

That power has led Ortega and former Scientologists to question what action Miscavige and other top Scientologists may have taken against Holmes and her daughter.

Regular members who quit are declared “suppressive persons (SP)” and those who stay in Scientology are told to completely cut them off.

“We don’t know for sure if Katie was ever declared an SP,” Ortega said.

“If you are a regular church member you could be told to disconnect from your wife and daughter, but because Tom is a celebrity — he’s  the top celebrity — he gets to ignore all this stuff.

“Your average member would be kicked out, but David Miscavige can’t do that with Tom.”

Both Mike Rinder and Jeff Augustine, two high-profile former Scientologists, agreed with this claim.

Augustine is married to Karen de la Carriere, who was one of the highest-ranking church leaders until she left in 2010 and told Page Six, “The situation with Suri is a larger story about Scientology and the subject of how they make people no longer useful to them or threats to them non-persons.

“It’s like they cease to exist and that’s what happened to Suri.”

Back in August 2020, Leah Remini — one of the most famous celebrities to leave and speak out against Scientology — told us that she believed Cruise, who now lives mainly in the UK , was waiting until Suri is older so he could indoctrinate her into Scientology.

Remini, who attended Cruise and Holmes’ November 2006 Italian wedding at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle, said, “I’m sure his master plan is to wait until Suri gets older so that he can lure her into Scientology and away from her mother.”

Suri has tiptoed very gently into her parents’ showbusiness world while attending her exclusive Manhattan day school, singing “Blue Moon” in the opening credits of Holmes’ 2022 movie, “Alone Together.”

“I always want the highest level of talent,” Holmes said. “So I asked her! She’s very, very talented. She said she would do it and she recorded it, and I let her do her thing.”

Suri also sang in the film “Rare Objects,” which Holmes also directed.

Holmes will this year return to Broadway in a revival of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town”.

She has not remarried but had a six-year romance with actor Jamie Foxx which she kept under the radar before their split in August 2019 and went on to have a brief fling with  Nolita restaurateur Emilio Vitolo Jr. in 2021.

Holmes is careful not to speak out too much about her daughter, who is now preparing for college, once saying, “She came out very strong — she’s always been a strong personality.”

But she is now getting ready for her daughter to leave the nest.

“You want them to stay with you forever, but they’re these amazing beings, and you have to do everything you can to give them what they need — and then they’re going to go,” she told Town & Country in 2017.

“And that’s going to be very, very sad for me.”

As for the future, former Scientology spokesperson Mike Rinder, who has not seen his own two eldest children since he quit the organization, told Page Six, “Suri is not a Scientologist and never will be…she deserves love and sympathy.”

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Did Tom Cruise Ever Reconcile With His "Merchant Of Chaos" Dad After His Parents' Very Messy Divorce?

• Tom Cruise reconciled with his dad after years of estrangement.
• Cruise felt anxiety due to his dad's absence and manipulative behavior.
• Despite the strained relationship, Cruise found fatherly inspiration in his stepdad.

The name Tom Cruise always rings a bell because it is associated with not only fame and success, but also with luxury and wealth, which is typical of most Hollywood stars. However, underneath these fleets of achievement lies a bitter experience. For some, it could be a mental health disorder , while for others, it could be bouts of failures before their success.

Tom Cruise had a rather unique challenge. His childhood wasn't only filled with abject poverty and struggles, it was also marred with a bitter feud that strained his relationship with his dad , whom he referred to as a "Merchant of Chaos". In this article, we'll take a look at whether Tom Cruise ever reconciled with his dad and how his parents' divorce affected him.

Did Tom Cruise Ever Reconcile With His “Merchant Of Chaos” Dad?

Irrespective of what had happened in the past between Tom Cruise and his dad, Thomas Mapother III , Tom Cruise admitted to having forgiven and reconciled with him in 1983 after four years of complete estrangement, while Thomas Mapother III was recovering from a cancer operation.

Cruise and his siblings got the message about their dad, who was in his forties then, recovering from a cancer operation, and they all rallied at his bedside. The visit to the hospital, according to Cruise, marked the beginning of their reconciliation. Upon their reconciliation, he noted that his dad, Thomas Mapother III, had made several mistakes that were taking a toll on him.

Cruise said he had held his dad's hand and told him about how much he loved him. His dad, Mapother, also responded by promising that when he leaves the hospital, they'd hang out and have a steak and beer while they talked about the past.

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Unfortunately, that never happened because Thomas Mapother III passed on the following year, and they never got to meet beyond the hospital walls.

Tom Cruise had earlier described his dad as a “Merchant of chaos” , one who is seemingly around, but his impact was never felt because he was not financially, physically and spiritually responsible. Cruise confessed that he always had anxiety and mistrust whenever he was around his dad. He said

For me, it was like, there’s something wrong with this guy. Don’t trust him. Be careful around him. There’s that anxiety.

This anxiety and trust issues went on to become an integral part of Cruise's life and career generally, as he found it difficult to trust people based on the experience he had with his dad.

Some Personal Facts About Tom Cruise

• He was born in 1962
• He has three sisters
• His father died in 1984
• His mother died in 2017

In an interview with Parade, Tom Cruise again referred to his dad as “a bully and a coward” who was also alleged to be an abusive alcoholic. According to Tom Cruise, his dad was not only physically abusive but also highly manipulative.

Tom Cruise's already deteriorating relationship with his dad was further strained in 1974, when his mom decided to leave his dad. This subsequently led to his parent's divorce, which automatically gave his mother, Mary Lee, full custody of the children. Cruise was just 11 at that time.

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Cruise's dad admitted that the rift between them was fueled by the messy divorce that had rocked their family in its early days when Cruise and his sisters were still kids.

At a press conversation about his father in 1992, Tom Cruise spoke in a reconciliatory tone when he made a statement admonishing people to forgive those who have offended them, irrespective of the offense, and to take responsibility for their lives because it makes forgiveness easier. The statement had its bearing on what had transpired between him and his father.

How Tom Cruise Was Deeply Affected By His Parents’ Messy Divorce

Following his parents’ divorce, Tom Cruise had to take on so many roles and responsibilities to assist his mom, Mary Lee, with running the home front. At the age of 8, Cruise started delivering cards and newspapers to earn stipends to support the family's finances and cater to his basic needs.

According to Cruise, there was always a feeling of accomplishment and independence that came along with the responsibility he had to shoulder as a child.

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Before his parents divorced, Tom Cruise’s academics were also affected because his family was always relocating to a new city. He attended 15 schools in 14 years and faced lots of bullying for always being the new kid in town. This led to Cruise suffering from dyslexia , which had him placed in a remedial class.

Tom Cruise equally didn't have experience of what a healthy father-child relationship was with his dad. He attributed all he knew about fatherhood to his Stepdad John South, whom he never liked initially. He revealed:

In the beginning, I felt threatened by my stepfather. There’s a part of you that’s in love with your mother. But John is such a wise, smart man. He loved my mother so much that he took us all in, four young people.

South gave Tom Cruise a new perspective on life and fatherhood , and although the toxic memory of his father lingered, John South became his new and biggest inspiration.

Cruise mentioned that Mapother was a person who did not have a huge influence on his life as a teen; even though his position as a father was important, the relationship they had was a complex one, and the values and motivation he has today all came from his stepfather. John South went on to be an integral part of Cruise's career by lending him some money to pursue his acting dream in New York City.

Though Tom Cruise's relationship with his dad, Thomas Mapother III, was strained from the beginning, he didn't let that affect his reconciliation with him at a very crucial time in his life.

Tom Cruise Proved the Doubters Wrong with His 'Born on the Fourth of July’ Performance

The 1989 Oliver Stone movie showed that Tom Cruise was more than just a movie star, he had legitimate acting chops.

The Big Picture

• Movie stars and actors are distinct in Hollywood, with actors seen as more artistically valuable than mere popcorn entertainment.
• Tom Cruise defied skepticism by taking on a challenging, dramatic role in "Born on the Fourth of July" to showcase his versatility.
• Cruise's dedication to embodying Ron Kovic's story reflects his commitment to artistic excellence over commercial success.

Generally speaking, in movie language, there is a clear divide between movie stars and actors. For the crowd that valorizes the dramatic chops and artistry of the actor, this is a badge of honor. Movie stars have the glamor and privilege, but they are usually regarded as lesser performers. In essence, movie stars provide popcorn entertainment, while actors expand one's cultural taste. Movie stars, as successful entrepreneurs in their own right , want to keep succeeding. This drive eventually calls for them to take on parts that showcase their dramatic chops , which will inevitably inspire doubters. In 1989, when Tom Cruise , the preeminent movie star of the time, decided to play a real-life Vietnam War veteran inflicted by combat wounds in Oliver Stone 's Born on the Fourth of July , the skepticism of audiences, and even his director, was forever silenced . Cruise earned his first of three Academy Award nominations for his work in Born on the Fourth of July .

Born on the Fourth of July

The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.

'Born on the Fourth of July' Was a Sought-After Project in Hollywood

In the late 1980s, Tom Cruise was the biggest movie star in the world, and not much has changed in 2024. Perhaps Cruise's prominence speaks to Hollywood's waning farm system for developing young stars, but Cruise's sustainability is a miracle. He has elevated his status as the premiere spokesperson for movies as an art form and the theatrical experience. Before he was the symbol for movies themselves, Cruise was a sharp wunderkind foaming with charisma who made his name from a breakout role in Risky Business and soared to superstardom with the release of the 1986 aviation extravaganza, Top Gun . The actor could have cruised (no pun intended) off the success of the Tony Scott film and only made spectacle-driven blockbusters in its aftermath, but if Cruise's recent triumphs in restoring the theatrical experience have proven anything, it's that he is driven to take risks .

Ron Kovic , a Vietnam War veteran who was wounded in combat and paralyzed from the chest down and subsequently turned to anti-war activism, had an enticing story for any movie studio. Upon publishing his autobiography, Born on the Fourth of July in 1976, Hollywood, with the war now officially in the past, had their eyes set on a big screen adaptation. After years of ignoring the international quagmire that divided the nation, the industry was ready to reflect on this turbulent period . Kovic's arc and noisy appearance at the 1976 Democratic National Convention caught the attention of Al Pacino , who read his autobiography, met with Kovic himself, and negotiated a deal for the film rights with his manager, producer Martin Bregman . Because of his Vietnam background , Bregman hired Oliver Stone, an unknown writer attempting to get his autobiographical script about the war off the ground, which would eventually become the Best Picture-winning Platoon .

Following a decade stuck in development hell, with Pacino and Bregman exiting the project, Stone, who would write the script with the real-life subject , had Kovic's story to himself. From the get-go, Born on the Fourth of July was coveted as a prestigious endeavor-- a film that could nab a studio a plethora of Academy Awards . It's no surprise that this project started with Al Pacino, the dictionary definition of a prestigious dramatic actor, in mind as the lead. A sweeping story about the Vietnam War that encompasses America's relationship pre-war, during the war, and post-war, calls for a lead with gravitas. As depicted in the film, Kovic, due to his tragic circumstances, was a man prone to volatile outbursts, which was a trait congruous to Pacino's screen persona .

Tom Cruise's Ability to Play Ron Kovic in 'Born on the Fourth of July' Was Doubted

Stone's agent, Paula Wagner , also represented Tom Cruise, who arranged for a meeting about a collaboration on Born on the Fourth of July . Cruise, who recently starred in the Best Picture-winning Rain Man , held some esteem as a credible dramatic star, but for Stone, there was one notable film starring Cruise that he just couldn't shake . It wasn't just that Cruise was a "movie star," a term of derision in this context, but his breakout hit, Top Gun , was the antithesis of Born on the Fourth of July . If Top Gun inspired young people to enlist in the military, Kovic's story implored its viewers to reconsider their American patriotism. Stone's rationale against casting Cruise was that his presence would give the story an unwarranted Hollywood shine . Stone has never pulled punches on his thoughts on the unabashed jingoism of Top Gun , once referring to it as a "fascist film."

Eventually, Stone channeled his pessimism into a positive read on Cruise's likeness. "I saw this kid who has everything," Stone told the Los Angeles Times in 1989 , referring to Cruise's public image. "And I wondered what would happen if tragedy strikes, if fortune denies him... What would happen to Tom Cruise if something goes wrong?" he pondered. Kovic also initially shared the director's skepticism, but after meeting with the star, he was moved by Cruise's palpable sympathy. Recognizing Cruise's star persona and linking it with Kovic's evolution from an idyllic, John F. Kennedy -coded teen willing to do anything for his country to a dispirited war veteran coldly betrayed by his country is an artistic stroke of genius by Stone . Cruise's best performances in this era, such as in A Few Good Men and Jerry Maguire , frame him as a talented, but vain figure who needs an obstacle to set him straight. In Born , Cruise's narrative stakes are raised due to the nonfictional nature of the film. Supported by Cruise, who has never been so vulnerable, heartbreaking, and unflinching , watching Cruise rebound from harrowing events is not pleasant. Kovic is frequently painted as unlikeable, and the moments of triumph are not delivered to the viewer on a silver platter.

Tom Cruise Proves His Dramatic Chops in the Oliver Stone Film

Cruise, who spent days in veterans’ hospitals and familiarized himself with riding in a wheelchair with Kovic until the chair became an extension of his body, put his heart and soul onto the screen in Stone's film , and his performance speaks for itself. He seamlessly conveys Kovic in three different phases and, in turn, gives three uniquely nuanced performances as a hopeful teenager, a bewildered combat soldier, and a demoralized veteran working through his physical and psychological woes and his charged political activism. Cruise overcoming skepticism emanating from Stone and Kovic is paralleled in the film during Kovic's rehabilitation. Cruise's Kovic, the wide-eyed kid from Long Island who was suckered into enlisting in this untenable war, is no match for the grueling obstacles on his way to recovery . Cruise in Born is as much of a psychological showcase as it is a feat of physical exertion. Appeasing Stone's vision, there is nothing glamorous about Cruise's emotional collapse . When Kovic reforms himself as an enlightened anti-war activist, the film does not push a hopeful conclusion. In the end, the audience walks away frustrated over a young man's heart and soul being ripped away by the atrocities of war.

In the LA Times story, Oliver Stone ascribes Tom Cruise's brilliance to his pursuit of artistic excellence. "He could always do Top Gun II , and they’d [audiences] come out in droves. If he confined himself to those roles, though, his soul risked dying. This film gave him an enormous amount of self-respect," Stone said. Certain movie stars of today are risk-averse, comfortable being merely personified corporate brands. While he may exclusively work in the action genre today, Cruise strived for something more during his prime. Born on the Fourth of July was not the kind of film that a glossy movie star is expected to tackle , but Cruise never saw a challenge he couldn't accept, even in the face of doubters.

Born on the Fourth of July is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch on Netflix