Tom Cruise: He Graduated Calling Himself a "Functional Illiterate"

Last updated: November 2026

Tom Cruise is one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He is also a man who spent his childhood convinced he was dumb. Labeled with dyslexia at seven, he moved from school to school, hid his reading difficulty like a secret, and graduated from high school feeling that he was a "functional illiterate." His story is not about a difficulty that disappeared; it is about how hard he worked to read anyway.

"I had to train myself to focus my attention. I became very visual and learned how to create mental images in order to comprehend what I read."
— Tom Cruise, on learning to read as an adult

A childhood of new schools and a secret

Cruise was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of a special education teacher. His family was relatively poor, and by the time he was 14, his mother and father had divorced. He and his three sisters were raised mainly by their mother. As a child, Cruise was always moving; he attended 15 schools in 14 years.

"When I was about 7 years old, I had been labeled dyslexic. I'd try to concentrate on what I was reading, and then I'd get to the end of the page and have very little memory of anything I'd read. I would go blank, feel anxious, nervous, bored, frustrated, [feeling] dumb. I would get class help and tutoring."

At home, things were different. As a kid he did skits and imitations for his family, enjoying making them laugh. In high school, he took part in a school production of Guys and Dolls. His mother saw potential in him and encouraged him never to give up.

Learning to read as an adult

Family support was not enough on its own. By the time he left high school, Cruise felt he was a "functional illiterate." He needed a way to study his scripts and learn them, and the only way he could do that was to listen and learn and work through his scripts line by line, memorizing them by ear.

The acting came first, and it came fast. A small part in Endless Love led to bigger roles in Taps and Risky Business, and then to the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, which propelled Cruise into the star he is today.

What he's doing now

Cruise has not spoken publicly about dyslexia in recent years; there are no new interviews, campaigns or programs from him on the topic. He is not known as a voice for dyslexia, and none of his many other pursuits — such as his license as a pilot — have anything to do with it. His story remains as he himself told it earlier in his career: a famous actor with dyslexia who worked hard to learn to read.

In his own words

"My childhood was extremely lonely. I was dyslexic and lots of kids make fun of me. That experience hurt a lot. I struggled a lot in school. I had a reading problem and I remember feeling that I was dumb. But I decided I'm not dumb, I'm just gonna work harder."

"I love what I do. I take great pride in what I do. And I can't do something halfway, three-quarters, nine-tenths. If I'm going to do something, I go all the way."

Return to the top of Tom Cruise

1. Home
›
2. Famous People with Dyslexia
›
3. Tom Cruise

Photo Credit: By Виктория Тихонова [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons