MovieChat Forums > Tom Cruise Discussion > Why is his height such an issue?

Why is his height such an issue?

posted 2 years ago by e3e34ifj (1342)
58 replies | jump to latest

Tom Cruise being 5'7 is not that weird or uncommon. tons of action stars are the same height. Stallone and Willis are both 5'7-5'8, and both lie about their heights being 5'11-6'0 when they provably are not. Mark Wahlberg is 5'6-5'7 as well. Jet Li and Scott Caan are both 5'5. Antonio Banderas is 5'7. Tom Holland is listed as 5'6 and 5'7. Point is, Tom Cruise is not the only short action star but everyone acts like he is. Poeple even exaggerate his shortness and adamantly claim he's secretly 5'4. Not sure why he gets so much crap. I am not even a Cruise superfan but it just bewilders me. His size has never been a distracting factor.

[–] BillySlater (4108) 2 years ago

I agree. Willis is not 5-7 to 5-8 though. He was the same height as Matt Perry on Friends who is 5´11.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2390) 2 years ago

He's taller than me and I'm 5 foot

[–] Kendricks (2085) 2 years ago

Everything's taller than you.

[–] CrabgrassWilly (1616) 2 years ago

Not Willow Ufgood

[–] DancingintheDark (1266) 10 months ago

Good one LOL

[–] Scorpeus (92) 2 years ago

Yes but willis is a noodle who thinks he's buff! Always trying to play some sort of tough guy... "put in the work outs, you lazy bastard!!!"

Sorry, been hanging with kevin smith....

[–] Kowalski (59228) 2 years ago

SO?...A BUNCH OF LITTLE GUYS.😏

[–] spurtle467 (1502) 2 years ago

You talk about people exaggerating his shortness yet you've done the same with most of those other actors. 😄

Stallone is more like 5'9-5'10. He's not as short as 5'7. Willis definitely isn't that short either, more like 5'11 at worse. Mark Wahlberg is more like 5'8 same with Banderas. So in the whole scheme of things he is a bit shorter than your average action star but I agree with your sentiments anyway, his height shouldn't get the attention it does. I guess his roles and his looks have meant it's easy to use it as a stick to beat him with.

[–] e3e34ifj (1342) 2 years ago

i have seen bruce willis in person and he is definitely no taller than 5'8. i am 5'9 and he looked really small. he is also very skinny. and why do you believe what height the internet bills willis and stallone, but not cruise?

[–] spurtle467 (1502) 2 years ago

People are generally very poor judges of height I find from my experience. I do trust my own judgement though and Willis doesn't look 5'8 at all to me. I guess maybe he may have lost some height due to age, but certainly in his Die Hard days the 5'11-6'0 ball park seems about right.

I'm judging using my own eyes by the way, not what the internet says. Just looking at them in movies, where they place next to other actors etc. The clues are there if you know how to use them. At 5'7ish that seems about true of Cruise.

[–] Oblivioid (1244) 2 years ago

Willis could have shrunk an inch with his age. I'm 46 and have shrunk a 1/2 inch so far.

[–] TerraFirma69 (1926) a year ago

What time of day to you measure your height?

[–] liscarkat (16592) 2 years ago

Willis has had his shirt off or worn a tank top in several movies. He is quite muscular, not "skinny".

[–] acelesson (691) 2 years ago

Bruce is definitely of an average build. I wouldn't call him muscular

[–] liscarkat (16592) a year ago

He's no Stallone, but he's got more muscle than the average guy. Definitely not skinny.

[–] MavKilledGoose (783) 2 years ago

Accurate height information can be found from the obsessives on this site: https://www.celebheights.com/

Cruise is listed as 5'7 and 3/4" Yes, they go to the quarter-inch.

Stallone is listed as 5'8.25", but he's, like, 70 years old, so they list his "peak" height at 5'9". Bruce Willis is listed as 5'11".

[–] Sidha108 (2364) 2 years ago

I think people like to nitpick everything they can about Tom Cruise since he is modern face of Scientology.

[–] Oblivioid (1244) 2 years ago

That's exactly right.

[–] April-151-CT (10210) 2 years ago

Yup. And also because he acted like an asshole with Matt Lauer. That interview is when the hate began. Couple that with being very handsome, a great actor, extremely physical, one of the best action stars there is, and a multi-millionaire, and the hate gets amplifier even higher.

[–] PaladinNJ (20324) 2 years ago

People make such a big deal of it because Cruise goes out of his way to hide his true height. He even wears lifts to appear taller.

[–] Oblivioid (1244) 2 years ago

Many actors do. Robert DeNiro most famously so, because he's a shrimp in real life, not much bigger than shrimp Joe Pesci.

[–] MavKilledGoose (783) 2 years ago

John Wayne was extremely tall, but was said to wear lifts. Cruise will perform deathy-defying stunts, but is scared to let his hair gray.

Almost everyone in Hollywood is faking. Alright, Alright, Alright guy has hair plugs, PED use is common, along with plastic surgery, dyed hair and whitened teeth. Nicholson said he had Hollwyood's first chin implant.

[–] Otter (24464) 2 years ago

I think this is the correct answer.

Cruise's height is an issue because he himself makes it an issue, with his lifts on the red carpet and having his publicist lie for him.

[–] FootOfDavros (6797) 2 years ago

I think his height is only an issue for short people.

Yeah sure non height challenged folks may have a little chuckle at his shortness but in truth would any of them not swap places with Cruise and be envious of his career? Of course not...

Therefore it seems more likely that the people who continuously raise this are short people themselves, who, perhaps having seen the positive outcome raising awareness brings to other "handicaps", think it will lead to height shaming being removed from society.

[–] BillySlater (4108) 2 years ago

"Yeah sure non height challenged folks may have a little chuckle at his shortness but in true would any of them not swap places with Cruise and be envious of his career? Of course not..."

What?! I think you are overestimating how much people value height. I know plenty of tall broke people who would gladly trade places with Cruise and be 6-7 inches shorter.

[–] FootOfDavros (6797) 2 years ago

Sorry, maybe didn't word that very well but there was a double negative in there...

In SHORT - I agree...

[–] sONOMArEturns (1253) 2 years ago

i know so many 6'1 - 6'5 people where being tall is their sole personality trait. they have to bring "i'm tall, therefore..." into everything. i also know people who are 6'10+ and they never talk about their height unless it's about how annoying it is. people genuinely relish in the fact that they're tall and like to look down on people who aren't tall. i think it's an insecurity thing, like "i'm tall, so i automatically have to be better than so-and-so, right???"

[–] FootOfDavros (6797) 2 years ago

...and like to look down on people who aren't tall.

To be fair they literally can't help it - boom boom 🥁

I've never really known people like that in real life but they're certainly on here trying to wind short people up.

[–] Jones70 (6195) 2 years ago

When I was 5'11 someone called me "little buddy" and that made me self conscious about my height. A couple people said "just cause your young" but the guy who said it being 6'5 is why I took it as a short comment. I'm 6'0 now and still feel fairly small a lot with a lot of really tall 6'0+ females around.

[–] sONOMArEturns (1253) 2 years ago

Yep, I'm 5'10 and have been referred to as short. I remember going out with buddies from college, one was 6'3 and the other 6'4. When we went out bar hopping, they kinda implied that I would be the last one to get a chick for the night, or that I would have to resort to the obese girls and/or crackheads, because their height would be attracting all the cute ladies at the bar, since girls "dont like short guys". I was "the short friend" and they kept poking fun at me. I remember a Mini Cooper drove by and one of them said "hey, that car's perfect for you!" It was strange. I have a friend who's 7'2 and height is never brought up a single time when I'm with him, lol.

[–] TimMC (9143) 2 years ago

If it was an actual issue he would be flipping burgers or flying jets.