Tom Cruise Puts His Abs on Full Display for GQ at 64 [WATCH]

Tom Cruise is putting his physique front and center for GQ Magazine, appearing on the cover with his abs fully visible.

The 64-year-old actor faces the camera in jeans and a black button-down shirt that is left completely open, as reported by Page Six.

Mario Sorrenti photographed Cruise looking directly into the lens.

Presenting GQ’s October global cover star: Tom Cruise.

It’s been 20 years since @TomCruise last appeared on the cover of GQ, and, in some ways, he’s living like it’s 2006 again.

He’s taking his riskiest creative swing in decades in #DiggerMovie—and delivering GQ a rare… pic.twitter.com/EIsfeAO7MK

— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 15, 2026

One of the actor’s hands is hooked on his belt, while the other moves through his hair, making the open shirt and exposed abs the unmistakable focus of the image.

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The appearance marks Cruise’s sixth cover of American GQ Magazine. It is also his first cover for the publication in just over 20 years, ending a lengthy absence from its pages.

Cruise offered a playful explanation when asked why he does not often participate in lengthy interviews.

“I’ve been busy,” he joked, keeping his answer brief while acknowledging the packed schedule behind his absence.

His conversation with GQ also moved beyond the photographs and into what he hopes other artists understand about making movies.

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Cruise described the work that can sit beneath something audiences ultimately experience as effortless.

“There’s things that I want other artists to know, you know? When people see a movie, you want it to look easy … and understanding the joy that it’s ok if it hurts. That it’s hard. That it can be confusing, and you don’t know.”

For the accompanying fashion spread, GQ embraced the casual and slightly rugged approach Cruise has often taken to character dressing.

GQ asked Tom Cruise if he knew where his drive for danger comes from.

Cruise said: “It’s just who I am. That’s my theory.” https://t.co/xy8sYwEKBR pic.twitter.com/8VUK0CDAt2

— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 15, 2026

The selected pieces included Levi’s jeans, vintage tees, and several wool blazers worn in layers.

The styling did not remain confined to a studio setting.

Cruise walked along Hollywood Boulevard among a flock of tourists while wearing the mixture of relaxed staples and tailored layers chosen by the magazine.

That visual approach also arrives as Cruise leans into his latest character, Digger.

The character is a southern oil tycoon, and the “Top Gun” star is described as totally unrecognizable in the film.

Cruise addressed his process for shaping dramatically different characters during a press event for the film.

Tom Cruise photographed by Mario Sorrenti for GQ Magazine. pic.twitter.com/tISD5s8f1K

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 15, 2026

His comments focused on finding the physical and visual details needed to communicate each role.

“Whether it’s Les Grossman or ‘Interview With the Vampire,’ ‘Collateral’, or ‘Risky Business,’ I’m always asking, ‘How do I communicate this?’ The physicality, the makeup, that is stuff that you find as you are learning how to communicate.”

The actor’s remarks connected physical transformation with the larger task of presenting a character.

For Cruise, elements such as makeup and physicality are discoveries made while learning how best to communicate what a role requires.

At the same time, Cruise told GQ that his attention remains fixed more on what lies ahead than on what has already happened.

He said he revisits earlier work as a way to evaluate how he might improve.

“I look back to evaluate how I can do things better.” Cruise also explained that he can consider the past joyfully and examine what worked as well as what did not.

Tom Cruise rarely speaks at length to journalists. He hasn’t sat down for a cover interview with a US publication in more than a decade. But for GQ’s global October issue, @zachbaron gets into it with @TomCruise for a rare extended conversation https://t.co/v0AvJbtuOs pic.twitter.com/Gp5mJzZQD8

— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 15, 2026

That reflection, however, does not mean Cruise considers himself someone who remains absorbed in earlier chapters.

“I’m not someone who lives in the past … I’m more looking out. For me, I’m more in present and future.”

The GQ cover captures that forward-facing attitude through a deliberately direct portrait.

With his shirt open, his gaze fixed on Sorrenti’s camera and his abs displayed, Cruise returns to the magazine after more than two decades away from its cover.

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