Tom Cruise's mom lived in Florida, co-founded a film festival. What to know

It’s no secret that Tom Cruise lives part-time in Florida.

The superstar’s recent announcement that a sequel to the hit racing film “Days of Thunder” − partially filmed at Daytona Beach, Florida − got the green light has led to stories about his ties to the Sunshine State.

Of which there are many:

His mother, Mary Lee Mapother South, lived on Marco Island in Southwest Florida for many years before her death in February 2017.
The “Top Gun: Maverick” star owns a condo in downtown Clearwater, Florida, and was rumored to have had a home in Sarasota, Florida. (His mother addressed those rumors, according to a Naples Daily News report.)
His two eldest children with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, Isabella Kidman-Cruise and Connor Kidman-Cruise, reportedly live in Florida. Both were adopted in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Last month, the 64-year-old Tom Cruise attended the drivers’ meeting of the Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida − the same day his “Days of Thunder” reboot was announced. Appearing with actress Anne Hathaway at Daytona International in a promotional video, Tom Cruise teased the sequel’s impending date: Summer 2028. In social clips online, a very pregnant Hathaway joked she would have her baby, then filming for the “Days of Thunder” sequel would begin soon after.

Watch ‘Days of Thunder’ on Amazon Prime

The stars’ joint announcement at the so Florida locale hint at more filming opportunities in and around the track.

Time will tell.

In honor of Tom Cruise’s news about the much-anticipated sequel to the 1990 hit film “Days of Thunder” with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, here’s a roundup of the megastar’s ties to Florida and what to know about his family.

One of Tom Cruise’s most notable films was set in Florida

A veteran actor and Academy Award winner, Tom Cruise is best known for his roles in “Risky Business,” “Top Gun,” the “Mission: Impossible” films and “A Few Good Men.”

There’s one notable movie that has strong ties to Florida.

The 1990 film “Days of Thunder,” starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, was set and partially filmed in Daytona Beach, Florida. “Days of Thunder” follows Cruise’s character, Cole Trickle, as he tries to make it big in the world of NASCAR. After sustaining an injury in the Firecracker 400, Trickle spends his recovery time in Daytona Beach where he falls for Dr. Claire Lewicki (Kidman), a neurosurgeon at Halifax Hospital, and eventually competes in the Daytona 500. Scenes from the movie capture the Daytona International Speedway, State Road A1A, the sandy shores of Daytona Beach, and even the halls of Halifax Hospital.

“Days of Thunder” scored an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound and grossed $157.9 million worldwide. Many of the storylines, characters and scenes in the original movie were inspired by real drivers and events in NASCAR. Drivers such as Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Neil Bonnett and Harry Gant appear in cameo roles.

In August 2026, Tom Cruise announced he would reprise his role as Cole Trickle while Anne Hathaway, 43, will play a team owner and engineer, according to a report from Variety. The sequel’s release date is June 2, 2028, almost 40 years after the original, according to reports.

Tom Cruise met Nicole Kidman through ‘Days of Thunder.’ Couple adopts daughter Isabella in Florida

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, now 59, met on the set of the 1990 film “Days of Thunder.” The couple married shortly after the film’s release. Within a few years, they expanded their family.

A July 1993 story from the Palm Beach Post, a USA TODAY Network newspaper, details the then-superstar couple’s adoption.

On July 22, 1993, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman snuck into the Palm Beach County Courthouse to formally adopt a baby girl, Isabella Jane Kidman-Cruise. The July 23, 1993, Palm Beach Post story states: “Kidman cradled the baby in her arms as bailiffs and deputies quickly escorted the couple along a hallway and into a waiting elevator. Cruise, star of the nation’s top movie, ‘The Firm,’ shielded the baby from a photographer and sternly replied, ‘Leave us alone, will you please?’ when asked about the adoption.”

The story continues, describing the private 10-minute adoption hearing with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Afterward, “Cruise, testy with questions about his daughter’s name and age, looked at a reporter, smiled and said, ‘How about, it’s none of your business?'”

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman adopt son Connor in Florida

In January 1995, the couple adopted their second child together, a baby boy they named Connor Anthony Kidman Cruise, again from Palm Beach County, Florida.

In a December 2016 story in the Palm Beach Post, former columnist Leslie Streeter recounted her own adoption process and briefly mentioned the “Top Gun” star: “I am not often given the occasion to quote Tom Cruise, but he said something wise when he and then-wife Nicole Kidman adopted a biracial baby they named Connor, in Palm Beach County, just like their daughter. People were curious about the baby’s background, but Cruise simply said that was Connor’s story to tell, not his.”

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman divorced in 2001, and both of their adopted children reportedly call Florida home.

Isabella Cruise made headlines in 2024 for some of her artwork being shown in a Florida museum. Connor Cruise, who has appeared in “Red Dawn,” typically stays out of the spotlight but occasionally makes news for playing golf, fishing and DJing in South Florida.

Tom Cruise’s mother lived in Florida, co-founded a film festival here

Mary Lee Pfeiffer, a teacher from Louisville, Kentucky, married Tom Cruise’s father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III. After the couple divorced, she got remarried to the actor’s stepfather, Jack South.

According to a February 2017 story from the Naples Daily News, a USA TODAY Network newspaper, the pair moved to Marco Island, Florida, where they lived together for nearly two decades. “During that time South became actively involved in the community, co-founding the Marco Island Film Festival and serving as a minister of the Eucharist for San Marco Catholic Church, where her legacy lived on even after she moved away from the island. She later converted to Scientology,” the story states.

Nick Campo, owner of Marco Movies, met South through his mother. “He used to host screenings of Cruise’s movies at his theater, and, in 1998, he and South founded the Marco Island Film Festival, along with Marco Island residents Maury Dailey and Pat Berry,” the Naples Daily News reported.

Mary Lee Mapother South died in February 2017 at age 80. Tom Cruise and his three sisters attended her funeral in Florida.

Does Tom Cruise own a home or ‘Mission: Impossible’ mansion in Sarasota, Florida?

In a Feb. 16, 2017, obituary for Mary Lee Mapother South, actor Tom Cruise’s mother, the Naples Daily News interviewed Nick Campo, friend of Mary Lee South and one of the co-founders of their Marco Island Film Festival in Southwest Florida.

According to Campo, she typically didn’t advertise who her son was, or capitalize on his fame: The paparazzi would stake out her house anytime there was a “Tom sighting” on the island, Campo told the Naples Daily News in 2017. In that interview about Mary Lee South, Campo brought up the longtime rumor that Tom Cruise lived in Sarasota, Florida, or owned a waterfront glass house in Siesta Key, Florida: “She always wished that the press would leave her alone,” but she did get a kick out of reading stories about Cruise in the tabloids, he said. “Once she read in the National Enquirer that he was sneaking away from his house in Sarasota to come visit her, and she just said, ‘I didn’t even know he had a house in Sarasota!'”

On TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, the waterfront glass home on Siesta Key has earned the distinction of “the Tom Cruise home” and “the Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible glass house,” though it has never been confirmed the Oscar winner has any ties to the home. An August 2024 story in Architectural Digest about Tom Cruise’s real estate portfolio mentions his many residences in New York, California, Colorado and his condo in Clearwater, Florida, along with an English estate.

Photos of Tom Cruise and his most memorable movie roles

Contributing: Mitchell Northam, USA TODAY, Hana Khalyleh, USA TODAY Network, Christine Stapleton, Palm Beach Post, and Lisa Conley, Naples Daily News

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Tom Cruise’s mom lived in Florida, co-founded a film festival. What to know

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Reporting by Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Naples Daily News

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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 7:57 AM.