Tom Cruise ‘honoured’ by Irish roots

In Dublin for the premiere of his latest film, Oblivion, the star was shown research that traces his heritage back to 12th century Norman knights.

Researchers also described one of his ancestors as a “hero landlord” after records showed he restored evicted tenants to lands just before the famine in Ireland.

Cruise said he was taken aback by the depth of his family history. He said: “To learn about the history of my family – it was incredible. I knew I was Irish, but I had no idea where it went and the depth of it. It goes all the way back to the 12th century.”

The star added: “It’s a great honour for me and for my whole family – I can’t wait to bring it back to them and enlighten them on their history.

“I’m very proud to be Irish. There’s a pride in America of being Irish. I can’t wait to come back and I want to visit the land of my ancestors and the castle that they had.”

Cruise also had engagements with the Irish Film Board, a pre-recorded Late Late Show interview and a visit to the Guinness brewery during his whistlestop visit, which began when foreign affairs minister Eamon Gilmore presented the star with a framed certificate of his Irishness at Iveagh House.

Genealogists commissioned by Tourism Ireland on behalf of the Gathering – an initiative to attract the Irish diaspora to visit Ireland this year – revealed the extent of the star’s Irish links.

Cruise, who produced a less-than-perfect Irish accent for the 1992 film Far And Away, is a direct descendant of landlord Patrick Russell Cruise. His great-great-great grandfather returned from America to Ireland after his land agent forced families from farms in Co Westmeath in 1843.

The landlord restored tenants to 500 acres around Paristown and Dardistown in the years before the Great Famine, when  potato crops repeatedly failed.