9 Things Tom Cruise & Ted Cruz Have In Common

Two men are about to make a star turn in the American media, and their ascensions couldn't come at a more appropriate time. Just as Ted Cruz is running for the Republican Presidential nomination, his potential alternate self Tom Cruise is facing the release of a new Scientology documentary this weekend that will call him out. As both men prepare to have their personal lives analyzed by the national public, we hope they might find solace in one another's struggles and triumphs. After all, with such similar names, how different could Tom Cruise and Ted Cruz be?

While the two men may have their differences, their kindred souls are more than apparent when the facts are examined. It's true that Cruise is 52 and Cruz is eight years younger, at 44, but they are stunningly similar public figures: both have controversial political, scientific, and religious beliefs that have put them at the center of debates about ethics, morality, and truth.

Both are leading figures who have captured the American imaginary and will no doubt continue to be featured in newspapers and tabloid magazines alike for years to come. And best of all, their names are essentially twins of each other. Here are a list of nine reason why you could be talking about Ted Cruz but people could think you were talking about Tom Cruise, or vice versa.

Science!

While Cruise's religion, Scientology, was literally founded by a science fiction author, Cruz has come under just as much fire for his questionable theories about the nonexistence of global warming. Cruz told Seth Meyers:

I just came back from New Hampshire where there's snow and ice everywhere. And my view actually is simple. Debates on this should follow science and should follow data. And many of the alarmists on global warming, they've got a problem because the science doesn't back them up. And in particular, satellite data demonstrate for the last 17 years there's been zero warming, none whatsoever.

Huh.

A Niche Market

Both Cruise's Church of Scientology and Cruz's Tea Party are definitely special interest groups that separate themselves from the rest of the crowd with their more extreme beliefs.

Dedicated Fans

This part of the deal goes along with the niche market. The more close-knit and intense your group, the more dedicated your followers — or fans — will be.

Unpopularity and Mockery

As part of small, extreme, and controversial political and religious factions, Cruz and Cruise respectively face a pretty significant amount of flak from the public and the media.

Problems with Healthcare

While Cruise has come under fire for claiming, along with the rest of the Church of Scientology, that psychiatry does not exist, Cruz has his own controversy about healthcare. He has vowed to repeal Obama's Affordable Care Act if he becomes President — and yet, he is apparently signing up his family for Obamacare.

Cute Daughters

Both Cruz and Cruise are fathers to adorable young daughters — Cruise has eight-year-old Suri, and Cruz has four-year-old Catherine and six-year-old Caroline. While the Cruz girls are pretty cute campaign helpers, Suri is a star of her own.

Religion

Both men are highly religious. While Cruise originally gained fame as a movie star, recently, his most popular actions have been about the Church of Scientology. And Cruz is centered on his faith, too — he announced his bid for the nomination at America's largest evangelical school.

High-Powered Wives

While Cruz is known as something of a hardcore, self-driven man, his wife's personality is the opposite. A New York Times article about the couple in 2013 said:

Mrs. Cruz, both personally and professionally, is a complex study in contrasts to her husband. She describes herself as instinctively collaborative, and her husband as a man of big, fearless ideas — a seemingly polite way of saying that, yes, Mr. Cruz breaks a few pieces of china every now and then.

Meanwhile, Cruise's most recent ex-wife Katie Holmes is determined to define herself by her acting career and not by her old relationships. In 2014, Holmes told People :

I don't want that to be what I'm known as. I was an actor before, an actor during and an actor now.

High Drama

Neither Cruz nor Cruise is interested in keeping a low profile or going with the flow, which is why it's so stunning that the two men are so similar. Who's going to tell Cruz — or Cruise — he's not alone in his pioneering ideas?

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