Tom Cruise Scores Himself a Guinness World Record

Tom Cruise: actor, Scientologist, two-time world-record holder. At age 62, the Mission: Impossible star has earned his first Guinness honor for stunts, after taking 16 leaps out of a helicopter with a burning parachute, the most ever by an individual in a film, in the franchise's latest installment, Final Reckoning, reports Deadline. "Tom doesn't just play action heroes—he is an action hero!" Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday says in a release. "A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do."

Glenday also praises Cruise's "utter fearlessness" for the stunt, which was filmed in Drakensberg, South Africa, and involved weeks of planning for the repetitive chopper drops from at least 7,500 feet. For each time he jumped, Cruise, playing spy Ethan Hunt, had to cut away the burning, fuel-soaked chute in seconds and land safely with his backup chute. For some of the takes, the daredevil had a 50-pound camera rig attached to him. CBS News notes that Cruise, who typically does his own stunts, does have one other Guinness record, for the actor with the most consecutive $100-million-grossing films. He has a stretch of 11 movies in a row that qualify, starting with 2012's Jack Reacher and ending with the most recent Mission: Impossible flick. (More Tom Cruise stories.)