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Greg Tarzan Davis says Tom Cruise helped shape his "Mission: Impossible" journey

By
Analisa Novak
"CBS Mornings" Content Producer
Analisa Novak is a content producer for CBS News and the Emmy Award-winning "CBS Mornings." She specializes in covering live events and exclusive interviews for the show. Analisa is a United States Army veteran and holds a master's degree in strategic communication from Quinnipiac University.
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Analisa Novak

/ CBS News

Actor Greg Tarzan Davis returns to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise in "The Final Reckoning," playing Degas, an agent who shifted allegiances from hunting Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt to fighting alongside him against a rogue artificial intelligence known as "The Entity."

"It feels good. I've had the privilege of joining the first film, 'Dead Reckoning,' and that was a whirlwind when I got the call from Tom," he said.

Davis revealed the role was specifically written for him following his performance in "Top Gun: Maverick," another Cruise-led blockbuster.

"We like what you did in 'Top Gun: Maverick.' We wanted to bring you in to this," Davis recalled Cruise telling him. "We wrote this character for you named Degas because I'm from New Orleans, and it was a French heritage."

Before his acting career took off, Davis worked as a first-grade teacher. He credits his students with encouraging him to pursue his childhood dream of becoming an actor.

"One of my students said, 'Hey, what did you want to be when you got older?' And I was like, 'I want to be a teacher,'" Davis recounted. "Get out my face, little kid. And I was like, 'Man.' So they said, 'What do you really want to be?' And I was like, 'Well, I wanted to be an actor.'"

Davis gave himself two years to succeed in Hollywood, a deadline he now considers "foolish."

"Never put a time limit on your dreams," he advised.

Now with three major films alongside Cruise, Davis describes the A-list star as a mentor figure, even storing his contact information under "Uncle" in his phone.

When asked about potentially leading the franchise in the future, Davis said: "Mission is Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is Mission. This is his baby, one of the first films he's produced. It'll be hard to see 'Mission: Impossible' without Cruise being attached to it."

"Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" is distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is part of CBS' parent company, Paramount Global. The film hits theaters on Friday, May 23.

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