For Tom Cruise, earning the Sexiest Man Alive title was about being a part of an all-star couple and starring in award-winning movies. In 1990, he starred in the sports-action drama "Days of Thunder," where his onscreen love interest happened to be his new wife at the time, Nicole Kidman (whom he married that same year). He also earned several accolades that year — including a Golden Globe, People's Choice Award, and Academy Award nomination — for his role as a real-life paralyzed Vietnam War veteran in 1989's "Born on the Fourth of July."