At 62 years old, Tom Cruise has done a remarkable job staying fit for his movie roles. Anyone remotely familiar with the actor knows he does his own stunts, and that doesn’t look like it’ll end anytime soon even with the Mission: Impossible film series wrapping up last year. So it’s rather fitting that CinemaBlend learned that when Cruise visited the NCIS: Origins set last October, he had advice for the actors on the CBS program about doing action sequences as they’re aging.
I learned about this from Leroy Jethro Gibbs actor Austin Stowell during an interview focused around the episode “Feelin’ Alright?”, which aired this past Tuesday on the 2026 TV schedule and showed the first official meeting between Gibbs and Dwayne Pride. After discussing the episode, I asked Stowell what it was like meeting Cruise, as he was one of several cast and crew members who were photographed with the Hollywood star. He started off by saying:
Lovely guy. We were sitting in between scenes, we're running lines, and one of the PAs comes up, and he's like, ‘Hey man, Tom Cruise is here.’ I looked up at him, and he just said very flatly, ‘Tom Cruise is here.’ ‘I wanna meet Tom Cruise!’ I have loved his movies ever since I can remember. So we got to meet, we got to chat. We talked a lot about stunts, we talked about how we keep our bodies in shape. He’s like, ‘Oh, how old are you?’ ‘I’m 41.’ And he was like, ‘Ok, you're doing what you need to do, you're on the right path.’
Even before NCIS: Origins, Austin Stowell knew his way around onscreen action from projects like 12 Strong and Catch-22, not to mention had already guest-starred on a 2010 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles. But he’s definitely putting in a lot of physical effort week to week on Origins as he portrays Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the early 1990s, when the character was starting out at NIS. So Tom Cruise was impressed with how Stowell is keeping himself together, and the conversation about stunts and physical health continued from there:
Article continues belowSo we started talking about stretching routines. I did voice to him how, ‘You do all your own stunts. So that's what I tell them on this show all the time.’ I go, ‘Hey, Tom Cruise would do it,’ whether it's jumping over a fence or tackling guys on train tracks. But I always wanted to do it. I'm not trying to take anybody's job away… I selfishly want to do it. I'm still the little boy who has really great toys to play with now, and I wanna be the one to play with them.
It’s still unclear why Tom Cruise specifically decided to visit the NCIS: Origins on that October day, though because of his long-standing relationship, it’s hardly surprising he was in the area. Austin Stowell said as much when we concluded this portion of our conversation:
But he was so kind. He stayed for much longer than I thought he would, and I just couldn't quite get over it, that it's like, wow, Tom Cruise came and visited the set of NCIS Origins. That's pretty wild. He’s been here a bunch lately on the lot. We’re on Paramount and he's been shooting here. Yeah, TC's around.
Sadly, not everyone from the NCIS: Origins cast got to enjoy Tom Cruise’s company. Mariel Molino, who plays Lala Dominguez, told me just a few days after it happened that she was taking a nap in her trailer during his visit. That’s most unfortunate for her, but I’m glad Austin Stowell got to talk shop with Cruise. Showrunner David J. North also informed the actor that the bar Daly’s is inspired by the one from Top Gun.
Since NCIS: Origins is returning for Season 3, perhaps the timing will work out again that Tom Cruise can visit the set. If not, at least Austin Stowell can boast about meeting him for the rest of his life, and maybe their paths will cross again in a different way. Meanwhile, there are still more Origins Season 2 episodes to get through Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
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