Tom Cruise left amazed by Irish heritage

Tom Cruise was stunned to learn about his Irish roots during a recent visit to the country to promote his new film Oblivion, insisting he had no idea his ancestors could be traced back to the 9th century.

To mark the movie superstar's visit, Irish historians spent weeks mapping out his family tree and presented the Top Gun star with certificates, photographs and details about his links to the Emerald Isle.

And now Cruise, who played Irishman Joseph Donnelly in Far & Away, is desperate to know more after spending just 40 minutes with the genealogists before the Irish premiere of his film.

He says, "It was incredible. As a gift they went and researched my family... They traced my family back to, like, the 9th century in Ireland. I had no idea that it went back that far... I found out my ancestors were the rulers of north Ireland... and they owned a town called Hollywood.

"One guy was a famine hero... He was in New York and this guy who helped (with) running their (family) estates wanted to throw the tenants off the farm and he got on a boat... went all the way back, reinstated the tenants on the farm, fired the lawyer and they had this big dinner for him.

"There were, like, knights for strongbow in the 12th century. They said, 'We could be here for a long time...' but I only had 40 minutes. They showed me, like, a picture where the foundation of the (family) castle was and the manor... My family owned most of Dublin at a certain point. It was unbelievable."