Greg Tarzan Davis on "Mission: Impossible" sparking mentorship with Tom Cruise

Greg Tarzan Davis connected "Mission: Impossible"

Greg Tarzan Davis switches sides successful "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" 05:17

Actor Greg Tarzan Davis returns to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise successful "The Final Reckoning," playing Degas, an cause who shifted allegiances from hunting Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt to warring alongside him against a rogue artificial quality known arsenic "The Entity."

"It feels good. I've had the privilege of joining the archetypal film, 'Dead Reckoning,' and that was a whirlwind erstwhile I got the telephone from Tom," helium said.

Davis revealed the relation was specifically written for him pursuing his show successful "Top Gun: Maverick," different Cruise-led blockbuster.

"We similar what you did successful 'Top Gun: Maverick.' We wanted to bring you successful to this," Davis recalled Cruise telling him. "We wrote this quality for you named Degas due to the fact that I'm from New Orleans, and it was a French heritage."

Before his acting vocation took off, Davis worked arsenic a first-grade teacher. He credits his students with encouraging him to prosecute his puerility imagination of becoming an actor.

"One of my students said, 'Hey, what did you privation to beryllium erstwhile you got older?' And I was like, 'I privation to beryllium a teacher,'" Davis recounted. "Get retired my face, small kid. And I was like, 'Man.' So they said, 'What bash you truly privation to be?' And I was like, 'Well, I wanted to beryllium an actor.'"

Davis gave himself 2 years to succeed successful Hollywood, a deadline helium present considers "foolish."

"Never enactment a clip bounds connected your dreams," helium advised.

Now with 3 large films alongside Cruise, Davis describes the A-list prima arsenic a mentor figure, adjacent storing his interaction accusation nether "Uncle" successful his phone.

When asked astir perchance starring the franchise successful the future, Davis said: "Mission is Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise is Mission. This is his baby, 1 of the archetypal films he's produced. It'll beryllium hard to spot 'Mission: Impossible' without Cruise being attached to it."

"Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" is distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is portion of CBS' genitor company, Paramount Global. The movie hits theaters connected Friday, May 23.