Tom and Katie

49-year-old actor Tom Cruise says his wife Katie Holmes is responsible for him agreeing to star in the forthcoming movie musical Rock of Ages because she is always trying to instil a love of the performing arts in her family.

“You’re just as surprised as I am [that I’m in the movie]. Kate kept saying, ‘You’ve got to make a musical.’ She would say, ‘I’ve got this dance class for the family, come on, we’ve got to do it, we’ve got hip-hop class, we’ve got to do it,'” Tom says.

Tom plays ’80s rocker Stacee Jaxx in the movie – which also stars Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary J Blige and Russell Brand – and though he studied the musicians of the period, Tom insists his character isn’t based on anyone in particular.

“I just kind of studied the whole time period and read a lot of books,” he says.