[imagesource: YouTube / Variety]

Some actors have the sort of careers that feature high-flying, dangerous stunts, and some don’t.

Seth Rogen, for example – I don’t look at him and think yeah, this guy is going to need a stunt double.

No harm done, because he’s got his own vibe going on.

Tom Cruise, on the other hand, has made a career out of movies where his action hero stunts are the star of the show, like the Mission: Impossible series.

What sets him apart from so many others is that he actually performs most of the stunts himself, which must be a nightmare for insurance companies.

If your leading man gets laid low for even a few days, production costs keep on stacking up.

Thus far, he’s emerged largely unscathed, so let’s take a look at some of his most famous stunts and how he pulled them off.

Before we watch the footage, here’s more via Insider

In the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, he climbed part of a 2,000-foot cliff in “Mission: Impossible 2” and then climbed 1,700 feet up the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, in “Ghost Protocol.”

In “Rogue Nation,” Cruise did not one, but two dangerous stunts. First, he hung off the side of a plane that took him up 1,000 feet in the air. He then had to hold his breath underwater for about six minutes, a stunt that required military-style preparation. In “Fallout,” he jumped 25,000 feet out of a plane and filmed a helicopter stunt that required him to get 2,000 hours of training and learn how to do a 360-degree corkscrew dive.

Those stunts, and more, unpacked with behind-the-scenes footage below:

[source:insider]