Fans of the San Francisco Giants were left in bewilderment when a Tom Cruise doppelgänger stepped up to deliver the ceremonial first pitch at Thursday’s game. His uncanny resemblance to the Hollywood star turned heads and stirred surprise among the audience.
Decked out in the emblematic flight suit of Cruise’s unforgettable “Top Gun” character, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, the look-alike made his spectacular debut. The appearance was a tribute to the original film, celebrating its 40th anniversary, yet social media buzzed with observers pondering if he was the real deal.
“Is that really Tom Cruise?” an intrigued Instagram user wondered aloud. Another chimed in with admiration, saying, “He nails the look, laugh, and smile of Tom Cruise.”
A third viewer added their voice to the chorus of astonishment, remarking, “What? That was the spitting image of Tom Cruise!”
“Dude looks more like Tom Cruise than Tom Cruise does… I literally thought this was AI lol,” noted another social media user, highlighting the doppelgänger’s incredible likeness.
Some were simply confused. “Is that an impersonator or is this AI? I can’t tell any more,” one person admitted.
The professional impersonator’s name is actually Jerome LeBlanc, and he goes by the moniker “California Tom Cruise.”
In an interview with Cockpit USA, LeBlanc once admitted he’d stumbled upon the opportunity to simply look like the “Risky Business” actor — specifically as “Maverick” — as a career.
“When I moved from Montreal to Los Angeles, many people started telling me I looked like Tom Cruise,” he divulged.
“So, I put on the flight suit uniform from ‘Top Gun,’ and tried street performing. To my surprise, I did so unbelievably well — I made more than I did while bartending,” he added.
LeBlanc also admitted that he’s “not necessarily mistaken for Tom Cruise,” given a roughly 30-year age gap with the 64-year-old actor.
“But I do notice a lot of double takes and a lot of strangers approaching me to share that they think I look so much like the actor,” he said.
The entertainer — who now has a thriving social media career on TikTok, where he regularly updates over 770,000 followers — has also shared that he doesn’t actually have a celebrity he’d prefer to meet in real life.
“I don’t really have an interest in meeting a specific celebrity,” he said. “Sometimes, with public figures it’s better to leave them to the imagination. Because, like myself, I’m more than what I post. And either that can be appreciated or disappointing.”