Sigh. Sure, if I looked like/were as confident as Tom Cruise I could compensate for the height disadvantage. But it's still a disadvantage.

The interesting point with these sorts of responses is they follow the fallacious logic of 'here is an anecdotal example of somebody with your disadvantage succeeding due to separate advantages, therefore you don't have a disadvantage at all.'

I agree. I'm also in the short category, so I understand your pain.

I don't know about his confidence, but he's got really good looks. He doesn't have much acting talent (in my opinion), still he is so successful in his field. I suppose looks can take one far, really far.

Tom Cruise is 5ft 7in

... In platform shoes, standing on a box. Some special effects don't need CGI :-)

No, I'm pretty sure he's actually 5'7" and the platform shoes make him taller.