Jerry Maguire Child Star Jonathan Lipnicki Reveals He Recently Got Advice from Tom Cruise: ‘He Is the Ultimate Professional’

Tom Cruise never forgets the little guys — even when they’re all grown up.

Jonathan Lipnicki, who played Renée Zellweger’s son in Cruise’s 1996 film Jerry Maguire, sat down with Access Hollywood Live on Wednesday to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary.

On the show, the now 26-year-old Lipnicki revealed that he recently sought Cruise’s advice on making the transition from child to adult actor. “He gave me actually advice pretty recently like four years ago,” he revealed.

“I went over to his house because I actually — I cold-called his office at United Artists and asked for advice and, you know, he got back to me and I went over,” he explained. “A big part of his success he attributes to being on time and being polite to people and knowing people’s names and it was incredible to sit down with one of your favorite actors and have an hour-long conversation about acting,” he added.

Lipnicki said this was not the first time he heard about Cruise going out of his way for a younger co-star. Before he was cast in Jerry Maguire, another young actor had the part, and had already started filming. The other actor was forced to drop out, but Cruise made sure the kid didn’t feel like he was missing out by staying in touch throughout the production.

“Tom is so amazing that I’m really not surprised,” Lipnicki said of the story. “I heard that and I was like that’s Tom. I mean he is the best person to work with. And the fact that I got to work with him on my first movie really set a great tone for someone to look up to. He’s the ultimate professional. To this day, I see every Tom Cruise movie that comes out.”