Cuba Gooding Jr. loves Tom Cruise to death.

The 50-year-old 'Oblivion' star surprised his 'Jerry Maguire' co-star by showing up unannounced to watch his Broadway play, 'The Trip to Bountiful', in New York on April 16 and Cuba revealed they are still very close after bonding on the set of the hit movie in 1996.

The 45-year-old actor told UsMagazine.com: ''I love him to death. He has been so supportive of my career.

''I followed his movies before I ever worked with him. I was a fan of 'Top Gun' and all of those. But he always surprises me with, not only his craft, but the fact that he shows up unannounced at my play. He was standing up. He got emotional during the end of the play.

''He's a real salt of the earth person that God has blessed and I tell him everyday, 'God loves you, man!' He really does.

''And you can see it through the blessings that he keeps showering down.''

Tom's recent co-star Andrea Riseborough revealed he goes out of his way to bond with his colleagues on set and loves to make everyone feel at ease by telling jokes.

She said: ''He's a fantastic team leader. Every morning he has a smile on his face and a cup of coffee in his hand raring to go. He has a lightness of spirit and we were always giggling together. It was such a joy.''