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Who is the last true movie star in Hollywood? Are there even any left?

Yes, these are the sorts of questions that plague the addled mind of a sleep-deprived father flipping through cable while cradling a newborn to help out with a late-night feeding, but it’s a worthwhile question nonetheless, especially given Tinseltown’s undeniable importance and influence in this country.

And those questions were dredged up in my mind again after seeing reports about actor Tom Cruise’s latest response to a baiting question from a reporter in South Korea.

At a promotional Q&A event for his upcoming “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” in Seoul, Cruise was asked about President Donald Trump’s various recent tariff orders that could directly affect Hollywood.

“I’d like to ask this question to anybody who’s up for it,” an interpreter posed to the various cast members of the film on stage, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I watched this film and I saw that it was filmed in many different locations around the world, including Africa,” the translator continued for the reporter. “Of course, we all are aware of the tariffs that President Donald Trump has been imposing on overseas productions and films.

“So, is this particular movie under that tariff? And how much of the film was shot overseas?”

Cruise’s response was as effective as it was muted, and it was a master class in handling an increasingly politicized media.

“We’d rather answer questions about the movie,” Cruise told the moderator off-mic. “Thank you.”

The moderator said that response was “fair,” which is quite the understatement, given the pathetically loaded question to begin with.

Why make a fun session for fans about the eighth mainline “Mission Impossible” film a political referendum on Trump?

That’s when it dawned on me: Tom Cruise might actually be that elusive movie star mentioned above.

Yes, I know that’s a very nebulous term, but being a movie star is just one of those “things.” You know when you feel it. You felt it with Marlon Brando, you felt it with Gene Hackman, you felt it with Will Smith (before he went and lost his mind) you feel it with Christian Bale, and so on, and so forth.

I’m no leftist, so “feelings” can’t be the only factor here. You also have to look at some cold, hard numbers when it comes to their box office presence.

(Obviously, I’m loath to judge a movie star based solely on box office returns. If that were the case, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would be in this discussion.)

Cruise’s films bring in the big (the biggest, frankly) bucks. Humans may lie, but numbers never do, and Cruise’s movies are tentpole affairs at the otherwise dilapidated movie theater.

And the secret sauce of that success? Exactly what you saw above: Tom Cruise knows that movies are meant to be escapist fun, not a bullet point in political debate. How would a denigrating comment about the commander in chief help prompt more people to go see “Mission Impossible”?

If you need an example of the disastrous results of making your movie a political soapbox, just look at recent Disney woes.

Lastly, and this can’t be overstated: Hollywood is Americana. It is a fundamentally American thing, so a true Hollywood star should actually be unabashedly pro-American.

While there are certainly films that correctly do explore controversial American complexities, that doesn’t mean their actors need to carry that anti-USA torch off the set.

Cruise’s films do that, too.

Look, this isn’t to say that Cruise is perfect. He obviously isn’t, since nobody is.

But when it comes to Hollywood’s (admittedly very low) standards, Cruise appears to be standing head and shoulders above his peers with his consistently money-drawing, pro-America films.

If that’s not a star, nothing is.

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