Tom Cruise requests to meet Clacton artist Wilf Elliott

Wilf Elliott, 21, from Clacton, is a tattoo artist at Loveless Tattoo Lounge in Ardleigh, and has brushed shoulders with many famous musicians, YouTubers and actors thanks to his talents.

The colour-blind artist enjoys drawing portraits of some of his favourite celebrities and after sharing his artworks on Instagram, has even had the opportunity to meet those the artworks are based on.

Through his charcoal drawings, he has gained recognition from the likes of Gareth Bale, AJ Tracey, Sam Ryder, Joe Weller, Zara Larsson, and now, A-list actor Tom Cruise who personally requested to meet Wilf.

Good times - Wilf Elliott and Tom Cruise last month (Image: Wilf Elliott) Eighteen months ago, Wilf created an artwork dedicated to a scene from the 2022 action film, Top Gun: Maverick which stars the Mission Impossible actor, as it is one of his “favourite films”.

After sharing the drawing of Tom in the cockpit of a jet, one of his client’s mothers reached out to him.

According to Wilf, the person explained they “know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone that works with Tom”.

After giving it to the woman, it travelled through three people and was left on set for Tom, who saw the artwork and was so impressed he wanted to meet Wilf.

Amazing - another image of Wilf Elliott and Tom Cruise (Image: Wilf Elliott) After nine months of planning the meet and greet, “a lot of cancellations” and with Wilf having to move clients as it was an opportunity he was not going to get “again”, the pair finally met last month.

After signing a non-disclosure agreement, the pair met at a location in the UK and spent 20-minutes together, chatting.

Wilf said: “I had a 20-minute chat, he asked me about my career, and he said it was so impressive; I shook hands with Tom about five times.

“The people I have met before have all been big and incredibly lovely, this has been way above any expectations I’ve ever had.

“He approached me first and said my name.

“Him knowing who I was before meeting him was just absolutely ridiculous.

“He was probably one of the nicest blokes I have ever met, when I first spoke, he said please don’t ask anything about myself as I could Google it, he wanted to know what I’ve been up to.

“He said thank you way over ten times, I was very red in the face.

“I was completely starstruck, it was the most surreal moment of my life.”

Wilf had also completed a second artwork to gift to him, but during the chat, Tom insisted on Wilf keeping it as a memory and they took some photos together.

Talented - Wilf Elliott and the artwork he gifted to Tom Cruise (Image: Wilf Elliott)

Talented - Wilf next to the surprise second artwork he made for Tom Cruise (Image: Wilf Elliott) According to Wilf, the cockpit drawing was taken to Tom’s campervan which he “assumes goes back to his house”.

After the rendezvous, Wilf was not able to tell “a lot of people” but can recall calling his parents on the drive home.

“They are incredibly proud, looking back at the pieces so far they have been adding up to something like this, he said. 

“I think everyone was blown away by it, but for Tom to follow through and organise everything, he is a credit to himself."

Some of Wilf’s dream choices would be musician Post Malone, and actors like Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler.

But for now, he plans to take some well-earned holidays.