From Tom Cruise to Clint Eastwood: A look at real-life celebrity heroes

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Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines 8/4

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Celebrities don't only play heroes on the big screen.

From Tom Cruise to Clint Eastwood, many Hollywood superstars have become real-life heroes, stepping in and taking action when they're needed.

"Slumdog Millionaire" actor Dev Patel recently made headlines when he attempted to stop a stabbing at a gas station in Australia.

Dev Patel recently attempted to de-escalate a fight between a couple that led to a stabbing at a gas station in Australia. (Lia Toby)

A couple got into an argument that ended with the woman stabbing the man in the chest, despite Patel's attempt to de-escalate the situation. The actor stayed with the man until authorities arrived.

The man was taken to the hospital while the woman was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, according to 7NEWS.

"Dev acted on his natural instinct to try and de-escalate the situation and break up the fight," a representative for Patel told 7NEWS. "The group was thankfully successful in doing so, and they remained on-site to ensure that the police, and eventually the ambulance, arrived."

ACTOR DEV PATEL TRIES TO STOP STABBING IN AUSTRALIA: REPORT

Here are some other celebrities who've become real-life heroes:

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise has saved the lives of multiple people. (The Chosunilbo JNS/Imazins via Getty Images)

Tom Cruise has saved the lives of multiple people, many times.

The "Top Gun" actor saved five people whose yacht caught on fire back in 1996. Cruise jumped into action while vacationing in Capri, Italy, with then-wife Nicole Kidman.

Cruise just "did what any decent person would do," his representative explained to People magazine at the time. "If I ever get in trouble, I hope Tom Cruise is nearby."

The same year, Cruise witnessed a woman get hit by a car. The actor had a passerby call 911 and followed the woman to the hospital. She suffered a broken leg and bruised ribs. Cruise paid for her hospital bills after discovering she didn't have insurance.

The "Mission: Impossible" actor has also been credited with saving the lives of young fans being crushed during a premiere appearance, and stopping two men from being mugged, according to reports.

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet (AP)

Kate Winslet has been credited with saving the life of Virgin Group founder Richard Branson's mother while vacationing in the British Virgin Islands in 2011.

Winslet and around 20 other guests were woken up when a fire started inside the home around 4 a.m., according to reports. The "Titanic" star carried Branson's mother, who was 90 years old at the time, out to safety.

"My mum is 90 and can walk, but it was more just to speed the process up than anything else. But anyway, she was great. She swept her up into her arms and got them out of the house as fast as possible," Branson told The Telegraph at the time.

"Talking to her, she said it's like being in a film set where you're waiting for the words 'cut,' but they just don't come. So, it was quite surreal for her to be in a real-life situation."

KATE WINSLET SAVES RICHARD BRANSON'S MOM FROM FIRE

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio recently saved the life of a man who had fallen overboard on a cruise ship. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Kate Winslet's "Titanic" costar Leonardo DiCaprio came to the aid of a man who had fallen off a cruise ship in 2020. DiCaprio was vacationing near St. Bart's when he learned the cruise ship was searching for a passenger.

DiCaprio and his fellow passengers, including girlfriend Camila Morrone, joined in the effort. The group located the man, who had been treading water for 11 hours, and returned him to safety, according to E! News.

John Krasinski

As a young adult, John Krasinski once helped save a woman who had been caught in a riptide. (Getty)

John Krasinski helped save the life of a woman while he was living in Costa Rica. "The Office" star jumped into action after the woman was swept away by an "insane riptide."

"One of the places I went was this amazing beach called Manuel Antonio that I didn’t realize had an insane riptide," the actor recalled during an interview with Playboy in March 2018. "While I was swimming there — this is a story I’ve never told anybody — this Costa Rican girl and an American guy were swimming right next to me, and we were knee-deep. I went underwater for a second, and when I came back up, he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Literally, in three seconds, the girl had been swept 150 yards out."

"In that moment, I didn’t ask anyone. There was no one to help me. I just went out and tried to save her," he recalled. "And then, of course, when I got out there, I was in a crosscurrent with her. It was one of those moments of ‘Oh, my God, you just made a poor choice and it might cost you your life.’"

Surfers eventually helped the two make it to safety.

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Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford has rescued multiple stranded people with his helicopter. (AP)

Harrison Ford has rescued more than one stranded hiker with his helicopter.

The "Indiana Jones" star came to the aid of Sarah George in 2000 while she was hiking the 11,106-foot Table Mountain. George's fellow hikers moved her to flatter ground and Ford arrived in his Bell 407.

"He was wearing a T-shirt and a cowboy hat," George said, according to ABC News. "He didn’t look like I’d ever seen him before."

"I can’t believe I barfed in Harrison Ford’s helicopter," she added.

Ford also came to the rescue of a 13-year-old Boy Scout the following year who had become stranded in a forest near Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park.

"Cody said the kids asked if he got an autograph and he said, ‘No, but I got a hug and a handshake, and that’s better than an autograph,'" the boy's mother told the Associated Press.

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence once helped a "juvenile female" who collapsed outside of her California home. (AP)

In 2012, Jennifer Lawrence helped a woman who happened to collapse outside the "Hunger Games" star's California home. The actress waited with the "juvenile female" until help arrived, according to reports.

"The 911 call came in around 6:41 p.m. on Monday evening. Jennifer Lawrence and some other locals helped a juvenile female who appeared to have been drinking and was outside an apartment building," Sgt. Richard Lewis of the Santa Monica Police Department told US Weekly at the time.

"Miss Lawrence and several others waited beside the female until the police and paramedics arrived. It was not serious, and the female will be OK."

Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling helped save the life of a woman who almost stepped out into traffic. (Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Ryan Gosling once helped save the life of a British journalist who nearly stepped into traffic.

"I didn’t remember to look the right way," Laurie Penny later wrote of the incident. "An actor happened to be passing and stopped me from getting run over by a car. I said, ‘Thank you.’ And that was that. The actor happened to be Ryan Gosling."

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood gave AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am CEO Steve John the Heimlich maneuver when he was choking. (AP)

AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am CEO Steve John credits Clint Eastwood for saving his life. 

John had been snacking on an appetizer when he began to choke. Eastwood used the Heimlich maneuver on the CEO and "saved [his] life."

"I was drinking water and eating these little appetizers, threw down a piece of cheese, and it just didn't work," John recalled to ESPN. "I was looking at him and couldn't breathe. He recognized it immediately and saved my life."

"I can't believe I'm 202 pounds, and he threw me up in the air three times," John told the Carmel Pine Cone.

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T.I. 

T.I. talked a man out of committing suicide in Atlanta. (Lars Niki/Getty Images for BET)

Rapper T.I. talked a young man out of committing suicide in 2010. The man was contemplating jumping off the 22-floor Colony Square building in Atlanta when T.I. showed up "out of nowhere," police said at the time.

The man was taken to Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital for a psychological evaluation.

"I'm having a very difficult, hard time taking credit for this," the rapper told US Weekly. "God did all the work. I just showed up. So I can't say it's the most heroic thing that I did. It may have been one of the most spiritual moments that I've had."

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx pulled a man out of a burning vehicle after witnessing a car crash. (Getty)

Jamie Foxx saved the life of a man whose car caught fire after a crash near the actor's Los Angeles-area home in 2016.

The man hit a "drainage ditch," rolling the car multiple times before it burst into flames. Foxx jumped into action and pulled the man from the vehicle, where he had been stuck.

"I'm not a hero," Foxx told reporters at the time, "but had to do something."

The driver was later "arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol," according to authorities.