Tom Cruise took part in the most dangerous stunt of his career so far amid filming of the next Mission: Impossible film.

The actor, 60, is renowned for performing his own stunts – not an easy feat considering the intense, action-packed franchises he is a part of.

Following the massive success of Top Gun: Maverick this year, Tom is now working on the next instalment of the Impossible series, titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

And, as always, he’s doing his own stunt – this one his most dangerous yet.

The action star posted on social media this week telling fans he was ‘so excited to share what we’ve been working on,’ along with a video giving a behind-the-scenes of the breathtaking stunt.

It sees Tom perform a massive motorcycle jump off of a steep cliff, followed by a terrifying free-fall before opening his parachute at the last minute.

Tom described the stunt as ‘the most dangerous thing we’ve ever attempted’ (Picture: Paramount Pictures / YouTube)

The action star performed 13,000 motorcycle jumps to train for the stunt (Picture: Paramount Pictures / YouTube)

The shocking stunt appears in the next Mission: Impossible film (Picture: Paramount Pictures / YouTube)

Speaking about the stunt in the video, an excited Tom admits: ‘I’ve wanted to do it since I was a little kid.’

He explains:: ‘This is far and away the most dangerous thing we’ve ever attempted…. we’ve been working on this for years.’

Tom trained for the stunt for over a year, performing 13,000 motorcycle crosses and 500 skydivers to prepare for the moment.

The new video comes after Tom sent a message to fans last week while jumping out of an airplane, because of course he did.

Tom’s new video comes after he jumped out of an airplane during a message to fans (Picture@ YouTube)

In a videotaped message from the Dead Reckoning set, Tom thanked fans for a remarkable year after Maverick’s massive box office success.

Speaking to the camera while half outside the plane, wind in his hair: ‘Hey everyone. Here we are over stunning South Africa, where we’re filming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning parts one and two. And I didn’t want the year to end without thanking you all for coming out to the theatres and thank you for supporting Top Gun: Maverick.’

He was then interrupted by director Christopher McQuarrie, who stated they had to ‘get the shot’ – at which point Tom casually jumps from the plane.

Continuing his message while in freefall, Tom went on: ‘‘Where was I? Oh yeah. Thank you for supporting Top Gun: Maverick and thank you for allowing us to entertain you.

‘It truly is the honor of a lifetime.’