Tom Cruise's mother has died at the age of 80, a representative for the actor announced on Monday.

Mary Lee South died peacefully in her sleep last week last week, and the family attended a memorial service for her at a local Church of Scientology over the weekend, according to People magazine.

She had reportedly been struggling with her health for some time.

Cruise's siblings Lee Ann Devette, 57, Cass Mapother, 55, and Marian Henry attended the service along with the 54-year-old Hollywood star, according to the magazine.

Cruise has said he and his mother had a close relationship, and it was South that encouraged his talent for acting.

"To make a long story short, we gave him our blessing," she told Rolling Stone in a 1986 interview. "And the rest is history."

She worked as a special education instructor before marrying Cruise's father, Thomas Cruise Mapother III.

Cruise has called his father a "bully and a coward", and said his parents had a difficult relationship prior to their divorce in 1974. Mapother died in 1986.

The family lived in Syracuse, New York, and Ottawa, Canada before moving to Glen Ridge, New Jersey when South married her second husband, Jack South.

With his mother's support, Cruise began his professional acting career in New York City.

South believed Cruise had a "God-given talent", she told Rolling Stone.

She was only rarely seen in public in recent years, and the family maintained their privacy following her death.