Katie "strong, gracious," says Tom

With an 18-month-old daughter, a young marriage, and responsibility for a major movie studio, Tom Cruise isn't getting his beauty sleep. "Just like everybody else, you just work it out," Cruise tells Entertainment Tonight about his hectic schedule in an interview airing Thursday, according to the Associated Press. "We've gotten pretty good at organizing everything. I don't sleep much anyway." Cruise, 45, marks two one-year anniversaries this month: his marriage to Katie Holmes, and the deal that put him and producing partner Paula Wagner in charge of United Artists studios. Family life with Holmes, 28, and daughter Suri is "all very good, all very lovely," he says. "I have a lot of respect for [Katie] as an artist, as a woman. She's a very strong, gracious woman. She's very funny, a great comedian." The UA job, on the other hand, has him feeling like a student again. It's "kind of like film school," he says, "like a dorm with all hands on deck. We're all very supportive and very honest." Cruise admits he'd eventually like to try his hand at directing. "I will one day," he says. "I've always wanted to. I've been offered things to direct but have to find the right piece." As for his current sleep deprivation, Cruise looks on the bright side. At least it's not due to anxiety, as it was in his younger days. He recalls, "I remember lying in bed at 18 going, 'Man, I just really hope I don't get fired.'"