Milestone Moment for Tom Cruise
Regarded as one of Hollywood’s truly legendary actors, it wasn’t until the 2025 Governors Awards in Los Angeles that Tom Cruise had an Oscar to call his own-an honorary statuette for lifetime contributions to his film career. Though a four-time contender in the competitive Academy Award category, he had never taken home a golden statuette, until now. This was bestowed by no other than award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu himself, saying, “This may be his first Oscar … but from what I have seen and experienced, this will not be the last.”
Tom Cruise, 63, thanked the community for its support, reaffirming the power of cinema: “Making films is not what I do, it’s who I am,” Cruise said, looking back to his childhood love of movies and how cinema opened his world and kindled his lifelong hunger for adventure, knowledge, and storytelling.
Tonight’s acceptance speech marked the passion that has driven Cruise throughout his career in his commitment to theatrical filmmaking, stunt innovation, and immersive storytelling, as seen in the box-office hit films Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Under the presidency of Janet Yang, the Academy was recognizing Cruise’s “incredible commitment to our film-making community, to the theatrical experience, and to the stunts community.”
This year’s honorees also included celebrated choreographer, actor, and producer Debbie Allen, production designer Wynn Thomas, and country-music icon Dolly Parton, the latter an honoree of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her charitable endeavors.
Finally, Cruise put cinema at the heart of human connection: “In that theatre we laugh together, we feel together, we hope together … that is the power of this art form.” It was an evening marking not only long-overdue honor for Cruise but also celebration of the collaborative nature of moviemaking and its universal reach.
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