{"id":2161513,"date":"2025-11-17T10:09:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2161513"},"modified":"2025-11-17T10:09:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:09:44","slug":"tom-cruise-finally-gets-his-oscar-moment-with-a-lifetime-achievement-trophy-at-the-governors-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/tom-cruise-finally-gets-his-oscar-moment-with-a-lifetime-achievement-trophy-at-the-governors-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Cruise finally gets his Oscar moment with a lifetime achievement trophy at the Governors Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

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LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Tom Cruise<\/a>, at 63 still the biggest movie star in a room full of them, finally got to hold his own Oscar<\/a> on a Hollywood stage on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking movies is not what I do, it’s who I am,\u201d said Cruise. He was composed as always, but at moments seemed near tears as he spoke, grasping the gold honorary statuette that celebrated his more than 40 years at the apex of the industry at the film academy’s annual Governors Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that theater we laugh together, we feel together, we hope together,\u201d he said after a two-minute ovation.<\/p>\n

Production designer Wynn Thomas and choreographer and actor Debbie Allen were also selected by the academy’s board of governors to be honored for their storied careers, and an absent Dolly Parton was honored for a lifetime of philanthropy at the ceremony at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

A competitive Oscar<\/a> has eluded Cruise, who’s been nominated four times: as an actor for 1989\u2019s \u201cBorn on the Fourth of July,\u201d 1996\u2019s \u201cJerry Maguire\u201d and 1999\u2019s \u201cMagnolia,\u201d and as a producer for 2022\u2019s \u201cTop Gun: Maverick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he took the stage, the audience saw a long montage of clips from those and his other films \u2014 loaded with death-defying stunts he often did himself \u2014 from 1981’s \u201cTaps\u201d through this year’s \u201cMission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was fitting that the Governors Awards aren’t televised. Tom Cruise doesn’t do TV, and he’s been among the biggest champions of the theatergoing experience over streaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always do everything I can to help this art form,\u201d Cruise said. \u201cTo support and champion new voices, to protect what makes cinema powerful. Hopefully without too many more broken bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu presented Cruise the award. The two have spent several months shooting a film in London set for release in 2026. The collaboration suggests that Cruise, who has stuck to blockbuster franchise fare in recent years, might not be done trying to win an Academy Award the old-fashioned way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may be his first Oscar,\u201d I\u00f1\u00e1rritu said, \u201cbut from what I have seen and experienced, this will not be the last.\u201d<\/p>\n

The list of stars who attended suggests that the campaign for the next competitive Oscars<\/a> is low-key underway. The banquet tables were filled with potential nominees, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Sydney Sweeney, Dwayne Johnson, Ariana Grande and Jacob Elordi.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at Sunday night’s other honorees:<\/p>\n

Debbie Allen<\/p>\n

Allen, 75, has never been nominated for an Oscar. But the multi-hyphenate entertainer has played an integral role in the Oscars show, having choreographed seven ceremonies over the years, four of them nominated for Emmys.<\/p>\n

As an actor she appeared in \u201cRagtime\u201d and both the film and television series \u201cFame.\u201d She was also a producer of the film \u201cAmistad,\u201d whose director, Steven Spielberg, hugged her as she took the stage.<\/p>\n

A tearful Allen thanked the room for \u201cthis glorious golden moment in the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cynthia Erivo presented the award to Allen, whom she considers an \u201caunty,\u201d and praised her for lifting up her fellow Black artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cDebbie, you have not only shown us the great heights dedication to the arts can take us, you have fought to bring all of us along with you,\u201d Erivo said.<\/p>\n

Allen thanked her sister, actor Phylicia Rashad, and her husband of 40 years, former NBA all-star and LA Laker Norm Nixon, both of whom sat at her table.<\/p>\n

Looking at her statuette, she said it feels like she and Oscar \u201cgot married. Sorry, Norman!\u201d<\/p>\n

Wynn Thomas<\/p>\n

Thomas was honored for the decades of visual imagination he brought to films as one of the first Black production designers and art directors of Hollywood films.<\/p>\n

His movies have included director Ron Howard’s best-picture winner \u201cA Beautiful Mind\u201d and director Tim Burton’s sci-fi farce \u201cMars Attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he’s best known for his decades of collaborations with director Spike Lee on films including \u201cDo The Right Thing,\u201d \u201cMalcolm X\u201d and \u201cDa 5 Bloods.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy journey to storytelling began as a poor Black kid in one of the worst slums in Philadelphia,\u201d Thomas said after accepting his statuette from Octavia Spencer. \u201cThe local gangs looked down on me and called me sissy. But that sissy grew up to work with some great filmmakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolly Parton<\/p>\n

Parton was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her decades-long charitable work in literacy and education.<\/p>\n

The country music giant had to miss the show, her representatives said, because of a long-established scheduling conflict, and not health difficulties<\/a> that prompted her to cancel several recent concerts.<\/p>\n

Parton has twice been nominated for best original song Oscars, including for \u201c9 to 5,\u201d the title song of her first film in an acting career that also included \u201cSteel Magnolias.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her \u201c9 to 5\u201d co-star Lily Tomlin presented the award, turning her struggles to read the teleprompter into comic improv. She fondly recalled the baby-doll pajamas Parton wore at the impromptu slumber parties they had with co-star Jane Fonda.<\/p>\n

Tomlin said the song \u201c9 to 5\u201d became \u201can anthem for our times\u201d and was itself an example of Parton’s philanthropy with its emphasis on worker struggles.<\/p>\n

She said it’s ironic that there is so much artifice in Parton’s appearance, because \u201cshe is the most authentic person I have ever known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruise praises his fellow winners<\/p>\n

Cruise, in typically hyper-prepared fashion, didn’t just shout out his fellow nominees from the stage, but gave each their own detailed tribute. He told Thomas the exact date and theater he first saw one of his films, Spike Lee’s \u201cShe’s Gotta Have It.\u201d He praised Parton for showing that \u201ccompassion and creativity are not separate.\u201d And for Allen he quoted from the work of her mother, poet and playwright Vivian Ayers Allen.<\/p>\n

Allen gave her own tribute to Cruise, recalling the early-career signature moment when he danced and lip-synced in his underwear in \u201cRisky Business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHoney, we loved when you slid out in those tighty-whiteys,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Tom Cruise, at 63 still the biggest movie star in a room full of them, finally got to hold his own Oscar on a Hollywood stage on Sunday night. \u201cMaking movies is not what I do, it’s who I am,\u201d said Cruise. He was composed as always, but at moments seemed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2161514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[324245,40246,397172,22641,22325,33293,414481,414387],"class_list":["post-2161513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu","tag-cynthia-erivo","tag-debbie-allen","tag-dolly-parton","tag-oscar","tag-tom-cruise","tag-vivian-ayers-allen","tag-wynn-thomas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Tom-Cruise-finally-gets-his-Oscar-moment-with-a-lifetime.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2161513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2161515,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2161513\/revisions\/2161515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2161514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2161513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2161513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2161513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}