It\u2019s been a long time coming for one of Hollywood\u2019s most bankable stars, a man considered as one of the last great Movie Stars and who has defied death for more than three decades in the Mission: Impossible franchise<\/strong><\/a>… And now, Tom Cruise has finally been awarded an Oscar.<\/p>\n The 63-year-old star picked up an Honorary Golden Baldie this weekend at the Governors Awards<\/strong><\/a>, with Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. I\u00f1\u00e1rritu presenting the gong to the actor.<\/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 Indeed, a competitive Oscar has eluded Cruise, who has been nominated four times: as an actor for 1989\u2019s Born on the Fourth of July, 1996\u2019s Jerry Maguire and 1999\u2019s Magnolia, and as a producer for 2022\u2019s Top Gun: Maverick.<\/p>\n Tom Cruise receives an Academy honorary award, presented to him by Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu – 16 November 2025 <\/span> – AP Photo <\/span><\/p>\n Tom Cruise accepting his Oscar <\/span> – AP Photo <\/span><\/p>\n Related<\/b><\/p>\n In this speech, he shared: \u201cI was just a little kid in a darkened theater, and I remember that beam of light just cut across the room, and I remember looking up, and it seemed to be just exploded on the screen. And suddenly, the world was so much larger than the one that I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cEntire cultures and lives and landscapes all unfolded in front of me, and it sparked something. It sparked a hunger for adventure, a hunger for knowledge, a hunger to understand humanity, to create characters, to tell a story, to see the world. It opened my eyes. It opened my imagination to the possibility that life could expand far beyond the boundaries that I then perceived in my own life. And that beam of light opened a desire in me to open the world to me, and I have been following it ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Cruise receives an Academy honorary award during the 16th Governors Awards – Sunday 16 November 2025 <\/span> – AP Photo <\/span><\/p>\n The star went on to say that cinema is \u201cbuilt by communities\u201d and, at the end of his speech, got those in attendance who he has worked with to stand up, adding: \u201cPlease know that I carry you with me, each of you, and you are part of every frame of every film I have ever made or will make. I want you to know I will always do everything I can to help this art form. To support and champion new voices, to protect what makes cinema powerful, and hopefully without too many more broken bones, that would be nice!\u201d<\/p>\n He concluded by saying: \u201cI promise to do what I can to maybe inspire that next kid who might working their ass off now to but that admission or figure out some damn way to get into that theater.\u201d<\/p>\n Check out Cruise\u2019s acceptance speech below.<\/p>\n Pioneering production designer Wynn Thomas (Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X, A Beautiful Mind) and choreographer and actress Debbie Allen (Fame, Ragtime, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling) were also selected by the academy’s board of governors<\/strong><\/a> to be honoured for their storied careers.<\/p>\n Wynn Thomas and Tom Cruise, winners of Academy honorary awards <\/span> – AP Photo <\/span><\/p>\n Tom Cruise, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas <\/span> – AP Photo <\/span><\/p>\n Related<\/b><\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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