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Hollywood icon Tom Cruise<\/a> received his first Oscar for his decades of work in film and production at the 16th Governors Awards, held Nov. 16 in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Cruise received a two-minute standing ovation before delivering a heartfelt speech<\/a> about his journey as an actor, saying that his love for cinema \u201cbegan at a very early age.\u201d<\/p>\n \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,\u201d he said while accepting the Academy Honorary Award. \u201cSuddenly, the world was so much larger than the one that I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n The star of the blockbuster Mission Impossible<\/i> franchise also credited cinema for helping him to \u201cappreciate and respect differences\u201d while recognizing \u201cour shared humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cNo matter where we come from, in that theater we laugh together, we feel together, we hope together, and that is the power of this art form. And that is why it matters, that is why it matters to me. So making films is not what I do, it is who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n Cruise has been a Hollywood superstar for more than four decades, starring in such hit films as 1983\u2019s\u00a0Risky Business<\/i>, 1986\u2019s\u00a0Top Gun<\/i>\u00a0and 1988\u2019s\u00a0Rain Man<\/i>. He has also earned four Academy Award nominations during his career \u2014 three for acting and one for producing.<\/p>\n Other recipients of the Academy Honorary Award this year are first-time winners: veteran actress Debbie Allen,<\/a> 75; country music legend Dolly Parton<\/a>, 79; and renowned movie set designer Wynn Thomas.<\/p>\n