Tom Cruise received one of the film industry's highest honors at the 2025 Governors Awards, where the actor was presented with an Academy Honorary Award recognizing his decades of work and contributions to cinema. The ceremony took place November 16 inside the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu presenting the award to the 63-year-old star.

Iñárritu is currently directing Cruise in an upcoming untitled film set for release in October 2026.

Cruise, one of the most commercially successful actors in film history, has been nominated for four competitive Oscars throughout his career. His nominations include Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia and a Best Picture nomination for Top Gun: Maverick, which he produced.

A Tribute to the Collaborative Art of Filmmaking

In his acceptance speech, Cruise reflected on the global reach of cinema and the communal experience that theaters create. Standing before an audience of peers and industry veterans, he spoke about the way film allows people to connect across cultures.

The cinema, it takes me around the world,” Cruise said. “It helps me to appreciate and respect differences. It shows me also our shared humanity, how alike we are in so, so many ways. And no 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.

He went on to explain how deeply tied he feels to the medium. “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.”

Cruise also took time to acknowledge the thousands of people whose work makes films possible, not just the actors or directors who so often get public attention.

A Childhood Shaped by the Movies

Cruise used part of his speech to look back on his early years, describing the experience that first sparked his interest in filmmaking. He recalled visiting movie theaters as a child and being captivated by the sense of escape and imagination that films provided.

“My love for cinema began at a very early age, as early as I can remember,” he said. “I 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. Suddenly, the world was so much larger than the one that I knew.”

He described the worlds he saw in those early films as larger than anything he had known at home. “Entire 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.”

Cruise concluded his speech by returning to the image of that first cinematic moment. “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 to open the world, and I have been following it ever since.”

Recognition from the Academy

Cruise’s selection as an Honorary Oscar recipient was announced earlier this year. Academy President Janet Yang praised Cruise in June as “one of the most recognized and highest-grossing actors of all time.” She added that “Cruise’s incredible commitment to our filmmaking community, to the theatrical experience, and to the stunts community has inspired us all.”

Cruise was honored alongside fellow recipients Dolly Parton, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas, making the evening one of the most high-profile Governors Awards ceremonies in recent years.

A Career Built on Big-Screen Spectacle

Cruise first gained national recognition in the 1980s with films such as Risky Business and Born on the Fourth of July. He went on to lead hit films throughout the 1990s, including Jerry Maguire, and became the face of one of Hollywood’s most enduring action franchises, Mission: Impossible. Over the franchise’s eight films, released from 1996 through 2025, Cruise became known for performing his own complex stunts, including wire work, high-speed motorcycle chases and a widely discussed cliff jump.

In a previous interview with PEOPLE, Cruise explained his devotion to hands-on stunt work. “People feel the authenticity. You feel the dedication and joy in learning something and then creating. That is something that I tell artists all the time: Do not ask permission to create,” he said.

His commitment to theatrical filmmaking was also praised by director Steven Spielberg, who said at the 2023 Oscars nominees luncheon that Cruise had “saved Hollywood’s ass” due to the success of Top Gun: Maverick. Spielberg added that Cruise “might have saved theatrical distribution” with the adrenaline-fueled sequel.

Looking Toward the 2026 Oscars

The next Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 15, 2026, with Conan O'Brien returning as host for the second year in a row. Preliminary voting for the 98th Oscars begins in December, and nominations will be announced on January 22, 2026.

Cruise, now an Honorary Oscar recipient, heads into the next phase of his career with continued projects underway and a renewed recognition for his impact on film.

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