Tom Cruise now officially has an Oscar, albeit an honorary one, and the star delivered an emotional acceptance speech to mark the occasion. The Mission: Impossible actor is widely recognized as one of the biggest and most important movie stars working in Hollywood, but winning an Academy Award has long remained just out of reach.
Cruise still hasn’t won an Oscar for a specific acting role, but his contributions to the art of cinema were recognized at the 16th Governors Awards on Sunday night when he was presented with an Honorary Oscar. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu, with whom Cruise is collaborating on an untitled 2026 film, provided the introduction before the star then took to the stage to share a moving speech. Check out the video of the speech from the Oscars YouTube channel below:
Cruise was one of four individuals to be given the award, with Debbie Allen, production designer Wynn Thomas, and Dolly Parton also honored. During his introduction, Iñárritu said of Cruise’s award: “This may be his first Oscar, but from what I have seen and experienced, it will not be the last.”
Even though the Cruise and Iñárritu collaboration is still about a year away, there has already been buzz that it could set Cruise up for another nomination, and potentially his first real win. Cruise was previously nominated for Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Jerry Maguire (1996), and for Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia (1999). As a producer on Top Gun: Maverick (2022), he was also nominated when that film was up for Best Picture.
“The cinema, it takes me around the world,” Cruise says in his speech. “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. 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.”
Over the course of his 45-year career, Cruise has certainly proven that, delivering moving performances in everything from moving dramas to major action blockbusters. The latter have largely dominated Cruise’s career over the past two decades, with the Mission: Impossible franchise, in particular, becoming a major focus for the star.
After a grand finale with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning earlier this year, the actor’s career could become more varied. His Iñárritu collaboration is certainly a departure. He’s not leaving blockbusters behind, though, as he’s set to collaborate with director Christopher McQuarrie on both a World War II epic called Broadsword and a remake of crime thriller The Gauntlet.
Those projects are in addition to another team-up with Edge of Tomorrow (2014) director Doug Liman for Deeper, an underwater thriller that will seemingly also star Ana de Armas. This project, however, has reportedly faced some budget troubles, so it’s not clear what its current status is.
It remains to be seen how the next decades of Cruise‘s career will unfold, but his honorary Oscar is the latest milestone in what has been a truly significant journey in the world of Hollywood.
- Birthname
-
THOMAS CRUISE MAPOTHER IV
- Birthdate
-
July 3, 1962
- Birthplace
-
Syracuse, New York, USA
- Profession
-
Actor
- Professions
-
Actor, Producer