In a career spanning nearly 45 years, Tom Cruise has finally collected his first Academy Award. It may not be a competitive award, but the Hollywood legend looked just as emotional as he collected his statuette.
It was announced in August that the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun star would be granted an Academy Honorary Award, with the actor being awarded alongside Dolly Parton, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas.
Speaking at the time (via Variety), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Janet Yang noted that Cruise’s “incredible commitment to our filmmaking community, theatrical experience and the stunts community has inspired us all”.
Attending the Governors Awards on Sunday (16 November), the actor was handed the statuette by acclaimed director Alejandro González Iñárritu, with whom he will collaborate on a currently-untitled film next year.
After paying tribute to the filmmaker, his fellow honourees and some of the guests at the ceremony, Cruise said: “I want to thank the Academy’s Board of Governors for inviting me this evening and for this honour.
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“I am truly grateful to have this moment, so it allows me to acknowledge all the people who have helped me and all the people who I have been fortunate enough to create these films with, because every step of the way this journey has been shared.”
After speaking upon his “love” for cinema, the actor added: “It opened my eyes and imagination to the possibility that life could expand far beyond the boundaries that I then perceived. That beam of light opened a desire in me that I’ve been following ever since.”
“The cinema, it takes me around the world. It helps me to appreciate and respect differences. It shows me also our shared humanity, how alike we are in so, so many ways,” he continued.
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“No matter where we come from, in that theatre, we laugh together, we feel together, we hope together, we dream together and that is the power of this art form. 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 has been nominated for three acting Oscars in his career, with Best Actor nods for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire in addition to a Best Supporting Actor nod for Magnolia. He also got a Best Picture nomination for Top Gun: Maverick thanks to his status as a producer.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.