Tom Cruise Bags Honorary Oscar at Governors Awards: “Making Films Is Not What I Do, It’s Who I Am,” says the Icon

The US superstar, Tom Cruise, holding his Honorary Award at the 16th Governors Awards 2025, is definitely a powerful ode to how deeply the actor’s artistry has inspired millions worldwide. On November 16, the 63-year-old global icon, alongside singer-philanthropist Dolly Parton, choreographer Debbie Allen, and production designer Wynn Thomas, was honored with what they truly deserved.  

Tom Cruise has been leading the world’s biggest blockbuster franchises of Mission: Impossible and Top Gun. He contributed extensively to the entertainment industry for over 45 years of his career, and it is indeed a special moment to receive the Honorary Award from the Mexican filmmaker Alejandro G Iñárritu. Here’s a small glimpse of the ceremony wherein the Hollywood heart-throb delivers an emotional speech. 

Tom Cruise Receives Honorary Oscar at Governors Awards

Tom Cruise is one of the cinematic visionaries who holds the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive $100-million-grossing movies. He achieved the remarkable feat with seven films released between 2011 and 2018. After 45 years in his career, the actor received his first Honorary Oscar. The event was held in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood. 

It is no news that Tom’s artistry has defined generations and continues to shape the future of cinema. The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences selected him for his incredible commitment to the film-making community, to the theatrical experience, and to the stunt community. At the ceremony, he received a two-minute-long standing ovation and a raucous round of applause from film luminaries. Later, he acknowledged all the people who bring their creativity to life through cinema. 

The Oscar nominee expressed his gratitude and confessed his love for films. He said, “The cinema, it takes me around the world. It helps me to appreciate and respect differences. It also shows me our shared humanity, how alike we are in so, so many ways. And no matter where we come from, in that theatre, 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.”  

Born on July 3, 1962, Tom’s love for films started right at an early age. He was a little kid in a darkened theatre where the beam of light just cut across the room. Suddenly, the light exploded on the big screen, and Cruise understood that the world was so much larger than the one he was already aware of. The incident triggered his passion for acting, a hunger for adventure, knowledge, a will to understand humanity, to create characters, to tell a story, and to see the world. During his heart-warming speech, the actor added, “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.”

The phenomenal actor performs his own stunts and has the nerve to explore everything that comes his way. He has also been a fervent advocate of films. Over the years, the Hollywood personality has earned four Oscar nominations for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, and as a producer of Top Gun: Maverick. The hearts of fans and admirers swell with pride to see the actor holding what he truly deserves. He concluded his winning speech by stating that he will always do everything he can to help the art form, to support and champion new voices, and to protect what makes cinema powerful, but without too many more broken bones.