Tom Cruise finally bags an Oscar

There have been many gifted actors, actresses and directors who, for one reason or another, have never won an Oscar. Household names known for their captivating roles, or for directing some of the most popular movies of all-time - Cary Grant, Judy Garland, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Johnny Depp... film industry great who were all overlooked by the Academy. As was Tom Cruise - up until this weekend when he finally received a much-deserved statuette.

Tom Cruise’s Oscar nominations

Cruise been nominated four times - for Best Actor in 1990 and 1997 (Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire respectively), Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia in 2000 and more recently for Best Picture (Top Gun: Maverick) in 2023.

At 63, Cruise has finally been recognized by the Academy for his work and service to the industry. On Sunday night, Tom was awarded an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards ceremony in Hollywood.

A love of cinema that started in childhood

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu presented the award to the actor, who spoke about his passion for cinema which began at a “very early age” in his acceptance speech: “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,” he recalled. “And suddenly, the world was so much larger than the one that I knew. 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. 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 in me to open the world to me, and I have been following it ever since.”

The three-time Golden Globe winner added: “Making films is not what I do, it is who I am. I will always do everything I can to help this art form. To support and champion new voices, to protect what makes cinema powerful. Hopefully without too many more broken bones...”

Other recipients of honorary Oscars on the night included Dolly Parton, Wynn Thomas and Debbie Allen.

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