Tom Cruise Emotionally Accepts Honorary Oscar at 2025 Governors Awards

Tom Cruise has received his first Oscar. On Nov. 16, the Hollywood icon accepted an honorary Oscar during the star-studded 2025 Governors Awards. The “Mission Impossible” star began his speech by acknowledging his fellow honorees, Debbie Allen, Wynn Thomas, and Dolly Parton. He went on to recall how he fell in love with cinema as a child and how it inspired him. “I was this little kid, in this darkened theater. And I remember that beam of light, it just cut across the room. And I remember looking up, and it seemed to me that it just exploded on the screen. And suddenly the world was so much larger than the one that I knew – entire cultures and lives and landscapes and all of it was just unfolding in front of me. And it sparked something in me; sparked a hunger, a hunger for adventure, a hunger for knowledge, a hunger to understand humanity,” he said in part. Afterwards, the actor told the audience that making films is “who I am.” Towards the end of his acceptance speech, Cruise recognized audience members he had previously worked with. “I ask that if you worked with me, would you mind standing up right now? Do me a favor. Withdraw. Stand up for a second, please,” he said, adding, “All of you. I want to see you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. Because I want you to know, and please know that I carry with me each of you.”