Tom Cruise finally gets an Oscar, celebrates movie magic in acceptance speech

HOLLYWOOD: After four decades of gravity-defying stunts, blockbuster megahits and an unwavering devotion to the big screen, Tom Cruise can finally add a long-awaited trophy to his mantle: an Academy Award, or more colloquially known as “Oscar award”. The mega star has landed Oscar nomination four times, in 1990, 1997, 2000 and 2023; but this is the first time someone handed him the actual trophy.

The 63-year-old Hollywood powerhouse received his first-ever Oscar, albeit an honorary statuette, at the star-studded Governors Awards on Sunday night. He shared the spotlight with fellow honorees Dolly Parton, Debbie Allen and Wynn Thomas, but the moment was unmistakably Cruise’s, and the room knew it.

The instant he stepped onto the stage, the audience exploded into a roaring, minutes-long standing ovation. Legends like Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jerry Bruckheimer cheered him on as Cruise soaked in the applause with the grin of a man who has hung off planes, outrun explosions and somehow remained ageless while doing it.

Presenting the award was filmmaker Alejandro G Iñárritu, who is directing Cruise in an upcoming project. What followed was a warm, passionate ode to the thing Cruise has chased across continents, skyscrapers and runaway trains: the magic of movies.

“Making films isn’t what I do. It’s who I am,” Cruise told the crowd, his voice swelling with emotion as he reflected on his 45-year adventure in cinema. He thanked the filmmakers on both sides of the camera who have shaped his journey, insisting that the power of film lies in its ability to unite audiences everywhere.

“No matter where we come from, in that theatre, we laugh together, we feel together, we dream together,” he said. “That is the power of this art form.”

Cruise, who made his screen debut in 1981, has had four previous Oscar nominations: best actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, best supporting actor for Magnolia, and best picture as a producer of Top Gun: Maverick. But the Academy’s Board of Governors said this honour was about more than awards; it recognised his “incredible commitment to the filmmaking community, the theatrical experience, and the stunts community.”

The Risky Business star reflected on how cinema burst open the world for him as a young man, “It opened my eyes. It opened my imagination to the possibility that life could expand far beyond the boundaries I knew.” That spark, he said, is what he has chased ever since.

Cruise, a famously fearless stunt performer and vocal defender of the big-screen experience amid the rise of streaming and social media, closed with a promise: “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.”