Tom Cruise to Receive Honorary Oscar at 2025 Governors Awards

Thirty-five years after earning his first Oscar nomination, Tom Cruise is set to receive an honorary Academy Award.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Cruise, along with choreographer Debbie Allen and production designer Wynn Thomas, will be honoured at the 14th Governors Awards on November 16 at Ovation Hollywood. Country music legend Dolly Parton will also receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her contributions to literacy and education.

The 62-year-old Cruise has received four career Oscar nominations: Best Actor for “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Jerry Maguire,” Best Supporting Actor for “Magnolia,” and Best Picture as producer of “Top Gun: Maverick.”

He is also known for championing theatrical releases during difficult periods for cinema, including the pandemic, and for performing his own stunts. In June, he was awarded a Guinness World Record for most burning parachute jumps while filming “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” having leapt from a helicopter 16 times with a fuel-soaked parachute ignited before deploying a backup chute.

“This year’s Governors Awards will celebrate four legendary individuals whose extraordinary careers and commitment to our filmmaking community continue to leave a lasting impact,” said Academy President Janet Yang.

She described Cruise as an industry figure whose “commitment to the theatrical experience and to the stunts community has inspired us all.”

Debbie Allen will be recognised for her nearly five-decade career as a choreographer, actor and producer. Her credits include choreographing the Oscars seven times, producing “Amistad” and “A Star for Rose,” and appearing in films like “Fame,” “Ragtime,” and “Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.”

Wynn Thomas, a trailblazing Black production designer, is best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee on “She’s Gotta Have It,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” and “Da 5 Bloods.” His other credits include “A Beautiful Mind,” “Cinderella Man,” and “Hidden Figures.”

Parton’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award honors her decades-long philanthropic work. The singer and actor, who has sold over 100 million records and starred in films like “Nine to Five” and “Steel Magnolias,” has also been twice Oscar-nominated for Best Original Song.

Her Dollywood Foundation, launched in 1988, has grown into a global literacy movement. Since 1995, the Imagination Library has distributed more than 285 million free books to children in honor of her father.

The honorary Oscars are among the Academy’s most prestigious distinctions, awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to film outside the competitive categories. Past recipients include Charlie Chaplin, Sidney Poitier, Steve Martin, Gena Rowlands and, most recently, Quincy Jones.

This year’s ceremony, presented in partnership with Rolex, will spotlight four figures whose creative and humanitarian legacies continue to shape the global film industry.