Tom Cruise has received his first Oscar.
The Hollywood actor was awarded with an Honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards on November 16 (US time) in Los Angeles, California, recognizing his decades-long contribution to cinema.
In his acceptance speech, Tom reflected on how filmmaking has shaped his life and worldview. "The cinema, it takes me around the world. It helps me to appreciate and respect differences. It shows me also our shared humanity, how alike we are in so, so many ways," he remarked as reported by Variety.
He emphasized the universal experience of watching movies in a theater. "And no matter where we come from, in that theater, 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," the actor stated.
Tom also looked back on how his love for cinema began. "My love for cinema began at a very early age, as early as I can remember. 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 recounted.
The Mission: Impossible star shared that this early memory marked the beginning of his deep connection to the art of cinema.
"Suddenly, the world was so much larger than the one that I knew. And 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," he stated.
Tom had previously earned four Oscar nominations in his career, including Best Picture for Top Gun: Maverick, Best Actor for his roles in Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, and Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Magnolia.