Tom Cruise will be honoured at the 2025 Governors Awards for his decades-long impact on Hollywood, alongside Dolly Parton and other icons. Despite never winning an Oscar, Cruise’s career spans blockbuster hits, multiple nominations, and major industry accolades.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that Tom Cruise will be honored at the 2025 Governors Awards, alongside acclaimed choreographer Debbie Allen, production designer Wynn Thomas, and music icon Dolly Parton, who will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
The prestigious ceremony is scheduled to take place on November 16 in Los Angeles.
Tom Cruise’s Rise to Hollywood Stardom
Cruise shot to fame in the 1980s, first with teen films and then cementing his star status with Top Gun in 1986.
Over the decades, he became one of Hollywood’s most recognizable and successful actors, starring in hits like Interview With the Vampire (1994), Minority Report (2002), War of the Worlds (2005), and the expansive Mission: Impossible franchise, which has spanned eight films from 2000 to 2025.
Tom Cruise’s History with the Oscars
Though Cruise’s blockbuster films rarely lead to awards wins, he has had notable Oscar recognition. He earned four nominations: Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Jerry Maguire (1996), Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia (1999), and a Best Picture nomination as a producer of Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Despite the accolades, he lost each time to actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and Michael Caine, and to Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2022.
Golden Globes Success and Controversy
Cruise has fared better at the Golden Globes, where he won three times — for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire, and Magnolia. He also earned additional nominations for performances in Risky Business, A Few Good Men, The Last Samurai, and Tropic Thunder.
However, in 2021, Cruise returned his three trophies in protest of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s lack of diversity and ethical lapses, joining other stars in a boycott that led to the 2022 ceremony being canceled.
BAFTA and SAG Recognition
Cruise received a single BAFTA nomination for Born on the Fourth of July, though he lost to Philippe Noiret for Cinema Paradiso. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards, he has earned three nominations — for Jerry Maguire and twice for Magnolia, including a nod for the ensemble cast — but has yet to take home a SAG trophy.
Critics Choice and PGA Awards
The Critics Choice Awards honored Cruise with their Distinguished Achievement in Performing Arts award in 2005. He also received nominations from the group for Jerry Maguire, Edge of Tomorrow, Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, and Top Gun: Maverick. Additionally, the Producers Guild of America has recognized him twice — once in 1997 as the most promising producer for Mission: Impossible, and again in 2023 for his career-long contribution to producing.
Beyond the traditional awards circuit, Cruise has collected numerous pop culture accolades. He won the Bambi Award for his role in Valkyrie and received the MTV Generation Award in 2005.
He was also a recipient of the 2002 Peabody Award for America: A Tribute to Heroes, honoring 9/11 victims. Cruise has claimed two People’s Choice Awards for Best Actor and was named Man of the Year by Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals in 1994. Kids even honored him with the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice “Wannabe Award” in 2001.
