Tom Cruise gets emotional on Oscar win: 'Making films is who I am'

Tom Cruise recently got emotional on his honorary Oscar win at the 16th Governors Awards.

According to BBC, the 63-year-old actor finally received his honorary Oscar on Sunday, November 16, 2025, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Ovation Hollywood, Los Angeles.

During his acceptance speech, the US film superstar said, "Making films is not what I do, it is who I am."

The Top Gun actor went on to say, "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.

"And no matter where we come from, in that theatre, we laugh together, we feel together, we hope together, we dream together.

"And that is the power of this art form."

During his speech, The Mission: Impossible star, who has been a four-fold Oscar nominee, also paid tribute to filmmakers, and those he has worked with during his 45-year career.

Tom Cruise, who will soon star alongside Ana de Armas in supernatural thriller Deeper, also received a minutes-long standing ovation and raucous round of applause from Hollywood legends in the audience, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, and Jerry Bruckheimer.

Cruise, 63, accepted an at the annual in Hollywood alongside singer-philanthropist Dolly Parton, choreographer Debbie Allen and production designer Wynn Thomas.

"Making films is not what I do, it is who I am,"

the four-fold Oscar nominee

The Top Gun and Mission: Impossible actor paid tribute to filmmakers in front of and behind the lens, those he has worked with during his 45-year career, as well as the power of the movies.