After more than four decades starring in films and being one of the mainstays of Hollywood, Tom Cruise finally has an Oscar. Plus, he doesn't even have to wait until next spring to collect it, as he was given an Honorary Academy Award during the Governors Awards this past weekend.
The award, as per Variety, was presented to Cruise by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who is working with the actor on a film set to be released next October. "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," Cruise said.
"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" he continued. "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. Suddenly, the world was so much larger than the one that I knew."
Cruise has given some stellar performances throughout his career, but he's not one to often cater towards "Oscar-bait" dramas, instead being one of the few names remaining in Hollywood that can bring people to the theatre through name alone.