Tom Cruise will receive the 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award. It was announced by the American Film Institute Board of Trustees. The award will be presented to the Mission: Impossible star during a gala tribute at the Dolby Theatre in in Los Angeles on April 24, 2027, the AFI Board of Trustees announced on Wednesday.
The official statement
In a statement, Kathleen Kennedy, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees said, “Tom Cruise is a global icon. As an actor and producer, he brings an extraordinary commitment to everything he does. What I especially admire is his deep belief in movies and their ability to bring people together. That passion has made him an extraordinary ambassador for American film around the world.”
Tom Cruise is one of the most recognisable stars in the world, with a career spanning more than five decades as an actor and producer. Some of his films include Top Gun, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Minority Report, The Last Samurai and the Mission: Impossible franchise. He also earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire, and for Best Supporting Actor for Magnolia. He was also nominated as a producer for Best Picture for Top Gun: Maverick at the 2022 Oscars.
In 2025, he received an honorary Oscar at the Academy’s Governors Awards in recognition of his contributions to cinema.
Some of the past recipients of this honour include Eddie Murphy, Nicole Kidman, Julie Andrews, Denzel Washington and George Clooney.
About Digger
Tom recently starred in the much-talked about release, Digger. Ever since Tom Cruise’s look in Digger was revealed, the film has been a talking point, with the actor looking almost unrecognisable as Digger Rockwell, a wealthy, swaggering and eccentric oil tycoon whose offshore drilling disaster in Greenland triggers a global environmental crisis.
The film is structured as a complex play within a film and explores themes of corporate greed, climate change and narrative control. It also stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons. Besides playing the lead role, Tom also bankrolled the film. Digger is among the biggest box-office flops in Hollywood history. As per AFP, after two weeks in theaters, the film has grossed just $14.4 million in North America and $35.3 million globally tiny numbers for a big-budget movie that points to cumulative losses in the region of $245 million.