The American Film Institute will honor Tom Cruise with its top career prize at a Dolby Theatre gala on April 24, 2027.
Tom Cruise will receive the 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award, the American Film Institute announced on Wednesday. According to the AFI, the honor is "the highest honor for a career in film," and the gala tribute is set for Saturday, April 24, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
What AFI said
Kathleen Kennedy, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees, called Cruise "a global icon" in the institute's statement. "As an actor and producer, he brings an extraordinary commitment to everything he does," she said, adding that what she admires most is his "deep belief in movies and their ability to bring people together."
Variety and Deadline both reported that the award goes to a single honoree each year, chosen by the AFI Board of Trustees. Proceeds from the gala support AFI's arts and education initiatives, per the institute's release. Last year's recipient was Eddie Murphy, and the award was first presented in 1973 to director John Ford.
A career in numbers
The AFI release says Cruise's films have earned nearly $13 billion at the worldwide box office across a career of more than five decades. He has Best Actor nominations for "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Jerry Maguire" and a Best Supporting Actor nomination for "Magnolia." He was also nominated for Best Picture as a producer of "Top Gun: Maverick." The institute's list of his credits includes "Risky Business," "Rain Man," "Minority Report," "A Few Good Men" and the "Mission: Impossible" series.
Deadline noted that Cruise received an Honorary Oscar at the Academy's Governors Awards in 2025, and that his earlier honors include recognition from the Cannes Film Festival, the Producers Guild of America and France's Legion of Honor.
What he is working on
According to the AFI, Cruise currently stars in "Digger," directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and is set to return as Cole Trickle in a "Days of Thunder" follow-up. Variety reported that the next "Days of Thunder" chapter, co-starring Anne Hathaway, is due in 2028.
The tribute follows a list of recent honorees that includes Francis Ford Coppola, Nicole Kidman, Julie Andrews, Denzel Washington, George Clooney and Diane Keaton. Details on how the gala will be broadcast or streamed were not part of the announcement.
Picture credit: Photo: Kevin Paul / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Design: Savvy VibeZ
