Tom Cruise Gets AFI’s Highest Honour

Tom Cruise is getting the American Film Institute‘s top career prize. The AFI Board of Trustees announced on Wednesday, 21 October, that Cruise will receive the 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award, which the institute calls “the highest honor for a career in film.” The award will be presented at a Gala Tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday, 24 April 2027.

What AFI said

“Tom Cruise is a global icon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees. “As an actor and producer, he brings an extraordinary commitment to everything he does.” She added: “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.” And: “It is AFI’s honor to present him with the 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award.”

AFI notes that Cruise’s films have earned “nearly $13 billion in worldwide box office.” He has three Academy Award nominations as an actor, for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia, plus a Best Picture nomination as a producer of Top Gun: Maverick, and he received an Honorary Oscar at the Academy’s Governors Awards in 2025. The release says he is currently starring in Digger, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, and will return as Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder 2.

No broadcast partner for the 2027 tribute has been named. For comparison, AFI says the 2026 ceremony for Eddie Murphy “later premiered globally on Netflix on May 31, 2026,” about six weeks after the event. AFI says proceeds from the gala support its arts and education initiatives. The institute’s autumn calendar also includes AFI Fest, and the April date lands well after the peak of awards season.

The recent honourees

According to AFI’s own list, Cruise follows Steve Martin (2015), John Williams (2016), Diane Keaton (2017), George Clooney (2018), Denzel Washington (2019), Julie Andrews (2022), Nicole Kidman (2024), Francis Ford Coppola (2025) and Eddie Murphy (2026). The award was first given to John Ford in 1973. AFI’s founding resolution says a recipient’s work should have “in a fundamental way advanced the film art” and “stood the test of time.”

Where to watch

Streaming catalogues differ by market, and the titles below were confirmed on each platform’s own title pages on 25 October. For the newest releases, it helps to know how long a film takes to reach streaming.

• Mission: Impossible, The Final Reckoning (2025): Paramount+, US.
• Top Gun: Maverick (2022): Paramount+, US.
• Top Gun (1986): Paramount+, US. Paramount+ also lists the full Mission: Impossible series, Collateral, Minority Report, The Firm and Jack Reacher among its Tom Cruise picks, noting that availability is subject to change.
• Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and A Few Good Men (1992): TVNZ+, New Zealand, free with ads.
• Icons Unearthed: Tom Cruise (six-part documentary series on his career): SBS On Demand, Australia, free.
• Canada and the UK: availability of individual Cruise titles could not be confirmed on platform pages at press time. Check Paramount+ in your market.

The 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute takes place on Saturday, 24 April 2027, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Sources

• American Film Institute: Tom Cruise to Receive 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award, 21 Oct 2026
• Paramount+: Mission: Impossible, The Final Reckoning title page, checked 25 Oct 2026
• Paramount+: Top Gun: Maverick title page, checked 25 Oct 2026
• Paramount+: Top Gun title page, checked 25 Oct 2026
• Paramount+: 17 Tom Cruise Movies That’ll Fire You Up, 1 Jul 2026
• TVNZ+: Edge of Tomorrow title page, checked 25 Oct 2026
• TVNZ+: A Few Good Men title page, checked 25 Oct 2026
• SBS On Demand: Icons Unearthed: Tom Cruise, checked 25 Oct 2026
• Festival de Cannes: press release, 8 Apr 2025; image source