Tom Cruise And Dolly Parton Among Stars To Receive Honorary Oscars
Tom Cruise and Dolly Parton are among the stars who will be receiving honorary awards at the Academy Governors Awards this year.
While Cruise, Debbie Allen, and Wynn Thomas will be honorary Oscar winners, Parton will be taking home the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
The ceremony is set to take place on November 16th.
According to The Playlist, Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement: “This year’s Governors Awards will celebrate four legendary individuals whose extraordinary careers and commitment to our filmmaking community continue to leave a lasting impact. The Academy’s Board of Governors is honoured to recognise these brilliant artists.
“Debbie Allen is a trailblazing choreographer and actor, whose work has captivated generations and crossed genres. Tom Cruise’s incredible commitment to our filmmaking community, to the theatrical experience, and to the stunts community has inspired us all.”
She added: “Beloved performer Dolly Parton exemplifies the spirit of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award through her unwavering dedication to charitable efforts. And production designer Wynn Thomas has brought some of the most enduring films to life through a visionary eye and mastery of his craft.”
The Honorary Award is given “to honour extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences in any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy”.
Cruise is best known for his role as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible franchise, in which he has tested the boundaries of stunt work time and time again.
He has been nominated three times for an Oscar as an actor for projects Jerry Maguire (1996), Magnolia (1999), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and once as a producer for Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is given “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry by promoting human welfare and contributing to rectifying inequities”.
Parton has dominated other award ceremonies as an 11-time Grammy Awards winner and Emmy Awards winner. She has also starred in several films including Nine To Five (1980), in which she earned a nomination for the Original Song category, Rhinestone (1984), and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982).
The honorary Oscar would be for her humanitarian efforts, such as her work creating the Dollywood Foundation, which was formed to inspire the children of East Tennessee to achieve educational success. Parton also created a literacy foundation called Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which has provided children with 285 million books worldwide.
Meanwhile, Thomas, a production designer whose collaborations with Spike Lee include Do The Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), and Da 5 Bloods (2020), has never been nominated for an Oscar.
Allen is a choreographer whose credits include choreographing the Oscars ceremony seven times, as well as films such as Forget Paris (1995), A Jazzman’s Blues (2022), and The Six Triple Eight (2024). She has producing credits on Amistad (1997) and A Star for Rose (2013).
The 2025 Governors Awards will be handed out in a non-televised ceremony on Sunday, November 16, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood.
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