Tom Cruise to receive 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award

Tom Cruise will receive the 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award, the American Film Institute’s highest honour for a career in film, at a gala tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday 24 April 2027. The announcement came from the AFI Board of Trustees on Wednesday.

“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. It is AFI’s honor to present him with the 52nd AFI Life Achievement Award,” said Kathleen Kennedy, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees.

The first AFI Life Achievement Award went to John Ford in 1973. Past recipients include Bette Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Meryl Streep, Sidney Poitier, Martin Scorsese, Denzel Washington, Steven Spielberg and Nicole Kidman. Eddie Murphy was the 2026 honoree.

Cruise, 64, has a five-decade career whose films have grossed nearly $13 billion worldwide, according to the AFI. He has four Oscar nominations — acting nods for Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire and Magnolia, and a producing nomination when Top Gun: Maverick was up for best picture in 2023 — and received an honorary Academy Award at the 2025 Governors Awards. Top Gun: Maverick remains his highest-grossing film at $1.5 billion.

Proceeds from the gala support AFI’s arts and education programmes. The honour lands in a quieter year for Cruise at the box office: his latest film, the Alejandro González Iñárritu satire Digger, underperformed on its opening weekend earlier this month.