The American Film Institute has announced that actor Tom Cruise will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual gala next year.
AFI board of trustees chair Kathleen Kennedy spoke on Cruise saying, “Tom Cruise is a global icon.”
The 64 year old Cruise has spent over 40 years making film in Hollywood including “Risky Business”, “Born on the Fourth of July”, “A Few Good Men”, “Jerry Maguire”, “Minority Report”, the “Top Gun” films, and the “Mission: Impossible” series.
Cruise has announced sequels for his “Days of Thunder” and “Top Gun” films with both films currently in development.
Nominated but never winning an Academy Award, last year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Cruise an honourary Oscar during their Governor Awards.
The AFI Life Achievement Award is presented to a person whose work “work has advanced film and stood the test of time”.
Established in 1973, Cruise will join the list of previous winners that include John Ford, Bette Davis, Sidney Poitier, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman and this year’s winner Eddie Murphy.