Tom Cruise Is Awarded the U.S. Navy's Highest Civilian Honor: 'To Lead Is to Serve'

Mar. 15, 2025

Tom Cruise on Dec. 17.Photo:Ian West/PA Images via Getty

Ian West/PA Images via Getty

Tom Cruiseis adding a unique distinction to his collection of Hollywood accolades: the U.S. Navy’s highest civilian award.

After starring in 1986’sTop Gun, the action-packed drama about naval aviators, Cruise led and produced the 2022 box office hitTop Gun: Maverick. The Joseph Kosinski-directed sequel “brought nostalgia to older audiences and reinvigorated younger viewers’ interest in the skill sets and opportunities the Navy provides,” per the press release. “The success of this portrayal led to Cruise being named the U.S. Navy’s 36th Honorary Naval Aviator.”

US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro (left) presents Tom Cruise with the US Navy Distinguished Public Service Award on Dec. 17.Ian West/PA Images via Getty

Cruise received the award in England during a ceremony on Tuesday at the Longcross Film Studios in Chertsey, Surrey.

“I know in life, something that is very true to me,” he said in a speech. “To lead is to serve. And I know that to my core.”

Praising “the servicemen and women” around him, Cruise expressed his thanks for the “extraordinary acknowledgment,” per theBBC.

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Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.Paramount Pictures/Alamy

Paramount Pictures/Alamy

“I’m happy I have been able to be a source of inspiration to many of the sailors who serve today or have served in the past,” said the Oscar nominee in the press release. “The effort was not just on my end, but the cast and crew I get to work with on all our sets. They are what really bring the work to life.”

“It was an honor to present Tom Cruise with a Defense Public Service award for his decades of naval advocacy through many movies,” Del Toro said. “His work has inspired generations to serve in our Navy and Marine Corps.”

Due to the success of the originalTop Gun, interest in becoming a Navy pilot surged in the late 1980s, increasing recruitment, per the release.

Tom Cruise in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.Paramount

Cruise is not the first Hollywood legend to receive the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service honor.Steven SpielbergandTom Hanksalso received the honor for their work on the 1998 World War II movieSaving Private Ryan.

Cruise is reportedly developing aTop Gun 3, which producerJerry Bruckheimerconfirmedto PEOPLE in March.Top Gun Maverickwas a commercial and critical success, earning $1.496 billion at the global box office — Cruise’s highest-grossing film to date — and nabbing six Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture. The film won for Best Sound.

TheMission: Impossiblestar next appears in that action franchise’s eighth installment,The Final Reckoning, in theaters on May 23, 2025.

source: people.com