Honorary Oscars Explained: Why Hollywood’s Biggest Icons Receive Them

Tom Cruise, Debbie Allen, Wynn Thomas, and Dolly Parton just joined a legendary roster of cinema icons who've earned special recognition.

At the Governors Awards on Nov. 16, the creatives were given Honorary Awards, with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award going to Parton. They each received Oscar statuettes.

But what exactly is an Honorary Oscar, and why does it carry so much weight in the industry?

A Different Kind of Oscar

The Academy Honorary Award recognizes motion picture achievements that aren't covered by existing Academy Awards, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

While the annual Oscars recognize films from the year before in specific categories, the Honorary Awards are the Academy's way of lifting up those who have made special contributions to cinema, often over their lifetimes in diverse ways.

The award was instituted in 1950, though it had previously been known as the Special Award, dating back to the first Academy Awards in 1929 (when that Special Award went to Charlie Chaplin for The Circus).

Honorary Award recipients don't have to meet the Academy's standard eligibility year and deadline requirements. This gives the Academy the flexibility to honor careers and contributions spanning decades.

Who Votes on the Honorary Oscars?

Unlike the competitive Oscars, which are voted on by the Academy's full membership, Honorary Oscars are decided by the Board of Governors. This smaller group meets each spring to select recipients, and up to four Governors Awards may be presented in a given year.

There is a restriction on who can win. “Except in extraordinary circumstances, no competitive Oscar winner may receive an Honorary Award,” reads the Academy website. That said, exceptions exist. James Stewart, Federico Fellini, and Sidney Poitier all received Honorary Oscars after winning competitive awards decades earlier.

The awards cannot be voted posthumously, and current Academy governors aren't eligible.

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The Governors Awards Ceremony

Since 2009, Honorary Oscars have been presented at a separate Governors Awards ceremony rather than during the main Academy Awards telecast.

The Academy created this separate event specifically to give these honors proper attention without the time constraints of the main broadcast.

The ceremony is typically held in November or December, before the main Academy Awards ceremony, which takes place in February or March.

It takes place at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood and has become a major stop on the awards season circuit, drawing industry heavyweights and Oscar hopefuls.

While the ceremony itself isn't televised, highlights are incorporated into the main Oscar broadcast, and speeches are usually posted on the Academy's YouTube channel.

Three Types of Awards

The Governors Awards encompasses three distinct honors.

The Honorary Award is given to honor "extraordinary lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the motion picture arts and sciences of any discipline, or outstanding service to the Academy," per the Academy. Cruise, Allen, and Thomas received this award at the most recent ceremony.

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recognizes 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 received this honor for her decades of charitable work.

The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award goes to a creative producer whose work "reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production." This award wasn't presented at the 2025 ceremony. Interestingly, starting in 2024, the Thalberg Award changed from a bust of Thalberg's head to the Oscar statuette.

Only one Hersholt Award and one Thalberg Award may be bestowed in a given year.

Notable Honorary Oscar Recipients

The list of Honorary Oscar recipients is a who's who of cinema history.

Past honorees include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Audrey Hepburn, Akira Kurosawa, Spike Lee, Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, and Agnès Varda (via the Academy).

The 2024 ceremony honored legendary composer and producer Quincy Jones (who died just two weeks before the event), casting director Juliet Taylor, filmmaker Richard Curtis, and James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (via Variety).

The separate ceremony format has expanded opportunities for recognition. If an actor has been overlooked in the past during especially competitive years (Cruise, for instance, has been nominated four times but never won) or other extenuating circumstances prevented an award, this is the Academy's way of giving those talents some shine.

Another example is Chaplin, who was given an Honorary Award in 1972 for his "incalculable effect" on cinema. Then, in 1973, he won a very strange competitive Oscar for Limelight 20 years after its initial premiere. Politics played a large part in the strangeness of his wins.

You can find a full list of Honorary Award winners on the Academy's website.