Michelle Monaghan is thrilled that her Mission: Impossible co-star Tom Cruise finally has an Oscar.

The Hollywood action man, who had been nominated for four Oscars throughout his career, was presented with an honorary Academy Award at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles in mid-November.

Monaghan, who played Cruise’s on-screen love interest Julia Meade in three Mission: Impossible films, told The Hollywood Reporter that she was thrilled to see her co-star holding his much-deserved Oscar statuette.

“Oh my gosh, it was so wonderful and so beautiful,” she praised. “He’s such a champion and cheerleader for everyone. It’s snowballed year after year, and there’s just no one like him. He’s completely incomparable. So for him to be honoured – and to see that kind of recognition go to somebody who’s so deeply deserving of it – it was really heartwarming for everybody within the industry.”

The White Lotus star shared that she caught up with Cruise at a dinner a couple of nights before the Governors Awards, and she took the opportunity to thank him for his impact on her career.

“There’s just something so gratifying about being able to say thank you,” she added. “I said thank you to him for the impact that he’s not only had on this industry as a whole, but also on so many individual careers, most certainly mine.”

Monaghan made her debut as Julia Meade alongside Cruise’s Ethan Hunt in 2006’s Mission: Impossible III. She followed it up with appearances in 2011’s Ghost Protocol – in which Julia was Ethan’s wife – and 2018’s Fallout, in which Julia was his ex-wife.

The future of the Mission: Impossible franchise remains uncertain following the conclusion of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning earlier this year.

Cruise recently finished filming a top-secret movie with acclaimed director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who presented him with his honorary Oscar.

In his speech, the 63-year-old declared that “making films is not what I do, it is who I am” and recalled how going to the cinema as a child “sparked a hunger for adventure, a hunger for knowledge, a hunger to understand humanity, to create characters, to tell a story, to see the world”.

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