Eddie Murphy to Receive Life Achievement Award From the American Film Institute

Eddie Murphy has been celebrated with a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute, the AFI’s board of trustees said Friday. The award will be presented at a gala ceremony to be held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on April 18.

“Eddie Murphy is an American icon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, who chairs the institute’s board of trustees. “A trailblazing force in the art forms of film, television and stand-up comedy, his versatility knows no bounds.”

Murphy, 64, has been an entertainment industry force for nearly 50 years, as a young stand-up phenom on television as part of the cast of “Saturday Night Live” and in decades of box office hits such as “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Coming to America,” “The Nutty Professor” and “Shrek” movies. He was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for the movie “Dreamgirls” in 2007; This film had previously won him a Screen Actors Guild award and a Golden Globe, but it did not win an Academy Award.

In a new documentary about his life and career called “Being Eddie,” now streaming on Netflix, Murphy expressed that he was more upset about having to wear a tuxedo and go to the event than he was about losing.

“It’s always great to win something, but if I don’t win, I don’t (expletive),” he said. “I’m still Eddie in the morning.”

Murphy received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes in 2023, where he sped off his words for nearly two minutes. He told The Associated Press that he has a different perspective in 2021 than he did at the height of his fame.

“When you’re young you take things for granted, how successful I was,” Murphy said. “I no longer take anything for granted and appreciate everything.”

AFI’s gala tributes are often starry affairs. At Francis Ford Coppola’s dinner last year, Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro and Harrison Ford were among those toasting Coppola.

Murphy became the 51st person to receive the AFI life achievement award, which was first given to John Ford in 1973. Other recent honorees include Nicole Kidman, Julie Andrews and Denzel Washington.