Film icon Eddie Murphy received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards on Sunday, January 12, 2020. Murphy was honored for his extraordinary roles over the years, most recently his brilliant portrayal of the legendary Rudy Ray Moore in Netflix’s Dolemite Is My Name, for which he was nominated for Best Actor.
“Being able to make a living as an actor is a privilege and a blessing. And to make a living making people laugh, there’s no higher — you’re the luckiest person on Earth to be able to do that,” Murphy said. “And I’ve gotten to do so many different types of things. I’ve played everything. I’ve been a cop and a robber and a doctor and a professor. And different ethnicities. I’ve been animals; I’ve been a donkey. I even played a spaceship once!”
The star-studded gala was hosted by film, television, and stage star Taye Diggs. Kristen Bell received the fourth annual #SeeHer Award during the ceremony.
The Critics’ Choice Association is the largest critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 400 television, radio and online critics. It was organized this year with the formal merger of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, recognizing the blurring of the distinctions between film, television, and streaming content.
Eddie Murphy is the most commercially successful African American actor in the history of the motion picture business and is one of the industry’s top-five box-office performers overall. Murphy is on the very short list of actors who have starred in multiple $100 million pictures over the past three decades, from Beverly Hills Cop to Daddy Day Care. Some of his other most beloved hits include 48 Hours, Trading Places, Coming to America, Harlem Nights, The Distinguished Gentleman, Bowfinger, The Nutty Professor and Shrek.
Murphy can currently be seen portraying the legendary underground comic personality Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name from Netflix and recently wrapped production on Coming 2 America, the long-anticipated sequel to the 1988 box office hit.
In 2007, Murphy received critical acclaim for his portrayal of James “Thunder” Early in the DreamWorks film Dreamgirls, a performance which would garner him the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor as well as earning him his first Academy Award® nomination in the same category.
Murphy stars in Coming 2 America sequel scheduled to open on December 18.
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