By Gina Yarbrough
Los Angeles, CA–The American Film Institute Board of Trustees announced that Eddie Murphy will receive the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award, the organization’s highest honor for a film career.
The award will be presented on April 18 during a gala tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
“Eddie Murphy is an American icon,” Kathleen Kennedy, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “A trailblazing force in film, television, and stand-up comedy, his versatility knows no bounds. Across five decades, his enduring impact on our culture has inspired artists and audiences alike.”
Murphy is the most commercially successful African American actor in motion picture history and ranks among the top five box-office performers overall. At 64, he is among a small group of actors who have starred in multiple films that grossed more than $100 million over several decades, including the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise and “Daddy Day Care.”
He is currently featured in the Netflix documentary “Being Eddie” and was most recently seen in Amazon’s heist comedy “The Pickup,” the holiday film “Candy Cane Lane” and Netflix’s “You People.” He also starred in “Coming 2 America,” the sequel to his 1988 hit, and portrayed Rudy Ray Moore in the Netflix biopic “Dolemite Is My Name,” earning Golden Globe nominations and a Critics Choice nomination.
Murphy won an Emmy Award in 2020 for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for “Saturday Night Live.” In 2023, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honored him with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for contributions to film.
In 2007, Murphy received critical acclaim for his role as James “Thunder” Early in “Dreamgirls,” winning Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Broadcast Film Critics Association awards and earning his first Academy Award nomination.
He also voices Donkey in the Oscar-winning animated film “Shrek” and its sequel, with “Shrek 2” becoming the highest-grossing animated film of its time. Murphy won an Annie Award for the role and is set to reprise the character in an upcoming installment of the franchise.
Murphy began his career as a stand-up comedian more than four decades ago and joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1980 at age 19. His film credits include some of the industry’s highest-grossing comedies, such as “48 Hrs.,” “Trading Places,” “Coming to America,” “Dr. Dolittle” and the “Beverly Hills Cop” series. He received multiple Golden Globe nominations for his early film performances.
In 1989, Murphy made his directorial debut with “Harlem Nights,” which he also wrote and starred in alongside Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. His later work includes “Life,” “Bowfinger,” voice roles in “Mulan,” multiple characters in “The Nutty Professor” films, and appearances in “Norbit,” “Tower Heist” and the drama “Mr. Church.”
Murphy joins an esteemed group of individuals who have been chosen for this distinguished honor since its inception.
1973 John Ford
1974 James Cagney
1975 Orson Welles
1976 William Wyler
1977 Bette Davis
1978 Henry Fonda
1979 Alfred Hitchcock
1980 James Stewart
1981 Fred Astaire
1982 Frank Capra
1983 John Huston
1984 Lillian Gish
1985 Gene Kelly
1986 Billy Wilder
1987 Barbara Stanwyck
1988 Jack Lemmon
1989 Gregory Peck
1990 David Lean
1991 Kirk Douglas
1992 Sidney Poitier
1993 Elizabeth Taylor
1994 Jack Nicholson
1995 Steven Spielberg
1996 Clint Eastwood
1997 Martin Scorsese
1998 Robert Wise
1999 Dustin Hoffman
2000 Harrison Ford
2001 Barbra Streisand
2002 Tom Hanks
2003 Robert De Niro
2004 Meryl Streep
2005 George Lucas
2006 Sean Connery
2007 Al Pacino
2008 Warren Beatty
2009 Michael Douglas
2010 Mike Nichols
2011 Morgan Freeman
2012 Shirley MacLaine
2013 Mel Brooks
2014 Jane Fonda
2015 Steve Martin
2016 John Williams
2017 Diane Keaton
2018 George Clooney
2019 Denzel Washington
2022 Julie Andrews
2024 Nicole Kidman
2025 Francis Ford Coppola
AFI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art of the moving image. Proceeds from the Life Achievement Award tribute support the institute’s education and arts programs.
The official sponsor of the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award Gala dinner is Canva, the all-in-one visual communication platform.
