Eddie Murphy Gets Lifetime Achievement Award At Critics’ Choice

Eddie Murphy is receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th annual Critics’ Choice Awards. The prestigious honor will recognize Murphy as one of a select group of actors who have starred in several $100 million films over the past three decades. He is only the third performer to be given the award, following Lauren Bacall and Kevin Costner.

Critics’ Choice Association states that Murphy is being honored because he is the rare actor who is simultaneously groundbreaking and commercially viable. “Eddie Murphy is the most commercially successful African American actor in the history of the motion picture business,” they wrote. “[He’s also] one of the industry’s top five box office performers overall, from Beverly Hills Cop to Daddy Day Care.”

Murphy Is the Recipient of the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award

This is not the first time that Murphy has been honored by the Critics Choice Awards. IMDb reports that he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Acting Ensemble for his performance as James “Thunder” Early in the 2006 musical Dreamgirls. Murphy took home Best Supporting Actor, and would subsequently earn a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination for the film.

In addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2020 Critics Choice Awards will mark the third time that Murphy has been up for a competitive category, and the first in over a decade. He is nominated for Best Actor for his performance as real-life filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore in the Netflix release Dolemite Is My Name. The film earned rave reviews from critics, and has been heralded as Murphy’s comeback vehicle.

Murphy Is Also Nominated for Best Actor for ‘Dolemite Is My Name’

The actor talked to IndieWire about his perceived “comeback,” and what it means to him. “Man, I’ve been making movies for almost 40 years, and every few years when I do a movie, they say I’m coming back. I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s how you want to spin it,'” he said. “I’ve been making movies for almost 40 years. And my movies have made so much money. The whole comeback and stuff, you can’t really say that.”

Murphy also talked about awards, and the role they play in his creative process. “I never chase a trophy. But when your stuff gets well received to the point that there’s even discussion about giving you a trophy, that’s a good thing,” he explained. “It’s a great feeling, because most movies don’t work. Most TV shows don’t work. Most records don’t work. Success is the exception, not the rule. And when they want to give you an Oscar, or when they even have that conversation, that’s a good feeling because that’s just shows you how much people liked it.”

Murphy’s upcoming films suggests he will keep his momentum going into the 2020s. He will star in the long-awaited sequel Coming 2 America, which is out August 7, and he will reunite with Netflix for Beverly Hills Cop IV. The action-comedy does not have a specified release date.

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