Eddie Murphy will receive the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award for the year 2025, the organisation announced on Friday. The honour will be presented at a ceremony slated for April 2026 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The award acknowledges Murphy’s influence across film, television and stand-up comedy, a career he began as a teenager and one that has shaped performers for decades.
AFI Board of Trustees chair Kathleen Kennedy called him “an American icon” and described the actor-comedian as “a trailblazing force in the art forms of film, television and stand-up comedy”, as per the Associated Press.
Murphy’s four-decade career includes titles such as Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, The Nutty Professor and the Shrek franchise. He earned an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls, winning both a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role.
The 64-year-old has received major honours before, among them the Cecil B DeMille Award at the Golden Globes in 2023.
Established in 1973, AFI’s Life Achievement Award is among its highest distinctions. Murphy will be the 51st recipient, joining the likes of Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington and Julie Andrews.
The annual AFI tribute draws some of Hollywood’s most prominent names. Last year’s celebration for Francis Ford Coppola featured appearances from Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro.
