EDDIE MURPHY TO RECEIVE 51st AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

America’s Highest Honor For A Career In Film To Be Presented
On April 18, 2026, At Gala Tribute To Benefit AFI’s Arts And Education Initiatives 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Los Angeles, CA, November 21, 2025 – The American Film Institute (AFI) Board of Trustees announced today that Eddie Murphy will receive the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award, America’s highest honor for a career in film. The award will be presented at a Gala Tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 18, 2026. 

“Eddie Murphy is an American icon,” said Kathleen Kennedy, Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees. “A trailblazing force in the art forms of 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, and AFI is proud to honor him with the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award.” 

The American Film Institute is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. All proceeds from the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute Gala support AFI’s education and arts initiatives.  

The official sponsor of the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award Gala dinner is Canva, the all-in-one visual communication platform.  

AFI Life Achievement Award Recipients
The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award Honoree 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

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. At the tender age of 64, 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. 

Currently seen in the Netflix documentary BEING EDDIE, Murphy was most recently seen starring in Amazon’s heist comedy THE PICKUP and the hit holiday film CANDY CANE LANE, as well as YOU PEOPLE for Netflix.  He also starred in COMING 2 AMERICA, the long-awaited sequel to his 1988 box-office hit; as well as portraying the legendary underground comic personality Rudy Ray Moore in the Netflix biopic DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, a performance which garnered him Golden Globes nominations for Best Picture Comedy/Musical and Lead Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and a Critics Choice Association nomination for Best Actor. 

In 2020, he received an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and in 2023 his contributions to film were recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association when they presented him with their highest honor, The Cecil B. DeMille Award. 

In 2007, Murphy received rave reviews and critical acclaim for his portrayal of James “Thunder” Early in the DreamWorks film DREAMGIRLS, a performance which would garner him the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture as well as earning him his first Academy Award® nomination in the same category. 

He is also the voice of Donkey in the Oscar®-winning animated film SHREK and its sequel, SHREK 2, which is the top-grossing animated film of all time. Murphy won an Annie Award and earned BAFTA and MTV Movie Award nominations for his performance in the first SHREK and will reprise the role of Donkey in the forthcoming next installment of the hugely successful franchise. 

Murphy began his career as a stand-up comedian over 45 years ago. In 1980, at the age of 19, he joined the cast of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and has since gone on to establish a successful career on the big screen. 

His films have been among the highest-grossing comedies in the industry, including 48 HRS., TRADING PLACES, DR. DOLITTLE, COMING TO AMERICA and the BEVERLY HILLS COP franchise. Murphy garnered Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor in a Comedy for his performances in BEVERLY HILLS COP, TRADING PLACES and 48 HRS. 

In 1989, Murphy made his directorial debut with HARLEM NIGHTS, a period comedy he also wrote and starred in, opposite Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx.  In addition, Murphy starred in and produced the hit comedy LIFE, co-starring Martin Lawrence, and starred opposite Steve Martin in the comedy BOWFINGER. He was also the voice of Mushu the Dragon in the successful animated epic MULAN.  

In 1996, Murphy portrayed seven different characters in the worldwide box office smash THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, for which he received another Golden Globe Award nomination. He added a character to play a total of eight roles in the sequel, NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS, co-starring Janet Jackson.  He has also starred in DR. DOLITTLE 2, DADDY DAY CARE, the romantic comedy NORBIT, in which he played three characters as well as serving as the film’s producer and screenwriter, the caper comedy TOWER HEIST opposite Ben Stiller, and the drama MR. CHURCH. 

Learn more about AFI at AFI.com.  

About the AFI Life Achievement Award
The highest honor given for a career in film, the AFI Board of Trustees established the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1973. It is presented to a single honoree each year based on the following criteria as mandated through a resolution passed by the AFI Board of Trustees: “The recipient should be one whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time.” 

Most recently, AFI presented the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, at a Gala Tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Icons from across the entertainment world gathered to celebrate Coppola’s legendary career and lasting impact on cinema. Robert De Niro, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, Ron Howard, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, Spike Lee, Ralph Macchio, Al Pacino, Gia Coppola and Roman Coppola all paid tribute to the five-time Academy Award® winner, with a special performance by Josh Groban. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas presented the award, reflecting on Coppola’s influence on a generation of filmmakers, while the honoree’s daughter, Sofia Coppola, appeared in an exclusive interview segment. 

About the American Film Institute (AFI)
The American Film Institute (AFI) is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. Established in 1967, AFI launched the first comprehensive history of American film and sparked the movement for film preservation in the United States. In 1969, AFI opened the doors of the AFI Conservatory, a graduate-level program to train narrative filmmakers. The Conservatory, which counts Deniese Davis, Affonso Gonçalves, Susannah Grant, Matthew Libatique, David Lynch, Melina Matsoukas and Rachel Morrison as Alumni, is ranked as one of the top film schools in America. AFI’s enduring traditions include the AFI Life Achievement Award, which honors the masters for work that has stood the test of time; AFI AWARDS, which celebrates the creative ensembles of the most outstanding screen stories of the year; and scholarly efforts such as the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and the AFI Archive that preserve film history for future generations. AFI exhibition programs include AFI FEST presented by Canva and year-round exhibition at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Maryland. AFI Movie Club is a destination for movie lovers from around the world to celebrate and engage with the art form every day. Other pioneering programs include workshops aimed at increasing diversity in the storytelling community,