2020 Critics' Choice Awards: Eddie Murphy Jokes About His Best Acting Advice in Lifetime Achievement Speech

Photograph by Juergen Teller; Creative Partner to Juergen Teller: Dovile Drizyte; Styled by Sara Moonves. Hair by Stacey Morris at Criterion Group; Skin by Vera Steimberg at Criterion Group; Manicure by Michelle Saunders.

There is something sweet and surreal about seeing Eddie Murphy assume a more reverential role as of late. But that's what happens when an artist succeeds in show business for 40 years.

Twas the night before Oscar nominations and all through the ballroom, the Barker Hanger was buzzing as critics mixed and mingled with A-listers inside the 25th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards on Sunday night. Big winners Life Achievement winner Eddie Murphy, #SeeHer honoree Kristen Bell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Bong Joon Ho played to the audience in the room and at home with top-notch speeches but Variety was inside the ballroom bringing you everything you didn’t see on television.

In case you weren’t already aware, Eddie Murphy has 10 children between the ages of one and 30.

Eddie Murphy looked back at his nearly 40 years of being an actor while accepting the lifetime achievement award at the 2020 Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday night."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.

By Geoff Boucher

On Monday morning, awards season will officially pivot to film when the 92nd Academy Awards nominations are announced, but on Sunday night, the television scene got one last chance to celebrate another great season in the Peak TV era right alongside the movies at the 25th Critics' Choice Awards.

He’s making waffles — and winning awards! Eddie Murphy took home the 2020 Critics Choice Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award and reflected on his three decades in the industry.

Awards season is in full effect! 

Last week at the Golden Globes 2020, Taron Egerton won his first-ever Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for Rocketman. The actor beat other hot favourites like Eddie Murphy (Dolemite Is My Name), Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) and Daniel Craig (Knives Out) to claim the top prize.

The 2020 Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday is set to be a star-studded event.

Over the weekend, Dexter Fletcher’s “Rocketman” received a surge on the Oscar buzz meter. Elton John, whose life the film is based on, won a Golden Globe for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” beating out Beyonce (for “The Lion King”) and Taylor Swift (for “Cats”).

For Stacey Morris, Carla Farmer and Vera Steimberg — the hair and makeup team behind “Dolemite Is My Name” — the biggest challenge was to create the likeness of the real-life characters being portrayed on-screen in the Netflix film.

Taron Egerton, who portrays Elton John in last year’s biopic Rocketman, has won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. He beat out Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood), Eddie Murphy (I Am Dolemite), Daniel Craig (Knives Out), and Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) for the trophy. See this year’s full list of winners and nominees here.

After Elton John and Bernie Taupin won a Golden Globe for best original song for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” at the 2020 Golden Globes, Rocketman star Taron Egerton walked away with the award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture -- musical or comedy.