Jamie Lee Curtis Receives Honorary AFI Doctorate: “I Am Representation of the Underachiever Who Has Achieved”

Slightly over a yr after touchdown her first Oscar, and a month after incomes her second-ever Emmy nomination for her function in The Bear, Jamie Lee Curtis can now add “doctor” to her lengthy record of accomplishments.

The star was offered with an honorary Doctorate of Advantageous Arts by the American Movie Institute at the movie faculty’s class of 2024 graduation ceremony on Saturday. Halloween director John Carpenter was readily available to current her with the honor, noting, “We did Halloween, and it made all of us famous, but Jamie Lee especially. She became the queen of horror movies; I’m not sure she wanted that. I’ve watched Jamie’s career through the years and watched her grow as an actress, and finally, finally, she won an Academy Award — and rightfully so. She is an amazing talent.”

Upon taking the podium at the TCL Chinese language Theatre, an emotional Curtis advised the crowd, “The first thing I need to say is thank you, John Carpenter, for my life. Thank you for my entire life, John.”

She proceeded to acknowledge, “I’m not supposed to be here,” explaining how she was not a superb pupil, and “today you’d diagnose me with something, but then I just didn’t learn. I couldn’t figure it out. And somehow I ended up in an institution of higher learning with my 840 combined SAT scores and my D-plus average.”

“I am, for you graduates, the representation of the underachiever who has achieved. I am an artist. I can say it to you today. I could not tell you that when I was 19 years old and didn’t know what I was going to do. I can tell you I became an actor by accident. My parents became actors by accident,” the The whole lot In all places All at As soon as star mentioned of her mom Janet Leigh and father Tony Curtis.

Curtis additionally famous that she doesn’t “pretend to be an intellectual” and doesn’t take into account herself a cinephile however is somewhat a fan of motion pictures. She recalled attempting to make a horror film, which she wrote and directed, on a Tremendous 8 digital camera “about a housewife who was eaten by her house plant. I swear I shot it.” The star added, “You don’t have to have a degree to be an artist. It helps to have knowledge, but it is not a requirement. I am the representation of an accidental artist, and yet I stand fully in my body, in my mind, in my soul, as one now.”

She continued with some recommendation to the graduates, telling them that their particular person minds have been the most valuable factor and to “let it be free, let it express itself, because when you express yourself freely, you end up becoming John Carpenter, and then you end up changing the world and changing the lives of people like me.”

Curtis closed with encouragement to “stay open, stay free, stay engaged, stay absolutely enthusiastic. Don’t get lazy, don’t think you deserve something more than you’re going to get. Fight for it, work for it. Save the universe, please. God bless you all.”

With the honorary doctorate, Curtis joins an esteemed group of previous AFI recipients, together with Angela Bassett, Kathryn Bigelow, Mel Brooks, Carol Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Nora Ephron, Jodie Foster, Kathleen Kennedy, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Paul Schrader, Quentin Tarantino, Lily Tomlin, Cicely Tyson, John Williams and Michelle Yeoh.