It’s all for the fans! From Jennifer Aniston to Betty White, stars have received some of the highest honors at the People’s Choice Awards over the years.
The Morning Show actress scored the People’s Icon Award in 2019, nearly 20 years after winning her first Favorite Female Television Performer trophy for her work as Rachel Green on Friends. While reflecting on her successful career, Aniston credited the NBC sitcom for getting her where she is now.
“If I have any claim to this word ‘icon,’ it’s only because I was able to be on an iconic show with an iconic cast and an iconic haircut,” the Emmy winner noted in November 2019. “I mean, Friends was truly the gift of a lifetime, and I would not be standing up here without that amazing show and those amazing five other actors and with an audience who stuck with us for a decade, and through streaming services now and syndication. … You believed in us, you really did, and you believed in those very impossibly large apartments.”
Aniston continued, addressing longtime fans who have followed her through every high and low: “You paved the way for everything that I’ve had a chance to do since and it feels so good, also, that I get to be back on television, where it all started. Thank you for being on this journey with me … I love you guys.”
Four years prior, another Hollywood legend was dubbed the people’s Favorite TV Icon. White received a standing ovation at the 2015 awards show as she prepared to take the stage — and she was given a helping hand from Chris Evans, who was sitting a few chairs over.
“When Melissa McCarthy came up on stage and said she’d stay with us as long as you let her — well, you’ve abused the privilege with me,” the Hot in Cleveland actress teased from the podium while holding a bouquet of roses. “I cannot possibly say thank you [enough]. Can you imagine? The people’s choice at 93 [years old]? Thank you with all my heart.”
Fans aren’t the only ones who’ve received special tributes from PCA winners. In 2016, Vin Diesel got emotional as he dedicated his speech to late Fast and Furious franchise costar Paul Walker, who died in a car crash three years prior.
“I always say I’m not going to get emotional about winning these awards and I was cool while I was sitting in my seat and then they handed me two awards,” the Pacifier actor said on stage. “You all thought that this was your favorite film. So I think of [the characters] Dom and Brian, and I start to think of Paul. … It’s real people that are voting for these awards. It’s just pure fans saying how they appreciate our work and that means the world to me.”
Diesel won Favorite Action Movie Actor and Favorite Movie that year. As he concluded his acceptance speech, he quoted Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth‘s “See You Again,” which plays at the end of 2015’s Furious 7.
The 47th annual People’s Choice Awards air on NBC and E! December 7 at 9 p.m. ET. Scroll down for a look at more of the most memorable moments in the event’s history:
Source: US MAGAZINE
