Melissa McCarthy Proves She's Truly a People's Icon Onstage at E! People's Choice Awards

By Corinne Heller Nov 12, 2018 3:42 AMTags
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Watch: Melissa McCarthy Speaks Her Mind While Accepting Icon Award

She's Melissa McCarthy, an icon in every way.

The longtime fan-favorite Bridesmaids actress was honored with the inaugural People's Icon of 2018 award at the E! People's Choice Awards on Sunday and proved again, with her acceptance speech, why she truly is one.

"Thank you so much for this award and I mean, thank you to everybody here and everyone who voted, not just because you voted for me, because that would make me an insane narcissist," she joked. "Because it was so overwhelming and incredibly sweet of all of you, but of course I am thankful to you because you actually engaged and you cared about things—movies and music and people in the world around you and you took the time and put the effort in to have your voice be heard and that is tremendously inspiring to me."

She also took the opportunity to talk about the 83,000 acre wildfire that has displaced more than 250,000 people and destroyed more than 175 homes and other structures across Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas and neighboring Southern California communities.

"And, if you can just do one more thing with your power—because when people come together, there is such incredible power in it—please keep the victims and firefighters in your thoughts and any contribution to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation," she said. "One dollar, 50 cents, it will be put into great use and it will make a difference. There is great power in this room and everyone who's watching." 

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2018 People's Choice Awards: Red Carpet Fashion
Alberto Rodriguez/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Oscar winner Allison Janney, who starred with McCarthy in the movies Pretty Ugly PeopleTammy and Spy, introduced the actress onstage.

"Thank you for making it possible for me to do something that I love more than anything else and no one who's coming up here tonight on this stage would be able to do that without you, except Janney," McCarthy said. "I think Janney would be fine. I think we all know that. She'd just skate through. She's wearing white and pulling it off. She'll be fine. I mean because- right? She's better than us and that's OK."

McCarthy began her onscreen acting career with a small part on her cousin Jenny McCarthy's show The Jenny McCarthy Show in 1997. Her big break came in 2000, when she made her debut as supporting character Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls. After the show ended its seven-season run in 2007, McCarthy appeared on the series Samantha Who? In 2010, she began appeared in the lead role of Molly on the sitcom Mike & Molly, which lasted six seasons.

In 2011, she had her breakout movie role, in the comedy Bridesmaids, which earned her an Oscar nomination. Five years later, she appeared in the remake of Ghostbusters.

McCarthy's movie career is flourishing. She can be seen next in the 2019 movies The Kitchen, an action-crime drama also starring The Handmaid's Tale's Elisabeth Moss and Tiffany Haddish, and the action-comedy Superintelligence, also starring Bobby Cannavale and James Corden.

Check out more winners of the 2018 E! People's Choice Awards.