Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor enjoyed a surprise early birthday celebration at the 2025 American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Honors ceremony on Monday night — complete with a cake, sparkling candles and the well-heeled crowd singing her “Happy Birthday” (the Stevie Wonder version, of course).

Ellis-Taylor was among the special honorees at the awards show, feted not just for turning another year older, but for delivering another year full of dazzling performances, including in the best picture Oscar-nominated film “Nickel Boys.” Though the spotlight was on Elllis-Taylor, she seemed less interested in accepting her well-deserved flowers than in doling them out to her fellow honorees.

“Keke Palmer made me famous,” Ellis-Taylor declared as she took the stage at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills to accept ABFF’s Excellence in the Arts trophy from her “Origin” director Ava DuVernay.

A dozen years ago, Ellis-Taylor and Palmer — who was honored with the Renaissance Award for her varied career accomplishments thus far — co-starred in the Lifetime TV movie “Abducted: The Carlina White Story.” According to Ellis-Taylor, Palmer and her mother Sharon Palmer fought to ensure that she had the opportunity to do meaty work that reached a wide audience.

“And I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since,” Ellis-Taylor said. “Because it was the first time I felt the line between who I was and who I played merged.”

Ellis-Taylor also saluted Marla Gibbs, the evening’s Hollywood Legacy award honoree, explaining that one cannot be honored “alongside” an icon like “The Jeffersons” and “227” alum, “because [she] will always be in the distance — unreachable, unmatched. She was my understanding of what it was to be a comedian. They had Carol Burnett. We had Marla Gibbs.”

Then, she offered words of affirmation to Rising Star award winner Aaron Pierre, explaining that she only knew him by rumor, but that what she’d heard “portends a world-changer.”

She saved her final praise for Giancarlo Esposito, who picked up the evening’s other Excellence in the Arts prize. “I was born an agitator, probably. But there was no definition to it, until I saw you. I was given words to what was churning inside of me,” Ellis-Taylor said of watching Esposito in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.”

His insightful and inciting quote (“How come you ain’t got no brothers on that wall?”) inspired her activism moving forward, as the film opened her eyes to the structural inequities that need to be addressed in the fight for equality. “This is why these messages of ‘another seat at the table’ is deaf to me. I don’t want to hear that. I’m not interested at no seat at no table. I don’t want the seat or the table. I want the structure. I want the land that the structure belongs,” Ellis-Taylor preached. “Why? Because it’s mine. … Thank you ABFF, because you are encouraging me to tear down that wall, to tear down that house and reclaim the land.”

Ellis-Taylor’s rousing speech might’ve been the most potent of a night that felt more church revival than awards show. In fact, the black tie gala kicked off with the gospel choir from Victory Bible Church in Pasadena, Calif., singing a rousing rendition of “The Best Is Yet to Come,” by Donald Lawrence and The Tri-City Singers, to honor the historically Black communities affected by the L.A. wildfires.

The show, hosted by comedian Zainab Johnson, was packed with sincere moments, like Anthony Mackie sharing the advice Esposito gave him, a kid fresh off the boat from New Orleans, about how to be a successful working actor, decades before they were Marvel co-stars; or Palmer discussing the importance of creators owning their rightful share of their content; or a 93-year-old Gibbs saying that she’s not done yet, and sharing her mantra: “Long as you’re still here and still breathing, you’ve got another shot.”

But the event was far from a somber affair. Case in point, Pierre was played onto the stage to accept his award with the viral anthem, “Aaron. Pierre. That’s Mufasaaaa,” which was created by the crew of “The Jennifer Hudson Show” for his “Spirit Tunnel” entrance last December. In on the joke, Pierre gave the people what they wanted and gamely did his little dance — suavely two-stepping, spinning and high-fiving the trophy presenter, while the crowd clapped and sang along.

Scroll on for a look inside the ceremony: