The recent Emmy winner was surrounded by famous friends and family at her birthday bash in Los Angeles
Niecy Nash is ready for her close-up and her cake!
On Friday, the Emmy-award-winning Dahmer star was treated to a fabulous affair at the Cameo Beverly Hills Hotel’s Starlight Room to mark her 54th birthday.
The night was put on by Nash’s wife of four years, Jessica Betts, 41, and her family and close friends. PEOPLE caught up with Nash exclusively at the star-studded, William P. Miller-designed event, featuring purple floral arrangements and themed around her recent Emmys success story.
“I feel amazing,” Nash tells PEOPLE moments after her grand entrance, set to the soundtrack of her viral “Would like to thank me” Emmys speech, which Betts remixed over a hip-hop beat. “I walked in and did not know she took my Emmy speech and remixed it into an entire bop! And I’m like, what? I love being married to a musician.”
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Jessica Betts and Niecy Nash
It’d been a full day of love for the star. “So first of all, it started at midnight. I got beautiful gifts at midnight and I would’ve cried my fake eyelashes off, but I had already taken them off,” she says of Betts gifting her. “I had champagne for breakfast, and she just paid attention to detail, with more presents this morning.”
Another highlight of the day: the announcement of her scary new show with writer-director and Dahmer collaborator Ryan Murphy, who turned out for the party and gave a touching toast about their long Hollywood history together.
“Today is my actual birthday and the spookiest trailer ever dropped for my new project with Ryan Murphy, Grotesquerie,” she says. “I’m like, what a better present? Is there one? I don’t think so.”
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Ryan Murphy and Niecy Nash
During Murphy’s toast, he shared some details of the project and what makes Nash, whom he first met in 1998, perfect for the role. “It’s a very dramatic show about how the world, we are feeling, is collapsing all around us and yet we find hope,” he says.
He adds that after asking her to read the script and see what part interested her, “She said ‘I want to play Lois.’ And I said, ‘The lead?’ And she said, ‘Yes.'” To which Murphy says he told her, “‘Yes. Let’s make it your show. Let’s make you number one on the call sheet, because you deserve that.'”
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Niecy Nash 54th Birthday Party
At the bash, which put her past Emmys dresses on display in the center of the room, Nash shares how much that recent win meant to her and her career.
Related: Niecy Nash Celebrates 2023 Emmy Win by Going Skinny-Dipping with Jessica Betts
“It meant that my peers could trust me with whatever the caliber of work is,” she says. “When people think you’re a one-trick pony and you get an award for doing something that they said you couldn’t do, you feel validated. You feel like, ‘I hope you guys know that whatever script you send, I got it and I got you.'”
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Quinta Brunson Attends Niecy Nash’s 54th Birthday Party
The guest-list included actresses Quinta Brunson and Marla Gibbs, who were the ones to present Nash with her trophy at this year’s Emmys.
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Marla Gibbs and a Furry Friend Attend Niecy Nash’s Birthday Party
“I told her now I’ve got to give her an Oscar,” Gibbs, 92, tells PEOPLE at the party. “So that her Emmy has a date.” She adds, “It means a lot,” in regards to handing out that honor to a fellow Black actress in Hollywood. “When you can support somebody and be a part of their progress, it’s very important.”
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Kelly Rowland and Niecy Nash
Some of Nash’s past cast mates, including her Reno 9-1-1 crew, turned out and hit the dance floor along with other pals like Kelly Rowland, who popped by in the midst of her buzzed-about Mea Culpa promo tour. Others who couldn’t make it, including Gayle King and Jenifer Lewis, sent their regards in hilarious video messages.
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Niecy Nash and Sherri Shepherd
But the biggest surprise of the night was the star’s best friend Sherri Shepherd. The Sherri Show star flew in that day, after telling her friend she wouldn’t be able to make it.
“You present to the world this woman with a shining face and a bright smile and an Unh, huh [attitude]. But those of us that know you know the journey of difficulty. The trials and tribulations,” Shepherd tells Nash, still-shocked and teary-eyed at her arrival. “I’m so glad that the world gets to see what we have already known.”
Four years after famously stripping down in an exclusive shoot shared with PEOPLE to celebrate her 50th birthday, Nash says she’s much happier than she was back then.
Related: Niecy Nash Opens Up About Turning 50 and Being Newly Single: ‘I Have Never Been Better’
“At this point,” she tells PEOPLE, “I’ve been loved before, but I am loved in this part of my life, in this chapter, this act of my life in a way that makes me feel fully seen and accepted. So I love it here.”
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Niecy Nash with Children, from left, Dominic, Dia and Donielle
The night ended with everyone taking to the dance floor shortly after Nash was presented with a multi-tiered birthday cake and serenaded by Betts and fellow singer and celebrity vocal coach Stevie Mackey.
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Niecy Nash 54th Birthday Party Purple Carpet
In all, “They killed it,” says Nash of her wife, family and friends, including longtime publicist Kita Williams, pulling off a memorable night of surprises. “I feel so blessed. I feel loved.”
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