Eddie Murphy is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer who became famous on the comedy show Saturday Night Live, on which he appeared regularly from 1980 to 1984. He was born Edward Regan Murphy on April 3rd, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York, to Lillian Laney and Charles Edward Murphy. Eddie Murphy has also worked as a stand-up comedian and was ranked No. 10 on Comedy Central’s list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.
Eddie Murphy’s childhood heroes include Richard Pryor, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis.
Eddie Murphy’s father was an amateur comedian and a police officer but he died when Eddie was 8.
In moviess, Murphy has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs., the Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor.
Eddie Murphy’s mother was a telephone operator.
Murphy’s work as a voice actor in films includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in DreamWorks’ Shrek series, and the Chinese dragon Mushu in Disney’s Mulan.
As a child Eddie Murphy watched a lot of television and he learned to do impressions from an early age. He has said that his mother said he never talked in his own voice.
In 2015, his films made him the 6th-highest grossing actor in the United States.
Eddie Murphy was doing impersonations of Al Green when he was 15 in front of an audience. His passion for showbiz had begun.
Murphy was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
With all of his showbiz pursuits in high school Eddie got behind and had to repeat 10th grade. But he did so with summer school and evening classes.
On May 2, 1997, Murphy was stopped by police after having been observed picking up a transvestite prostitute.
Eddie Murphy attended Nassau Community College and worked in a shoe store, also doing spots in local comedy clubs.
As of 2008, Murphy resides in Long Island, New York.
Eddie Murphy used a lot of profanity and raunchy material in his routines. He avoided the drugs and alcohol like many other comedians would get involved in.
Jamal Mixon was the only actor besides Murphy to play one of the Klumps in The Nutty Professor.
Eddie Murphy fit the casting call for an African-American member on Saturday Night Live and was on the show a few years.
VH1 voted Murphy’s 1985 song “Party All the Time” the number seven worst song of all time.
Eddie Murphy was nominated for a Grammy in 1982 for his comedy album Eddie Murphy: Comedian, which went gold eventually.
The Adventures of Pluto Nash was the low-point for his career, as it is one of the biggest money-losing films of all time.
Eddie Murphy began doing movies including 48 Hours (1982), Trading Places (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and Beverly Hills Cop II (1987).
Art Buchwald once sued Paramount Pictures and Eddie Murphy claiming that they stole his ideas for the screenplay to Coming to America. Buchwald won the case in 1992 and was awarded $150,000 while his producing partner, Alan Bernheim, won $750,000 in the suit.
The movie The Golden Child (1986) and Harlem Nights (1989) were box office flops.
He has donated to a number of foundations including the AIDS foundation as well has charities for homelessness, creative arts, and cancer patients.
Coming to America, starring Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, was released in 1988 and was a major box office hit.
Eddie Murphy also donated to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center.
Eddie Murphy continued to make movies and in 1996 he starred in The Nutty Professor, a remake of a Jerry Lewis film. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role.
Murphy became the only person in Saturday Night Live history to host while still active as a cast member.
Eddie Murphy continued to make movies including Doctor Doolittle, Bowfinger, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Dr. Doolittle 2, Shrek (donkey), Daddy Day Care, Shrek 2, Dreamgirls, and several more.
Once a common practice in Hollywood, Murphy was one of the last actors to sign an exclusive contract with one of the major studios. He signed the deal with Paramount Pictures, which was the studio that released all of his early movies.
Eddie Murphy earned a Golden Globe for his role in Dreamgirls.
You can find the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
Eddie Murphy was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015.
Alongside Morgan Freeman, Eddie Murphy is one of two African American actors ranked in the top five highest grossing actors of all time.
Eddie Murphy married Nicole Mitchell in 1993 and has five children with her. They later divorced.
The comedy-adventure movie The Golden Child was the first Eddie Murphy movie to receive a rating of PG-13.
Eddie Murphy has a daughter with Melanie Brown of the Spice Girls. A DNA confirmed the singer’s allegation.
The first time he ever took on multiple roles within the same film was in the John Landis-helmed Coming to America.
Eddie Murphy has supported the AIDS foundation, and various other charities dedicated to health, homelessness, education, and creative arts.
