Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961)
Box-office takes from Murphy's films make him the second-highest grossing actor in the United States.
[2][3] He was a regular cast member on
Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984 and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked No. 10 on
Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.
[4] Eddie Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in
The PJs,
Donkey in the
Shrek series and the
Chinese dragon Mushu in Disney's
Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols
Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in
Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in
Coming to America,
Wes Craven's
Vampire in Brooklyn, the
Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother),
Bowfinger,
Norbit, and
Meet Dave.
Early life
Murphy grew up in the
Brooklyn neighborhood of
Bushwick.
[6] His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator, and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and an amateur actor and comedian.
[1][7][8][9] His father died when he was young. When Murphy's single mom became ill, the eight-year-old Eddie Murphy and his older brother lived in
foster care for one year.
[10] In interviews, the actor and comedian says that his time in foster care was influential in developing his sense of humour. Later Murphy and his older brother
Charlie were raised in
Roosevelt, New York by his mother and stepfather Vernon Lynch, a foreman at an ice cream plant.
[1] Around the age of 15, Murphy was writing and performing his own routines, which were heavily influenced by
Bill Cosby and
Richard Pryor.
[1] Career
Stand-up comedy
Murphy performed stand-up at the same
Bay Area Comedy Club as
Robin Williams and
Whoopi Goldberg. His early comedy was characterized by frequent swearing and sketches lampooning a diverse group of people (including
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs), African Americans, Italian Americans, overweight people, and gay people). This controversial content was akin to that of
Richard Pryor, whom Murphy has credited as his inspiration to enter comedy;
[1] however, in his autobiography,
Pryor Convictions, Pryor wrote that he found Murphy's comedy at times excessively insensitive. Murphy later apologized for jokes about gay people and
HIV.
[citation needed] Eddie also released two stand-up specials.
Delirious was filmed in 1983 in Climax, Michigan. Due to the popularity of this, he then released
Raw in 1987 which was filmed in the Felt Forum section of Madison Square Garden in New York.
[11] [12] 1980s acting career
Murphy first earned attention as a regular actor at
Saturday Night Live (SNL), and was credited with helping revitalize the series during the early 1980s.
[13] Some of his notable characters included a grown version of the
Little Rascals character
Buckwheat,
[14] impoverished but street-wise children's show host Mr. Robinson (a spoof of
Fred Rogers, who found it amusing),
[15] and
Gumby,
[14] a harshly cynical version of the animated character; Murphy's take on the latter character spawned one of
SNL's many catchphrases, "I'm Gumby, dammit!" Although Buckwheat was his most popular character, Murphy asked that he be retired because the actor grew tired of people asking him to "Do Buckwheat! Do Buckwheat!"; the character was assassinated on camera in front of
30 Rockefeller Plaza.
[16] In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the film
48 Hrs. with
Nick Nolte.
[1] 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released in the Christmas season of 1982. Nolte was scheduled to host the December 11, 1982, Christmas episode of
Saturday Night Live, but became too ill to host, so Murphy took over. He became the only cast member to host while still a regular. Murphy opened the show with the phrase, "Live from New York, It's the Eddie Murphy Show!" The following year, Murphy starred in
Trading Places with fellow
SNL alumnus
Dan Aykroyd.
[1] The movie marked the first of Murphy's collaborations with director
John Landis (who also directed Murphy in
Coming to America and
Beverly Hills Cop III) and proved to be an even greater box office success than
48 Hrs. In 1984, Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film
Beverly Hills Cop.
[1] The film was Murphy's first full-fledged starring vehicle, originally intended to star
Sylvester Stallone (who later tweaked the script as his own
starring vehicle Cobra in 1986).
[1] Beverly Hills Cop grossed over $230 million at the box office and is 41st in the list of all-time total U.S. box office grosses (4th-highest amongst "R" rated films), after adjusting for inflation, as of August 2012
[update].
[17] In 1984, Murphy appeared in
Best Defense, co-starring
Dudley Moore. Murphy, who was credited as a "Strategic Guest Star", was added to the film after an original version was completed but tested poorly with audiences.
Best Defense was a major financial and critical disappointment. When he hosted
SNL, Murphy joined the chorus of those bashing
Best Defense, calling it "the worst movie in the history of everything". Murphy's
Trading Places co-star
Dan Aykroyd had originally written the character of
Winston Zeddemore in
Ghostbusters specifically for Murphy, but he was unable to commit at the time due to the
Beverly Hills Cop shooting schedule. The part ultimately went to
Ernie Hudson. Murphy was also offered a part in 1986's
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future
7th Heaven star
Catherine Hicks. By this point
[18] Murphy's near-exclusive contract with
Paramount Pictures rivaled
Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.
In 1986, Murphy starred in the
supernatural comedy,
The Golden Child.
[1] The Golden Child was originally intended to be a serious adventure picture starring
Mel Gibson.
[citation needed] After Gibson turned the role down, the project was offered to Murphy as it was subsequently rewritten as a partial comedy.
[citation needed] Although
The Golden Child (featuring Murphy's "I want the knife!" routine) performed well at the box office, the movie was not as critically acclaimed as
48 Hrs.,
Trading Places, and
Beverly Hills Cop.
The Golden Child was considered a change of pace for Murphy because of the
supernatural setting as opposed to the more "street smart" settings of Murphy's previous efforts.
[citation needed] A year later, Murphy reprised his role of Axel Foley in the
Tony Scott-directed
Beverly Hills Cop II. It was a box office success, grossing over $150 million.
[citation needed] Producers reportedly wanted to turn the
Beverly Hills Cop franchise into a weekly television series.
[citation needed] Murphy declined the television offer, but was willing to do a film sequel instead.
[citation needed] Singing career
Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by
The Bus Boys, which their song "The Boys Are Back in Town" was featured in
48 Hrs. and Murphy's comedy special
Eddie Murphy Delirious. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "
Party All the Time" (which was produced by
Rick James) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" in the mid-1980s (although he actually started singing earlier in his career, with the songs "Boogie In Your Butt" and "Enough Is Enough", the latter being a parody of
Barbra Streisand and
Donna Summer's 1979 song, "
No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". They both appear on his 1982 self-titled comedy album.) "Party All the Time" was featured on Murphy's 1985 debut album
How Could It Be, which included a minor follow-up
R&B hit in the title track, a duet with vocalist Crystal Blake. This track was written by Rusty Hamilton and was produced by Stevie Wonder's cousin Aquil Fudge after a brief falling out and bet with Rick James. In 2004,
VH-1 and
Blender voted "Party All the Time" number seven among the "50 Worst Songs of All-Time."
Sharam used a
sample of the song for the UK No. 8 hit "PATT (Party All The Time)" in 2006.
1990s career
From 1989 and through most of the early 1990s, box office results and reviews for Murphy's films were strong, but by 1992 results for both dropped, hitting a low point with the critically panned
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994),
[19] a movie Murphy would ultimately denounce during an appearance on
Inside the Actors Studio,
[1] although he did find box office success with
Boomerang and
Another 48 Hrs. Harlem Nights featured Murphy, who had previously been known only as a performer, as director, producer, star, and co-writer, with his brother,
Charlie Murphy, as well as supporting roles for Murphy's comic idols
Redd Foxx and
Richard Pryor.
[1] Although Murphy has enjoyed commercial success since
Saturday Night Live, he has never attended cast reunions or anniversary specials, nor did he participate in the making of the
Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live retrospective book by
Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller (2002). Murphy's box office results began to recover in 1996, starting with
The Nutty Professor.
1998 to present
He followed with a series of very successful family-friendly movies like
Mulan,
Dr. Dolittle and
its sequel, the
Shrek series,
Daddy Day Care, and
The Haunted Mansion, along with
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. However, most of his movies meant for more adult audiences performed moderately;
Metro,
I Spy, and
Showtime all tended to gross less than $40 million domestically,
Holy Man performed poorly, grossing less than $13 million, and
The Adventures of Pluto Nash is on record as one of the biggest theatrical money-losers of all time, grossing just $7 million worldwide on a reported $110 million budget. A notable exception to this run of poorly received adult-themed films was the
Frank Oz comedy
Bowfinger, also starring
Steve Martin. The film garnered generally positive critical reviews, and grossed $98 million at the box office.
[citation needed] Personal life
Family
Murphy began a longtime romantic relationship with Nicole Mitchell (born January 5, 1968) after meeting her in 1988 at an
NAACP Image Awards show. They lived together for almost two years before getting married at the Grand Ballroom of
The Plaza Hotel in New York City on March 18, 1993.
[25] Murphy and Mitchell had five children together: Bria L. Murphy (born November 18, 1989), Myles Mitchell (born November 7, 1992), Shayne Audra (born October 10, 1994), Zola Ivy (born December 24, 1999) and Bella Zahra (born January 29, 2002). In August 2005, Mitchell filed for divorce, citing "
irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized on April 17, 2006.
[26] He also has a child by Tamara Hood: son Christian Murphy (born on November 29, 1990),
[27] and another child by Paulette McNeely: son Eric Murphy (born on July 10, 1989).
Following his divorce from Mitchell, in 2006, Murphy began dating former
Spice Girl Melanie Brown, who became pregnant and stated that the child was Murphy's. When questioned about the pregnancy in December 2006, by
RTL Boulevard, Murphy told
Dutch reporter
Matthijs Kleyn, "I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir". Brown gave birth to a baby girl, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on Murphy's 46th birthday, April 3, 2007. On June 22, 2007, representatives for Brown announced in
People that a
DNA test had confirmed that Murphy was the father.
[29] Brown has stated in an interview that Murphy has not sought a relationship with Angel.
[30][31] Murphy exchanged marriage vows with film producer
Tracey Edmonds, former wife of
Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, on January 1, 2008, in a private ceremony on an island off
Bora Bora.
[32] On January 16, 2008, the couple released a statement saying, "After much consideration and discussion, we have jointly decided that we will forego having a legal ceremony as it is not necessary to define our relationship further," and called the Bora Bora wedding a "symbolic union". The two had planned on having a legal ceremony upon their return to the U.S. but did not, and their wedding was never official.
[33] Legal problems
According to Murphy's childhood friend Harris Haith in his book,
Growing Up Laughing With Eddie, long before Murphy did any writing for
Coming to America,
Art Buchwald had approached Paramount Pictures with the idea for a similar film. His material was rejected, but the information was retained by Paramount. They liked Buchwald's idea but did not see fit to pay him and saved it for use later down the road. Some years later, Paramount presented the idea of
Coming to America to Eddie and gave him the contract. Murphy wrote a screenplay that came to light exactly as it aired on the silver screen. In 1988, Buchwald sued Murphy and Paramount Pictures, but Murphy was not found liable because Paramount had received the material.
[citation needed] Philanthropy
Murphy has donated money to the AIDS Foundation, and cancer, education, creative arts, family/parent support, health and homeless charities. He has donated to the
Martin Luther King Jr. Center, various cancer charities and $100,000 to the
Screen Actors' Guild's strike relief fund.
[34] Filmography
Film
1982 | 48 Hrs. | Reggie Hammond | Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor |
1983 | Trading Places | Billy Ray Valentine | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
1984 | Beverly Hills Cop | Det. Axel Foley |
1986 | Golden Child, TheThe Golden Child | Chandler Jarrell | |
1987 | Beverly Hills Cop II | Det. Axel Foley | |
1987 | Eddie Murphy Raw | Himself | Also writer and executive producer |
1988 | Coming to America | Prince Akeem/Clarence/Randy Watson/Saul | Also writer (story) |
1989 | Harlem Nights | Quick (real name Vernest Brown) | Also director, writer, and executive producer |
1990 | Another 48 Hrs. | Reggie Hammond | Also writer (story) |
1992 | Boomerang | Marcus Graham | Also writer (story) Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance |
1992 | Distinguished Gentleman, TheThe Distinguished Gentleman | Thomas Jefferson Johnson | |
1994 | Beverly Hills Cop III | Det. Axel Foley | |
1995 | Vampire in Brooklyn | Maximillian/Preacher Pauly/Guido | Also producer, writer (story) |
1996 | Nutty Professor, TheThe Nutty Professor | Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr. | Saturn Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
1997 | Metro | Insp. Scott Roper | |
1998 | Mulan | Mushu | Voice role |
1998 | Dr. Dolittle | Dr. John Dolittle | |
1998 | Holy Man | G | |
1999 | Life | Rayford "Ray" Gibson | Also producer |
1999 | Bowfinger | Kit Ramsey/Jeffernson 'Jiff' Ramsey | Black Reel Award: Best Actor |
2000 | Nutty Professor II: The Klumps | Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump | Also executive roducer Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
2001 | Shrek | Donkey | Voice role Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor |
2001 | Dr. Dolittle 2 | Dr. John Dolittle | |
2002 | Showtime | Officer Trey Sellers | Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor Nomianted - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple (with either Robert De Niro, Owen Wilson or himself cloned) |
2002 | Adventures of Pluto Nash, TheThe Adventures of Pluto Nash | Pluto Nash/Rex Crater |
2002 | I Spy | Kelly Robinson |
2003 | Daddy Day Care | Charles "Charlie" Hinton | |
2003 | Haunted Mansion, TheThe Haunted Mansion | Jim Evers | |
2004 | Shrek 2 | Donkey | Voice role |
2006 | Dreamgirls | James 'Thunder' Early | Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Central Ohio Film Critics Association for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Black Reel Award: Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture |
2007 | Norbit | Norbit Rice/Rasputia Latimore-Rice/Mr. Wong | Also writer (story and screenplay), producer Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor (as Norbit) Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor (as Mr. Wong) Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress (as Rasputia) Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple (with either Eddie Murphy or Eddie Murphy) Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture |
2007 | Shrek the Third | Donkey | Voice role Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie |
2008 | Meet Dave | Starship Dave Ming-Chang (Spacecraft), Captain | Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple (in Eddie Murphy) |
2009 | Imagine That | Evan Danielson | |
2010 | Shrek Forever After | Donkey | Voice role Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie |
2011 | Tower Heist | Darnell ("Slide") | |
2012 | Thousand Words, AA Thousand Words | Jack McCall | |
Television
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album |
US [39] | US R&B [40] | US Dance [41] | NZ [42] | UK |
1982 | "Boogie in Your Butt" | — | 56 | — | — | — | Eddie Murphy |
1985 | "Party All the Time" | 2 | 8 | 19 | 3 | 87 | How Could It Be |
"How Could It Be" (with Crystal Blake) | — | 63 | — | — | — |
1989 | "Put Your Mouth on Me" | 27 | 2 | — | — | — | So Happy |
"Til the Money's Gone" | — | 75 | — | — | — |
1993 | "I Was a King" | — | 61 | — | — | 64 | Love's Alright |
"Whatzupwitu" (with Michael Jackson) | — | 74 | — | — | — |
"Desdamona" | — | — | — | — | — |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Awards/nominations
Khalid B. Scott, MSW, CADC, MISA I, LCWS, QMHP