Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (1)

Trade Mark (5)

His goofy laugh



His moustache



Often plays multiple characters in one movie



Big smile



Boundlessly energetic



Trivia (111)



Was cast by Saturday Night Live (1975) and NBC in 1980 when he was 19 years old.

Ranked #78 in Empire (UK) magazine's Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. [October 1997]



Born at 1:30pm-EST.



In a TV commercial never shown in the United States, Eddie Murphy kissed the front bumper of a Toyota sedan.



Attended Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York, before beginning his acting career.





Did stand-up comedy at the same Bay Area Comedy Club as Robin Williams and Caryn Johnson (whose stage name eventually became Whoopi Goldberg ) before getting into acting.

Was voted Most Popular while attending Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School in Roosevelt, New York, due to the stand-up comedy routines he would perform in the school's auditorium and jokes he would tell classmates during lunch.





Older brother Charlie Murphy is also an actor. Younger brother Vernon Jr. was half of the hip-hop group K-9 Posse, which released two albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s.



Tthe role of Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters (1984) was originally written with him in mind and was meant to be much bigger. He turned it down in favour of starring in Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and the role went to Ernie Hudson



Idolized Richard Pryor and was inspired by him to do comedy. Went on to cast Pryor in his directorial debut Harlem Nights (1989).



At the height of his popularity in the mid 1980s, he began a music career, spawning the popular song "Party All the Time", which he recorded with Rick James . Also recorded an album in the early 1990s, entitled "Whazzupwitu", in which he performs in a video of the single of the same name, alongside Michael Jackson . Murphy appeared in Jackson's video "Remember the Time" in 1992 alongside fellow celebrities Magic Johnson and Iman



Close friends with former late night talk show host Arsenio Hall



Paid for the funeral of comedic inspiration Redd Foxx



Was criticized tremendously by Spike Lee for not using his show business stature to help black actors break into film.

Named one of E!'s Top 20 Entertainers of 2001.





(January 30, 2002) His wife Nicole Mitchell Murphy gave birth to their daughter Bella Zahra.



Is the only cast member of Saturday Night Live (1975) to host while still a cast member. Nick Nolte was to host but fell ill and Eddie replaced him.



Was in a relationship with singer Whitney Houston before she married former husband Bobby Brown



Former wife, Nicole Mitchell Murphy , is an Associate with Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.



In 1997, he and his late-night encounter with Shalimar Seiuli was ranked #61 on E! TV's The Greatest Shocking Moments In Entertainment History.



His brother Charlie Murphy is a regular performer on the hit sketch comedy show Chappelle's Show (2003) on Comedy Central.

Has a house in Englewood, New Jersey.



Scored two hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts with "Party All the Time" (US #2, 1985) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" (US #27, 1989).





Although arguably the biggest movie star ever to come out of Saturday Night Live (1975), he has never attended a cast reunion and is not known to even talk about having been on the show.

Chosen as #10 in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comics of All Time.



Hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 1993





Met Nicole Mitchell Murphy in 1988 at an NAACP Image Awards show. They lived together for a year and a half before they married. They were married at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City.

Was one of the last movie actors to sign an exclusive contract with a studio. In this case, it was Paramount Pictures, which released all of his early films.





Chris Rock is an admirer of Murphy and considers him his role model and inspiration to become an actor and comedian.



Is a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series.

The first actor to receive $1,000,000 for his first film.





He and his ex-wife, Nicole Mitchell Murphy , celebrated their first wedding anniversary in Montego Bay, Jamaica where they stayed for one week.



Ex-girlfriend Mel B gave birth to a daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on 3 April 2007.

One of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007.





Is a huge fan of the bands Ratt and Cinderella, particularly the former as can be seen in The Golden Child (1986) where their song "Body Talk" (from their 1986 album "Dancing Undercover") is featured.



Married Tracey E. Edmonds in a private ceremony on an island off Bora Bora on 1 January 2008, but their nuptials were not legal in the United States. They initially decided to renew their vows in America, but eventually separated two weeks after their island wedding.

After picking up a pre-op transsexual prostitute on Santa Monica Boulveard in West Hollywood, he was arrested by LAPD deputies, but finally released (2 May 1997).





Was heavily influenced by Bill Cosby

Born to Charles Edward Murphy, a transit police officer, and his wife Lilian, a telephone operator. Charles left the family when Eddie was three years old and was stabbed to death five years later. Charles was also an amateur stand-up comedian.





Is an avid fan of professional wrestling, with Hulk Hogan as his all time favorite wrestler.



Supports Senator Barack Obama 's bid to win the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election.



Was considered for the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) as a UFO-file who gets involved with Captain Kirk's search for a humpback whale.

Although he frequently plays multiple characters in films and television, and has lent his voice to a dozen animated projects, he has never once voiced more then one character in the same animated project.





At first, he denied that he was the father of Mel B 's daughter Angel until a DNA-test proved that he was.



He does an excellent impersonation of Stevie Wonder . This can be seen and heard on Saturday Night Live; Best of Eddie Murphy (last scene).

He doesn't drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and the only drug he takes is caffeine.



Sold his Granite Bay vacation home, near Sacramento, for $6.1 million shortly after divorcing ex-wife, Nicole. [2008]



Vacations in Hawaii nearly every year, almost always staying at Maui's Four Seasons Hotel.





Was considered for the title role in Candyman (1992), which went to Tony Todd



The first (and so far only) actor to receive a BAFTA nomination for a voice-over performance - Best Supporting Actor for Shrek (2001).



He was offered the lead role in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) that went to Bob Hoskins , but turned it down. He deeply regrets this decision.



Has a state of the art recording studio in his basement. Simon Cowell once heard an album Murphy put out and called it "crap".

He was nominated for a 2013 New Jersey Hall of Fame for Arts and Entertainment.





Has played a human who can talk to animals ( Doctor Dolittle (1998)) and an animal (Donkey) who can talk to humans ( Shrek (2001)).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 26, 1996.



He was nominated for the 2014 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Arts and Entertainment Category.



Won the 2015 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC.





Is an admirer of martial artist Bruce Lee , naming him as the only actor he has ever consciously imitated onscreen. Murphy first adopted Lee's "tough guy face" in 48 Hrs. (1982) and has quipped that, since then "whenever you see me holding a gun onscreen, I'm doing Bruce!".

Even though he played cops or characters with guns, he deeply dislikes guns.



He was nominated for the 2015 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services in the Performance Arts.





He refused to return to Saturday Night Live (1975) for several years after David Spade made an insulting joke about him on Weekend Update in the 90's. However, Murphy himself made an similarly insulting joke about Garrett Morris on Weekend Update in the early 80's.



Had his ninth child with girlfriend Paige Butcher , a daughter Izzy Oona Murphy (b. May 3, 2016).

Keeps a bowling alley in the basement at his home.





Owns the original Ernie Barnes painting "The Sugar Shack" from the popular TV series Good Times (1974).



Is a big fan of the TV series Jail (2007).

In his first animated role he played a dragon. In his second he played a donkey who falls in love with a dragon.



Ranked 5th highest grossing actor of all time with his previous films grossing $3.8 billion, as of 2016.



Graduated high school as Most Popular boy.



Close friends with Jeffrey Katzenberg.





One of two African American actors in the top 5 highest grossing actors of all time, the other actor is Morgan Freeman , as of 2016.

The 2015 recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.



Considers his impression of his brother Charlie his best impression.





He agreed to star in Showtime (2002) purely to work with Robert De Niro



He was considered to voice the Genie in Aladdin (1992).



He was a candidate to play Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction (1994). The role went to Samuel L. Jackson

He 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.





He agreed to star in Bowfinger (1999) purely to work with Steve Martin , whom he had long admired.



He was considered to play the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who (1996).



He was the original choice for Steven Hiller in Independence Day (1996).



He has apologised for the homophobic jokes he made in his stand-up routine, such as in Eddie Murphy: Delirious (1983).



He made fun of Best Defense (1984) when he hosted Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1984, joking that the reason he did the film was that "four guys came in the room carrying a cheque.



He was originally considered to star in Critical Condition (1987). It became a Richard Pryor vehicle.



Had his tenth child with girlfriend Paige Butcher , a son Max Charles Murphy (b. November 30, 2018).



Eddie now has 10 children he and his fiancée Paige Butcher welcomed their second child a son named Max on Friday November 30th 2018 weighing 6 LBs 14 Oz and measuring 19 in long their first child daughter Izzy Oona was born May 3rd 2016 weighing 7 LBs 15 Oz and 19.5 in long average birth weight between the 2 is 7 LBs 6.5 Oz average length at birth is 19 1/4 in.

Personal Quotes (28)



[in 1985] I'd like to produce, direct, write, score, and star in a film in exactly the way [ Charles Chaplin ] did. I'll do that before I'm thirty.



Every bad decision I've made has been based on money. I grew up in the projects and you don't turn down money there. You take it, because you never know when it's all going to end. I made [ Beverly Hills Cop III (1994)] because they offered me $15 million. That $15 million was worth having Roger Ebert 's thumb up my ass.

I started out as an impressionist and that's all about observing - how people move, their voice quality, their attitudes and quirks.





[on why he accepted a part in Best Defense (1984)] The door opened and four guys came in carrying a check.



That's my idol, Elvis Presley . If you went to my house, you'd see pictures all over of Elvis. He's just the greatest entertainer that ever lived. And I think it's because he had such presence. When Elvis walked into a room, Elvis Presley was in the fucking room. I don't give a fuck who was in the room with him---[ Humphrey Bogart ], Marilyn Monroe

If you're involved in with something that's original, you know, you'll always go back and try to rehash it.



The advice I would give to someone is to not take anyone's advice.



I keep telling people I'll make movies until I'm fifty and then I'll go and do something else. I'm going to be a professional gentleman of leisure.





The only reason I did Showtime (2002) was Robert De Niro . I definitely consider him to be in the top 5 all time best actors.



[on rumours he will play The Riddler in the next Batman movie] I would love to be in one of those Batman movies. Jim Carrey did The Riddler once and he did a wonderful job. Egghead, I could be Egghead.



[on Dan Aykroyd ] Robotic the way he handles people: "Ah, yes, good to meet you." Very straightforward, very clean-cut, very polite, real nice guy.

Charles Chaplin,

[on Richard Pryor Bill Cosby and George Carlin being his greatest influences] I feel like those are the most brilliant comic minds ever. You can draw a line from them to anyone who's trying to do comedy - or just be funny - today, including me.

I know what I'm capable of doing and what I'm capable of not doing. To be perfectly honest, I'm a little afraid of doing a straight dramatic film. I'm not saying I couldn't do it. I'm saying I'm afraid to. Everyone is afraid of failure.



With the success that I've had and the money that I make, if I and a white man went out to get a cab together, the cab wouldn't stop for me. It would stop for the white man.



[on why he lost his trademark laugh] I don't laugh like that anymore, somehow it doesn't come out. It's weird to change something that's as natural as that. But it started out as a real laugh, then it turned into people laughing because they thought my laugh was funny, and then there were a couple of times where I laughed because I knew it would make people laugh. Then it got weird. People came up to me and said, "Do that laugh," or if you laugh, someone turns around and goes, "Eddie?" I just stopped doing it.





[on what his younger self would think of his family films] Would the 27-year-old have wondered what I was doing in Doctor Dolittle (1998)? No. Or in those Shrek (2001) movies? No. But, you know, both the 27-year-old and the 48-year-old was like, "Why am I in Imagine That (2009)?" The movie didn't have a chance at the box office - it's just me and this little girl and a blanket.

Will Ferrell, Mike Myers, Bill Murray,

[on being the biggest star from Saturday Night Live (1975)] That's only because John Belushi 's dead. Belushi's like Spanky of the Little Rascals series. I guess that makes me Stymie, but that's cool. I'll be Stymie. Think of all the people who came off that show. I bet you could figure out the combined grosses of people who came off Saturday Night Live in the movies - me, Adam Sandler Dan Aykroyd . I bet it's $15 billion. It's no coincidence - that show's like Harvard for a comic actor. When you come off the show and get into the movie business, it's like you're moving in slow motion for a couple of years. You've been working like a crazy person in a pressure cooker, then you're in the movies, just sitting in your trailer.

[on returning to stand-up comedy] If I ever get back onstage, I'm going to have a really great show for you all - an hour and a half of stand-up and about 40 minutes of my shitty band. But I don't know. The way that used to come about, you'd be around the house, hanging out, say something funny and it'd be like, "I'm going to go to the club, try that out tonight." That still happens, but it's been a long time. I'm not that guy in the leather suit anymore. The hardest thing for comics nowadays is to find your fucking voice.





[on his legacy] Technology has it to where they gonna play this stuff forever. But the reality is, all this shit turns into dust, everything is temporary. No matter what you do, if you're around here long enough, you'll wind up dribbling and shitting on yourself, and you won't even remember the shit you did. I saw this documentary on Ronald Reagan , and it was like, "Whoa." They say he came into the house, and he had the toy White House that he had taken out of a fish tank, and he goes, "I don't know what I'm doing with this, but I know it has something to do with me." He had even forgotten he was the president. No matter what you do, that shit is all getting turned into gobbledy­gook. In 200 years, it's all dust, and in 300 years, it ain't nothing, and in 1,000 years, it's like you wasn't even fucking here. But if you're really, really lucky, if you really did something special, you could hang around a little longer.



[on Charlie Murphy ] We were so different that people would see us and be like, "Y'all are brothers? I didn't know you was brothers." And Charlie was in gangs, and even now, Charlie's like extra ultramacho - piranha, pit bulls, hatchets, axes, machetes. He has a black belt in karate. I got through a lot of school because the kids knew I was his brother, nobody was fucking with me. "You don't fuck with Eddie, his brother will kill you." Charlie was a really tough guy.



[on scripts he receives] They'll come to you with this stuff, dialogue like "Hey, jive turkey!" Like, "you can play this irate black man." I'm going, "Hey, you have a script?" "No, that's it, you're angry with society and you beat up a Mafia person and you're friends with Drew Barrymore ." It's like they had to throw in a white person there.



[in 1982, about Saturday Night Live (1975)] If I don't die in a plane crash or something, this country has a rare opportunity to watch a great talent grow.

[2015] I'm not doing anything unless the script's incredible. I did some movies where they offer you a bunch of money and you go, "OK, I'll do it!" I've done enough of those - I don't have to do them any more.





[2015] I just finished a movie. But it's not a comedy. It's called Mr. Church (2016), directed by Bruce Beresford . I hadn't done a movie in five years; I'd been waiting for something really special. Then this thing came along. It got me off the couch. It's about a man who's hired to cook for a dying woman for six months and becomes part of the family. You'll be hearing about it.

[His high school yearbook quote] In reality, all men are sculptors, constantly chipping away the unwanted parts of their lives, trying to create their idea of their masterpiece.





[on the hits and misses on his career] I kind of see it from a different perspective than the way you guys [journalists] may see it. In my view, I've never had a flop movie or a movie that didn't work. If I did the movie, and they paid me lots and lots of money to do it, it's a f-ing smash!". "Any movie that I was in that they paid me a lot of money for was a f-ing smash. And, to be perfectly honest, we celebrate Pluto Nash at my house. We don't have Christmas Day, we have Pluto Nash Day. And we don't have Halloween, we have Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)."



Well, I don't think the New Yorker will be singing the praises of Meet Dave (2008). "That was a gem!" I don't know if there's some "Pluto Nash" Appreciation Club out there. The Friends of "Holy Man" Group. The "Vampire in Brooklyn" Club.



I haven't read a review in, easily, 20, 25 years. I used to. I remember when Coming to America (1988) came out, Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs way down, saying it sucked. Then 10, 15 years later, I remember seeing them do a retrospective and they were both, "The classic 'Coming to America' blah blah blah.' The shelf life of movies changes over the years.

Salary (17)