Biography

The son of Brooklyn policeman who died when he was eight, comedy superstar Eddie Murphy was raised in the comfortable middle-class community of Hempstead by his mother and stepfather. A natural-born class clown, he was voted the most popular student at Roosevelt Jr-Sr High. By the age of 15, he was doing standup gigs at 25 dollars to 50 dollars a pop, and within a few years he was headlining on the comedy-club circuit.

Murphy was 19 when he was hired as one of the backup performers on the NBC comedy weekly Saturday Night Live. His unique blend of youthful arrogance, sharkish good cheer, underlying rage, and street-smart versatility transformed the comedian into SNL's prime attraction, and soon the country was reverberating with imitations of such choice Murphy characterizations as sourball celebrity Gumby, inner-city kiddie host Mr. Robinson, prison poet Tyrone Green, and The Little Rascals' Buckwheat. Just when it seemed that he couldn't get any more popular, Murphy was hastily added to the cast of the 1982 comedy/melodrama feature film 48 Hours, and voila, an eight-million-per-picture movie star was born.

The actor followed this cinematic triumph with Trading Places, released in 1983, the same year that his comedy album Eddie Murphy, Comedian won a Grammy. In 1984, he was finally allowed to carry a picture himself: Beverly Hills Cop, one of the most successful pictures of the decade. Proving that at this juncture Murphy could do no wrong, his next starring vehicle, The Golden Child (1986), made a fortune at the box office, despite the fact that the picture itself was less than perfect. After Beverly Hills Cop 2 and his live standup video Eddie Murphy Raw (both 1987), Murphy's popularity and career seemed to be in decline, though his staunchest fans refused to desert him. His esteem rose in the eyes of many with his next project, Coming to America (1987), a PG-rated outing that allowed him to play an abundance of characters -- some of which he essayed so well that he was utterly unrecognizable. His first directorial effort was Harlem Nights (1989), which was followed by the 1992 political satire The Distinguished Gentleman. After a few critical and commercial flops, Murphy rebounded with a 1996 remake of Jerry Lewis' The Nutty Professor. The film proved to be an unqualified success, pointing the actor in a more family friendly direction. His next couple of features, Dr. Dolittle and the animated Mulan (both 1998), were children-oriented affairs, although in 1999 he returned to more mature material with two comedies, Life (which he also produced) and Bowfinger, and The PJs, a fairly bawdy claymation sitcom about life in South Central L.A.

Moving into the new millennium, Murphy kept the bawdy moving with the sequel Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) before moving on to yet another sequel in 2001, the decidedly more family friendly Dr. Dolittle 2. That same year, sharp-eared audiences were served up abundant laughs by Murphy's turn as a donkey in the animated fairy-tale spoof Shrek. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Shrek 2 (2004) (voice) .... Donkey
Haunted Mansion (2003) .... Jim Evers
... aka Disney's The Haunted Mansion (2003) (USA: complete title)
Daddy Day Care (2003) .... Charlie Hinton
I Spy (2002) .... Kelly
... aka I-Spy (2002) (USA: promotional title)
Adventures of Pluto Nash, The (2002) .... Pluto Nash
... aka Pluto Nash (2002) (UK) (USA: working title)
Showtime (2002) .... Officer Trey Sellars
Inside TV Land: African Americans in Television (2002) (TV) .... Himself
Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) .... Dr. John Dolittle
... aka DR.2 (2001) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
... aka DR2 (2001) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Creating a Fairy Tale World: The Making of 'Shrek' (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Shrek (2001) (voice) .... Donkey
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) .... Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/Young Cletus Klump/Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr./Lance Perkins
... aka Klumps, The (2000) (Australia)
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary (1999) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Saturday Night Live Christmas (1999) (V) .... Mister Robinson
Bowfinger (1999) .... Kit Ramsey/Jiffernson 'Jiff' Ramsey
Life (1999) .... Rayford Gibson
"PJs, The" (1999) TV Series (voice) .... Thurgoode Orenthal Stubbs
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy (1998) (V) .... Himself/Various Characters
Holy Man (1998) .... G
Doctor Dolittle (1998) .... Dr. John Dolittle
Mulan (1998) (voice) .... Mushu the Demoted One
Metro (1997) .... Scott Roper
Nutty Professor, The (1996) .... Professor Sherman Klump/Buddy Love/Lance Perkins/Cletus 'Papa' Klump/Anna Pearl 'Mama' Jensen Klump/Ida Mae 'Granny' Jensen/Ernie Klump, Sr.
20 Years of Comedy on HBO (1995) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
What Makes You Laugh? (1995) (TV) .... Himself
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) .... Maximillian/Preacher Pauly/Guido
... aka Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn (1995) (USA: complete title)
HIStory (1994) (V) .... Pharoah ('Black or White' video)
... aka Michael Jackson: Video Greatest Hits - HIStory (1994) (V) (USA: complete title)
Television's Christmas Classics (1994) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994) .... Axel Foley
But... Seriously (1994) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
1993 MTV Movie Awards (1993) (TV) .... Himself/Host
Dangerous: The Short Films (1993) (V) .... Pharaoh ('Remember The Time' video)
... aka Michael Jackson - Dangerous: The Short Films (1993) (V) (USA)
Mo' Funny: Black Comedy in America (1993) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself/Stevie Wonder/Jesse Jackson/Velvet Jones
1992 MTV Movie Awards (1992) (TV) .... Himself/Presenter
MTV Video Music Awards 1992 (1992) (TV) .... Himself (presenter)
Distinguished Gentleman, The (1992) .... Thomas Jefferson Johnson
Boomerang (1992) .... Marcus Graham
Party for Richard Pryor, A (1991) (TV) .... Host
Walt Disney World's 20th Anniversary Celebration (1991) (TV) .... Himself
Johnny Carson's 29th Anniversary (1991) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
Another 48 Hrs. (1990) .... Reggie Hammond
Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration (1990) (TV) .... Himself/Host
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989) (archive footage) .... Himself
Harlem Nights (1989) .... Quick
3rd Annual Soul Train Music Awards, The (1989) (TV) .... Himself
What's Alan Watching? (1989) (TV)
Coming to America (1988) .... Prince Akeem/Clarence/Randy Watson/Saul
... aka Prince in New York (1988) (Europe: video title English title)
Eddie Murphy Raw (1987) .... Himself
... aka Raw (1987) (USA: short title)
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) .... Det. Axel Foley
Golden Child, The (1986) .... Chandler Jarrell
All-Star Celebration Honoring Martin Luther King Jr., An (1986) (TV) .... Himself
Joe Piscopo Video, The (1985) (V) .... Himself
... aka Joe Piscopo Show, The (1985) (V) (USA)
Great Standups, The (1984) (TV) (archive footage) .... Himself
... aka Great Standups: Sixty Years of Laughter, The (1984) (TV) (USA)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984) .... Det. Axel Foley
MTV 1st Annual Video Music Awards (1984) (TV) .... Himself (presenter)
Best Defense (1984) .... Lieutenant T.M. Landry
Best of the Big Laff Off, The (1983)
Eddie Murphy Delirious (1983) (V) .... Himself
Trading Places (1983) .... Billy Ray Valentine
48 Hrs. (1982) .... Reggie Hammond
"Saturday Night Live" (1975) TV Series .... Himself (1980-1984)
... aka "NBC's Saturday Night" (1975) (USA)
... aka "SNL 25" (2000) (USA: new title)
... aka "SNL" (1975)
... aka "Saturday Night Live 80" (1980) (USA: new title)
... aka "Saturday Night" (1975)