Edward Regan Murphy is a famous American comedian, actor and singer. He started his career as a stand-up comedian. Murphy has released several music albums and played in several movies. He is well remembered in the comedy movie, Coming to America and in the two parts of Nutty Professor where he played six roles including the main one. Murphy was part of the “Saturday Night Live” cast for 4 years.

Eddie Murphy, actor/comedian/singer
Eddie Murphy, actor/comedian/singer

As of 2020 Eddie Murphy’s net worth is estimated around $160 – 200 million. He is one of the highest grossing actors in USA. His movies have earned almost 7 billion at the Box office. Below are some fascinating facts about Eddie Murphy:

Early Life

Eddie Murphy was born on 3 April 1961 in Brooklyn, New York City, US. He has an older brother, Charlie Murphy, who was also a comedian and actor. His father died when Murphy was eight years old, and his mother was sick at the time. He and his brother lived in a foster care home at that time for a year.

Eddie Murphy and his brother were raised by his mother and step father in Roosevelt, New York. Murphy had to attend summer school in order to finish high school because he skipped classes to work late at night.

Stand-Up Comedy

Eddie launched his entertainment career as a comedian at the age of 15. He performed in a talent show at the Roosevelt Youth Center. Murphy was influenced by Robin Williams, Bill Cosby, Redd Foxx, and mostly by Peter Sellers. He had two stand-up specials at the time, the first comedy album and the TV special was Delirious. In 1987 the standup comedy movie Eddie Murphy Raw earned him $50 million.

Murphy in Coming 2 America
Murphy in Coming 2 America

Movies

Murphy started his movie career as Nick Nolte in the movie 48 Hrs in 1982. The movie was a hit and this guaranteed his acting career. Trading Places was his next movie directed by John Landis which was about two high class investors who wager a bet that nurture is more important than nature by proving that a homeless man (played by Eddie Murphy) could be taught how to be an investor and take over their existing start investors position (played by Dan Akroyd)

Murphy’s next movie was where he wrote Coming to America and let the directing to Landis. They worked together once again for the third movie of the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise. The first one was filmed in 1983 and was a major success. The second movie was released in 1987.

Boomerang, Another 48 Hrs, and Harlem Nights followed. For the last one in 1989, he collaborated with his brother, Charlie. The movie was written, directed, and produced by Murphy and his brother played in it.

The Nutty Professor is another franchise where Murphy actually played several roles. Its first installment was in 1996 and the second one in 2000. He received a Hollywood star on the Walk of Fame few days before the first movie The Nutty Professor was released.

Although many of his movies were successful, the science fiction movie The adventure of Pluto Nash in 2002 was a total failure. It earned only $7 million with a budget of $110 million.

Murphy also lent his acting skills to animated movies as well where his first foray was where he did the voiceover of the donkey in all four movies from the “Shrek” franchise. He is the first actor who received a BAFTA nomination for a voice over performance. For the movie Dreamgirls in 2006, he was nominated for Best Supporting actor at the Academy Awards.

In 2012 Murphy was announced as a host of the 84th Oscar ceremony, but because of the differences with the new production team, he never did it. The show was hosted by Billy Crystal instead.

Last year Murphy produced the movie Dolemite is my Name and played the main role in it. The movie was nominated at the Golden Globe Awards.

Coming To America 2

Murphy (as King Akeem Joffer) with Hall (Semmi) in Coming to America 2
Murphy (as King Akeem Joffer) with Hall (Semmi) in Coming to America 2

This is an upcoming sequel to the comedy film, Coming to America which was initially released about 32 years ago – 1988 to be precise. Eddie Murphy (now King Akeem Joffer) here teams up once again with with his co-star, Arsenio Hall (Semmi) from the original cast.

In the movie, Akeem Joffer, the king of Zamunda, learns he has a son somewhere in Queens, US. He has never met the child. King Akeem is set to return to America in search of his son because he has to fulfill his late father’s wish to prepare the son (the crown Prince) for future kingship.

https://youtu.be/AGE41rwIAAY

Aside from Murphy and Arsenio Hall, Coming to America 2 also stars the actresses Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, and others. Coming to America fans await the installment release with bated breath. They feel the movie would be coming at the right time to help them forget the global pandemic & crisis somehow with some good comedy. The movie is shedule for release on 18th December this year, 2020.

Music

Eddie Murphy is a singer also. He has released five albums: the debut comedy album “Eddie Murphy” in 1982, “Comedian” in 1983, the debut musical album “How could it be” in 1985, “So happy” in 1989, and “Love’s Alright” in 1993.

Eddie Murphy, the musician
Eddie Murphy, the musician

His first album earned him a Grammy nomination and for the second one he received Grammy award for Best comedy album in 1984. The last three were musical albums and they didn’t have much success like the comedy ones. In the video from the last album’s single “Whatzupwitu”, Murphy performed with Michael Jackson. He also appeared in the video of Jackson’s “Remember the time”.

Besides playing the donkey in the Shrek franchise, Murphy has performed several songs for movies. After many years, in 2013 he released a single with Snoop Dogg, a reggae song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiiFzKfuPMk

Personal Life

Eddie Murphy has a large family. He had his first son, Eric in 1989 with his girlfriend at the time, Paulette McNeely. One year later, he had a son with another girlfriend, Tamara Hood. The only woman he married so far was Nicole Mitchell who he met at NAACP Image Awards Ceremony. They married in 1993 and had five children together. In 2005, his wife filed for divorce.

After the divorce Murphy started to date the former Spice girl and singer, Melanie Brown. When she got pregnant, he denied the responsibility until the baby was born and DNA test was made.

His next partner was the film producer, Tracey Edmonds, with whom he exchanged vows in 2008 as symbolic act on Bora Bora Island. The couple didn’t have children together and decided to remain friends.

Murphy’s current girlfriend is the model Paige Butcher. They’ve been together since 2012 and got engaged in 2018. The couple has two children; the first one a daughter born in 2016, and a son, born two years later.

There were rumors that Murphy was in a relationship with Whitney Houston before she married Bobby Brown in 1992. He gave her a diamond ring that looked like an engagement ring, but actually no one ever confirmed such news. Murphy even denied any relationship other than friendship with Houston.

Eddie Murphy with his family
Eddie Murphy with his family

After his divorce from his wife, Murphy paid $15 million to her. He also had to pay for child support to some of his children. Although Murphy was married only once, he has had many partners and 10 children, the last one born two years ago.

Brother Charlie Murphy

Eddie’s brother, Charlie Murphy was a comedian and actor just like Eddie himself. He starred in the sketch-comedy series “Chappelle’s show” before starting his own sketch comedy series “Charlie Murphy’s Crash Comedy” in 2009. Charlie was also a cast in the first two seasons of the sitcom Black Jesus in 2014 and 2015, the CB4 comedy movie, the black comedy King’s Ransome etc. He also did voiceovers in Budwaiser radio commercials, video games and in animated sitcom.

Charlie died from leukemia in 2017. Eddie gave to his youngest son the middle name Charlie in honor of his late brother, Charlie.

Charity

Eddie Murphy supports Martin Luther King Jr. Center for non-violent social change. He has donated money to AIDS Healthcare Foundation as well as to cancer charities. Murphy started the Yeah! Foundation for a variety of causes among which are to help the homeless and to provide school scholarships.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK0rWI0DwG4

Awards

Eddie Murphy has won numerous awards for his contributions to the entertainment industry. He has won the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics’ Choice Movie Award, Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, People’s Choice Award, and many more.

Eddie Murphy Height and Weight

Murphy is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 77kg. He has black hair and brown eyes. The actor often transforms for the roles he plays. He gained weight playing Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite is my name and also studied the body language and manners of the real filmmaker Moore. Murphy doesn’t drink alcohol, neither smokes cigarettes, but he does drinks coffee.

Related Amazon Products

CartoonComing to America Prince Akeem doll
 Eddie Murphy Photo 1Eddie Murphy: The Life and Times of a Comic on the Edge
 Eddie Murphy Photo 2Eddie Murphy standup comedy (before Delirious came out!)

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