50 facts about comedian and actor Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy's 50 things.

1. Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American comedian, actor, writer, singer, and director.

2. Box-office takes from Murphy's films make him the 4th-highest grossing actor in the United States.

3. Eddie Murphy was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984 and has worked as a stand-up comedian.

4. Eddie Murphy was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

5. Eddie Murphy has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs., Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor.

6. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Eddie 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 character's father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, Norbit, and Meet Dave.

10. As of 2014, films featuring Murphy have grossed over $3.8 billion in the United States and Canada box office, and $6.6 billion worldwide.

11. Eddie Murphy was born and raised in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick.

12. His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator.

13. His father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and an amateur actor and comedian.

14. His father died when he was young.

15. When Murphy's single mother became ill, the eight-year-old and his older brother lived in foster care for one year.

16. In interviews, Murphy has said that his time in foster care was influential in developing his sense of humor.

17. Later, he 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.

18. Around the age of 15, Murphy was writing and performing his own routines, which were heavily influenced by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.

19. Murphy released two stand-up specials.

20. Eddie Murphy was his first album, released in 1982.

21. Delirious was filmed in 1983 in Washington, D.C. Due to the popularity of Delirious, his concert film Eddie Murphy Raw (1987) received a wide theatrical release, grossing $50 million; the movie was filmed in the Felt Forum section of Madison Square Garden in New York.

22. Eddie Murphy first earned national attention as a cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL), and was credited with helping to revitalize the show during the early 1980s.

23. His notable characters included a grownup version of the Little Rascals character Buckwheat; a street-wise children's show host named Mr. Robinson (a spoof of Fred Rogers, who found it amusing); and a morose, cynical Gumby, whose trademark slogan became an SNL catchphrase: "I'm Gumby, dammit!"

24. In Rolling Stone magazine's February, 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Murphy was ranked second (behind John Belushi).

25. In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the film 48 Hrs. with Nick Nolte.

26. 48 Hrs. proved to be a hit when it was released in the Christmas season of 1982.

27. 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!"

28. The following year, Murphy starred in Trading Places with fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd. 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.

29. In 1984, Murphy starred in the successful action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop. The film was Murphy's first solo leading role.

30. 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".

31. 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.

32. In 1986, Murphy starred in the supernatural comedy, The Golden Child. The Golden Child was originally intended to be a serious adventure picture starring Mel Gibson. After Gibson turned the role down, the project was offered to Murphy as it was subsequently rewritten as a partial comedy.

33. Eddie Murphy is also a singer, 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.

34. 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".

35. Eddie Murphy recorded the album Love's Alright in the early 1990s.

36. He performed in a music video of the single "Whatzupwitu", featuring Michael Jackson.

37. Eddie Murphy recorded a duet with Shabba Ranks called "I Was a King".

38. In 1992, Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" alongside Magic Johnson and Iman.

39. In Coming to America, he imitated Jackie Wilson when he sang "To Be Loved", but because the character he was playing had a thick accent, he had to sing it in character.

40. In 2013 he released his first single in years titled "Red Light", a reggae song featuring Snoop Lion.

41. Eddie Murphy began a longtime romantic relationship with Nicole Mitchell after meeting her in 1988 at an NAACP Image Awards show.

42. 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.

43. Murphy and Mitchell had five children together: Bria L. Murphy, Myles Mitchell, Shayne Audra, Zola Ivy and Bella Zahra.

44. In August 2005, Mitchell filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". The divorce was finalized on April 17, 2006.

45. 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.

46. Brown gave birth to a baby girl, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on Murphy's 46th birthday, April 3, 2007.

47. On June 22, 2007, representatives for Brown announced in People that a DNA test had confirmed that Murphy was the father.

48. Eddie 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.

49. On January 16, 2008, the couple released a statement saying, "After much consideration and discussion, we have jointly decided that we will forgo having a legal ceremony as it is not necessary to define our relationship further," and called the Bora Bora wedding a "symbolic union".

50. Eddie Murphy has donated money to the AIDS Foundation, and cancer, education, creative arts, family/parent support, health and homeless charities.

Source: Wikipedia.org