Eddie Murphy
The Comedy Legend Who Conquered Hollywood
Eddie Murphy is a comedian and actor whose sharp stand-up and blockbuster films shaped modern comedy. Rising from Saturday Night Live to global stardom he combined charisma with boundary-pushing humor influencing generations of performers while evolving across genres and decades.
- 14 min listen
- Saturday Night Live
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Stand-up comedy
Eddie Murphy’s full 14 min audio biography, The Comedy Legend Who Conquered Hollywood, is available on Lyfestori for iOS. Listen to a free preview below.
A life in brief
The shape of a life.
His father was killed when he was eight. His mother worked several jobs, the family often relied on welfare, and he and his brother Charlie spent a period in foster care when she fell ill. Eddie Murphy made his classmates laugh first, then lied about his age to get stage time in New York comedy clubs. At nineteen Saturday Night Live hired him. By twenty-three he was Axel Foley, carrying the highest-grossing American film of 1984 — a part written for Sylvester Stallone until Murphy turned it into a comedy.
- 1961
Born in Brooklyn
Born 3 April to Charles Murphy, a transit police officer and amateur comedian, and Lillian, a telephone operator. His parents separate when he is three.
- 1969
His father is killed
Charles Murphy dies when Eddie is eight, stabbed in an incident never fully resolved. Lillian works multiple jobs; the family often relies on welfare, and Eddie and his brother Charlie spend time in foster care when she becomes ill.
- 1980
Saturday Night Live
Hired at nineteen as a featured player for the show's sixth season. He struggles for screen time at first, then becomes the reason people watch — Mr. Robinson, Buckwheat, Gumby, Velvet Jones, and an uncanny Stevie Wonder.
- 1982
48 Hrs.
His first major film role, opposite Nick Nolte. As Reggie Hammond, a convicted felon helping catch criminals, he is funny and dramatic at once. The film succeeds and makes him a movie star while still on SNL.
- 1983
Trading Places
Plays Billy Ray Valentine, a street hustler dropped into an experiment by two wealthy businessmen. A comedy about class and race that shows he can carry more than jokes.
- 1984
Beverly Hills Cop
As Axel Foley he earns about 235 million dollars domestically — the highest-grossing American release of the year, and proof that a Black comedian could carry a major action-comedy. Two sequels follow, the first in 1987.
- 1988
Coming to America
Plays Prince Akeem plus a barber, a preacher and a singer, transforming completely for each. He takes a story credit, the cast is predominantly Black, and African culture is shown with respect. Over 280 million dollars worldwide.
- 1996
The Nutty Professor
Multiple characters again — the gentle Sherman Klump and his obnoxious alter ego Buddy Love. A hit that opens him to family audiences without losing the adult ones.
- 2001
Donkey
Voices Donkey in Shrek, the start of a franchise earning billions and winning a new generation of fans. He appears in all four main films.
- 2006
Dreamgirls
Plays James 'Thunder' Early, a James Brown-inspired singer losing a battle with addiction and decline. Critics praise it; he wins the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and is nominated for the Academy Award.
- 2019
Back to SNL
Returns to host the show that made him. The appearance wins him the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 2020.
- 2024
Axel F
Reprises Axel Foley in the Netflix film Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F — his first outing as the character in three decades.
Major achievements
What Eddie Murphy gave the world.
- 01
Axel Foley
A Detroit detective loose in Beverly Hills, street-smart and quick enough to talk his way anywhere. Murphy improvised much of it, including the scene where he bluffs into an exclusive hotel as a magazine writer.
- 02
Coming to America
Four characters in one film, each fully built, plus a story credit and real creative control. It put a predominantly Black cast and a dignified vision of Africa on screen at a time Hollywood was doing the opposite.
- 03
The SNL characters
Mr. Robinson — a streetwise Mister Rogers dispensing advice on urban survival — Buckwheat, Gumby, Velvet Jones. Still quoted forty years on.
- 04
Donkey
The Shrek films made billions and introduced him to children who had no idea he had ever done anything else. He voiced all four.
- 05
Dreamgirls
An Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe win, reminding audiences the range had been there since 48 Hrs.
- 06
Party All the Time
His 1985 single reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Music was never the main event — it just demonstrated how far the versatility ran.
Turning points
The moments that decided it.
- 1969
Losing his father
Eight years old, a stabbing never fully explained, and a household that fell into poverty and instability. He found refuge in making people laugh — and the material stayed with him, because struggling families and working-class life were what he knew first-hand.
- 1980
Hired at nineteen
He had been lying about his age to get on stage in clubs with age limits, and audiences were startled that someone that young was that assured. SNL made him a featured player and barely used him at first. The talent was too obvious to keep on the bench.
- 1984
The film that wasn't his
Beverly Hills Cop was written for Sylvester Stallone as a straight action picture. Stallone left, and rather than recast the part, they rebuilt the film around what Murphy did. He improvised it into the biggest American release of the year.
- 2006
Playing it straight
James 'Thunder' Early was addiction and decline, not punchlines. The performance drew the best reviews of his career and an Oscar nomination, arriving just as critics had started writing that he was finished.
What you’ll take away
Lessons that outlast the headlines.
- 01
The refuge becomes the craft
Humour was how an eight-year-old handled a father's death and a house with no money. It was also, eleven years later, a job at Saturday Night Live. What you develop to survive is often the thing you are best at.
- 02
Take the part nobody wrote for you
He was not the first choice for Axel Foley — he was what happened after the first choice walked. He did not perform Stallone's script; he made it a different film, and it became the defining role of his career.
- 03
Own what you make
A story credit on Coming to America, writing and directing Harlem Nights, producing his own projects. Creative control let him build what he actually wanted — and made the same room for the performers who came after him.
Did you know
Fun facts.
- 01
Did you know that Eddie Murphy joined the cast of Saturday Night Live at just 19 years old, and is widely credited with saving the show during its struggling early 1980s period?
- 02
Did you know that Eddie Murphy's 1987 stand-up comedy film 'Raw' remains the highest-grossing stand-up comedy film of all time?
- 03
Did you know that he famously turned down the lead role in 'Ghostbusters' because he was already committed to filming 'Beverly Hills Cop'?
Questions
Good to know.
Nineteen. He was hired as a featured player for the sixth season in 1980, having spent his teens lying about his age to get stage time at New York clubs with age restrictions. Audiences were amazed anyone that young could be that confident.
No. It was written for Sylvester Stallone as an action movie. When Stallone left the project it was rewritten as a comedy vehicle for Murphy, who improvised many of his lines — including the scene where he talks his way into an exclusive hotel by claiming to be a magazine writer.
He has been nominated — Best Supporting Actor for Dreamgirls in 2006 — and won the Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice Movie Award for the same role. He won a Primetime Emmy in 2020 for hosting SNL, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
A real one, briefly. He released several albums in the 1990s, and his single 'Party All the Time' had already reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985. It was never his focus, but it added to a range that already covered stand-up, television and film.
Ten, from several relationships. He was married once, to Nicole Mitchell Murphy, from 1993 to 2006. In 2008 he took part in a non-binding ceremony with producer Tracey Edmonds that was never formalised, and he has been with Paige Butcher since 2012, with whom he has two children.
14 min · one sitting