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 Edward
"Eddie" Regan Murphy (born April 3,
1961, Brooklyn, New York) is an African-American
comedian and actor.
Murphy
began his comedy career at the young age of 19,
as a performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live
television show after graduating from Roosevelt
Junior-Senior High School. His characters
include a parody of Buckwheat from the Little
Rascals and of Fred Rogers. Former SNL writer
Margaret Oberman has said Murphy and Bill Murray
are the two most talented people in the history
of the show. Murphy left the show midway through
the 1983-1984 season, appearing in filmed
sketches for the remainder of that season.
Murphy
later starred in many comedies including the
Beverly Hills Cop series, for which he was
recognised by receiving a Golden Globe
nomination for best actor in a comedy for his
performance in Beverly Hills Cop, Trading
Places, and Coming to America.
He
is a well-known voice actor and voiced the
donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon, Mushu,
in Disney's Mulan. Eddie Murphy also has starred
in a vast number of sequels including: Beverly
Hills Cop II (1987), Another 48 Hrs. (1990),
Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Dr. Dolittle 2
(2001), Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000),
Shrek 2 (2004), and the upcoming Dreamgirls
(2006) and Shrek 3 (2007). Murphy, who many feel
is ripe for a comeback, has been confirmed as a
cast member of the upcoming Quentin Tarantino
war epic Inglorious Bastards. Tarantino is known
for breathing new life into the careers of
underappreciated talents as he did for John
Travolta and Pam Grier.
In
many of his films, he plays multiple roles in
addition to his main character. A perfect
example of this is The Nutty Professor, a remake
of the Jerry Lewis classic in which Murphy plays
several members of the Klump family as well as
Sherman Klump's arrogant alter ego, Buddy Love.
Another trademark of Eddie Murphy's is his deep,
infectious, albeit considerably goofy laugh.
In
a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he
was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by
fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Eddie
Murphy's older brother, Charlie Murphy, is also
an actor, best known recently for his
appearances on Chappelle's Show.Read
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