Eddie Murphy Biography
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Edward
Regan "Eddie" 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. Murphy later starred in many comedies
including the Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading
Places, and Coming to America.
He is a
well-known voice actor and voiced the donkey in the
Shrek series and the dragon in Disney's Mulan.
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.
His
early comedy was racy, akin to Richard Pryor, whom
Murphy says was the one "that wanted [him] to get
into comedy." Characterized by excessive swearing
and making fun of gays, singers, and others, Murphy
became, in a sense, the Pryor of the 1980s. He made
vicious comments about gays and AIDS during his 80's
standup routines, so vicious that some years later
he apologized for the remarks. However, in the late
80's and early 90's, Murphy's fame was fading via a
series of poor sequels, drab comedies, and
ego-driven vehicles that the public avoided in
droves. His directorial debut, Harlem Nights was
savaged not only by the critics, but also by several
of the actors in the film. Richard Pryor had nothing
good to say about the film or the star, which
stunned Murphy, who had considered Pryor an idol.
Murphy's career continued to slide until 1996, when
he would make his comeback in family friendly
comedies, starting with The Nutty Professor. His
record since then has been hit and miss, with
several big flops (Holy Man, Pluto Nash, I Spy,
Showtime) and some hits (Dr. Doolitle, Shrek,
Bowfinger, Daddy Daycare).
Murphy
was also a singer, and had two hit singles, "Party
All the Time," and "Put Your Mouth on Me," in the
1980s. The former is better known than the other,
and is incorrectly considered Murphy's only hit.
Intended as dance music, the song was repetitious
and resembled the adolescent-driven bubblegum music
of the '60s and '70s. As a result, there was a
distinct disconnect between "Party" and fans of
Murphy's edgier comedic persona. In 2004, VH-1 and
Blender magazine voted "Party" number seven among
the "50 Worst Songs of All Time," barely behind such
efforts as Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice, Baby" and Billy
Ray Cyrus' "Achy, Breaky Heart."
On May
2, 1997, Los Angeles police stopped Murphy and found
a transvestite prostitute, Shalomar (Atisone Kenneth
Seiuli), in the passenger's seat. Murphy claimed
that he had just been driving through and the
prostitute asked him for a ride home. This incident
was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live.
Eddie
Murphy's older brother, Charlie Murphy, is also an
actor, most well known recently for his appearances
on Chappelle's Show.
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.
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Murphy
Date Article Copied:
July 11, 2005
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