Eddie Murphy Trivia | 100 facts about the actor

He is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show «Saturday Night Live».

Let’s find out more about the actor!

1. Was cast by Saturday Night Live (1975) and NBC in 1980 when he was 19 years old.
2. Ranked #78 in Empire (UK) magazine’s Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. [October 1997]
3. Born at 1:30pm-EST.
4. In a TV commercial never shown in the United States, Eddie Murphy kissed the front bumper of a Toyota sedan.
5. Has 10 children: son, Eric Murphy (b. July 10, 1989) with 1st ex-girlfriend, Paulette McNeely, daughter, Bria L. Murphy (b. November 18, 1989), son, Myles Murphy (b. November 7, 1992) and daughters, Shayne Audra Murphy (b. October 10, 1994), Zola Murphy (b. December 24, 1999) & Bella Murphy (b. January 29, 2002) with ex-wife, Nicole Mitchell Murphy, son, Christian E. Murphy (b. November 29, 1990) with 2nd ex-girlfriend, Tamara Hood, daughter, Angel Murphy Brown (b. April 3, 2007) with 3rd ex-girlfriend, Mel B and daughter, Izzy Oona Murphy (b. May 3, 2016) & son, Max Charles Murphy (b. November 30, 2018) with fiancée, Paige Butcher.
6. Attended Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York, before beginning his acting career.
7. Did stand-up comedy at the same Bay Area Comedy Club as Robin Williams and Caryn Johnson (whose stage name eventually became Whoopi Goldberg) before getting into acting.
8. Was voted Most Popular while attending Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School in Roosevelt, New York, due to the stand-up comedy routines he would perform in the school’s auditorium and jokes he would tell classmates during lunch.
9. Older brother Charlie Murphy is also an actor. Younger brother Vernon Jr. was half of the hip-hop group K-9 Posse, which released two albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
10. The role of Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters (1984) was originally written with him in mind and was meant to be much bigger. He turned it down in favor of starring in Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and the role went to Ernie Hudson.
11. Idolized Richard Pryor and was inspired by him to do comedy. Went on to cast Pryor in his directorial debut Harlem Nights (1989).
12. At the height of his popularity in the mid 1980s, he began a music career, spawning the popular song “Party All the Time”, which he recorded with Rick James. Also recorded an album in the early 1990s, entitled “Whazzupwitu”, in which he performs in a video of the single of the same name, alongside Michael Jackson. Murphy appeared in Jackson’s video “Remember the Time” in 1992 alongside fellow celebrities Magic Johnson and Iman.
13. Close friends with former late night talk show host Arsenio Hall
14. Paid for the funeral of comedic inspiration Redd Foxx.
15. Was criticized tremendously by Spike Lee for not using his show business stature to help black actors break into film.
16. Named one of E!’s Top 20 Entertainers of 2001.
17. (January 30, 2002) His wife Nicole Mitchell Murphy gave birth to their daughter Bella Zahra (aka Bella Murphy).
18. Is the only cast member of Saturday Night Live (1975) to host while still a cast member. Nick Nolte was to host but fell ill and Eddie replaced him.
19. Was in a relationship with singer Whitney Houston before she married former husband Bobby Brown.
20. Former wife, Nicole Mitchell Murphy, is an Associate with Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
21. In 1997, he and his late-night encounter with Shalimar Seiuli was ranked #61 on E! TV’s The Greatest Shocking Moments In Entertainment History.
22. His brother Charlie Murphy is a regular performer on the hit sketch comedy show Chappelle’s Show (2003) on Comedy Central.
23. Has a house in Englewood, New Jersey.
24. Scored two hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts with “Party All the Time” (US #2, 1985) and “Put Your Mouth on Me” (US #27, 1989).
25. Although arguably the biggest movie star ever to come out of Saturday Night Live (1975), he has never attended a cast reunion and is not known to even talk about having been on the show.
26. Chosen as #10 in Comedy Central’s 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comics of All Time.
27. Stepson of Vernon Lynch.
28. Hosted the MTV Movie Awards in 1993
29. At one time, he was considered to play The Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), before Jim Carrey was cast.
30. Met Nicole Mitchell Murphy in 1988 at an NAACP Image Awards show. They lived together for a year and a half before they married. They were married at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City.
31. Was one of the last movie actors to sign an exclusive contract with a studio. In this case, it was Paramount Pictures, which released all of his early films.
32. Chris Rock is an admirer of Murphy and considers him his role model and inspiration to become an actor and comedian.
33. Is a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series.
34. Nephew of Uncle Ray Murphy.
35. The first actor to receive $1,000,000 for his first film.
36. Is a huge fan of Elvis Presley and Kylie Minogue.
37. Is mentioned, along with Vanessa Redgrave, and Joe Piscopo in the song “Jammin’ Me”, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
38. He and his ex-wife, Nicole Mitchell Murphy, celebrated their first wedding anniversary in Montego Bay, Jamaica where they stayed for one week.
39. Ex-girlfriend Mel B gave birth to a daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on 3 April 2007.
40. One of 115 people invited to join AMPAS in 2007.
41. Is a huge fan of the bands Ratt and Cinderella, particularly the former as can be seen in The Golden Child (1986) where their song “Body Talk” (from their 1986 album “Dancing Undercover”) is featured.
42. Got the idea of playing multiple roles in one film after watching another one of his idols, Peter Sellers, in one of his all time favorite films Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
43. Married Tracey E. Edmonds in a private ceremony on an island off Bora Bora on 1 January 2008, but their nuptials were not legal in the United States. They initially decided to renew their vows in America, but eventually separated two weeks after their island wedding.
44. After picking up a pre-op transsexual prostitute on Santa Monica Boulveard in West Hollywood, he was arrested by LAPD deputies, but finally released (2 May 1997).
45. Was heavily influenced by Bill Cosby.
46. Born to Charles Edward Murphy, a transit police officer, and his wife Lilian, a telephone operator. Charles left the family when Eddie was three years old and was stabbed to death five years later. Charles was also an amateur stand-up comedian.
47. Is an avid fan of professional wrestling, with Hulk Hogan as his all time favorite wrestler.
48. Supports Senator Barack Obama’s bid to win the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election.
49. Was considered for the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) as a UFO-file who gets involved with Captain Kirk’s search for a humpback whale.
50. Although he frequently plays multiple characters in films and television, and has lent his voice to a dozen animated projects, he has never once voiced more then one character in the same animated project.
51. Was considered for the role of Furious Styles in Boyz n the Hood (1991), which went to Laurence Fishburne.
52. At first, he denied that he was the father of Mel B’s daughter Angel until a DNA-test proved that he was.
53. He does an excellent impersonation of Stevie Wonder. This can be seen and heard on Saturday Night Live; Best of Eddie Murphy (last scene).
54. He doesn’t drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and the only drug he takes is caffeine.
55. Sold his Granite Bay vacation home, near Sacramento, for $6.1 million shortly after divorcing ex-wife, Nicole. [2008]
56. Vacations in Hawaii nearly every year, almost always staying at Maui’s Four Seasons Hotel.
57. Was considered for the title role in Candyman (1992), which went to Tony Todd.
58. The first (and so far only) actor to receive a BAFTA nomination for a voice-over performance – Best Supporting Actor for Shrek (2001).
59. He was offered the lead role in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) that went to Bob Hoskins, but turned it down. He deeply regrets this decision.
60. Has a state of the art recording studio in his basement. Simon Cowell once heard an album Murphy put out and called it “crap”.
61. He was nominated for a 2013 New Jersey Hall of Fame for Arts and Entertainment.
62. The longest he has gone without a Razzie nomination is 13 years, between Harlem Nights (1989) and The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)/I Spy (2002)/Showtime (2002).
63. Has played a human who can talk to animals (Doctor Dolittle (1998)) and an animal (Donkey) who can talk to humans (Shrek (2001)).
64. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 26, 1996.
65. He was nominated for the 2014 New Jersey Hall of Fame in the Arts and Entertainment Category.
66. Won the 2015 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC.
67. Is an admirer of martial artist Bruce Lee, naming him as the only actor he has ever consciously imitated onscreen. Murphy first adopted Lee’s “tough guy face” in 48 Hrs. (1982) and has quipped that, since then “whenever you see me holding a gun onscreen, I’m doing Bruce!”.
68. Even though he played cops or characters with guns, he deeply dislikes guns.
69. He was nominated for the 2015 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his services in the Performance Arts.
70. He refused to return to Saturday Night Live (1975) for several years after David Spade made an insulting joke about him on Weekend Update in the 90’s. However, Murphy himself made an similarly insulting joke about Garrett Morris on Weekend Update in the early 80’s.
71. He turned down the role of James Carter in Rush Hour (1998) in order to star in Holy Man (1998). The role went to Chris Tucker.
72. Had his ninth child with girlfriend Paige Butcher, a daughter Izzy Oona Murphy (b. May 3, 2016).
73. Eddie’s multiple roles have been played in the films: Coming to America (1988) (4), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) (3), The Nutty Professor (1996) (7), Bowfinger (1999) (2), Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000) (8), Norbit (2007) (3), Meet Dave (2008) (2).
74. Uncle of Brandon Lynch.
75. Son of Lillian Lynch.
76. Cousin of Ray Murphy Jr..
77. Keeps a bowling alley in the basement at his home.
78. Owns the original Ernie Barnes painting “The Sugar Shack” from the popular TV series Good Times (1974).
79. Is a big fan of the TV series Jail (2007).
80. In his first animated role he played a dragon. In his second he played a donkey who falls in love with a dragon.
81. Two of his movies – Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and The Golden Child (1986) – started out as serious action films with Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson respectively, before becoming comedies.
82. Ranked 5th highest grossing actor of all time with his previous films grossing $3.8 billion, as of 2016.
83. Graduated high school as Most Popular boy.
84. Close friends with Jeffrey Katzenberg.
85. One of two African American actors in the top 5 highest grossing actors of all time, the other actor is Morgan Freeman, as of 2016.
86. The 2015 recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
87. Considers his impression of his brother Charlie his best impression.
88. He expressed interest in Steve Martin’s role in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988).
89. His comedic influences include Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Robin Williams.
90. He was considered to voice the Genie in Aladdin (1992).
91. He was considered to star in Driving Miss Daisy (1989) opposite Bette Midler.
92. He was a candidate to play Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction (1994). The role went to Samuel L. Jackson.
93. He has donated money to the AIDS Foundation, and cancer, education, creative arts, family/parent support, health and homeless charities. He has donated to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, various cancer charities and $100,000 to the Screen Actors’ Guild’s strike relief fund.
94. Frank Oz wanted him to voice Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors (1986).
95. He agreed to star in Bowfinger (1999) purely to work with Steve Martin, whom he had long admired.
96. Friends with Redd Foxx, Arsenio Hall. and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
97. Adam Sandler tried to get him to costar as Dr. Buddy Rydell in Anger Management (2003). The role went to Jack Nicholson.
98. He was considered to play the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who: The Movie (1996).
99. He was considered for Chris Rock’s role in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).
100. He was considered for Michael Keaton’s role in Gung Ho (1986).