Eddie Murphy

EDDIE MURPHY

Birth Name: Edward Regan Murphy

Date of Birth: April 3, 1961

A short while back, after a few flops and when Eddie Murphy was no longer on top of the heap, let's say just post The Nutty Professor and pre Doctor Dolittle, Murphy said: "Comeback? From where? Where am I coming back from? What does that mean, comeback?"

But that's been the recent media story on this native of Brooklyn, New York. For a while there, he could do no wrong. And then the hits stopped coming. Then he bounced back with The Nutty Professor (1996), and when Doctor Dolittle (1998) was such a big hit that it spawned a sequel, Murphy was back on top.

His first feature film, 48 Hrs. was a huge hit, followed by Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop. It seemed the golden boy who amazed on Saturday Night Live and delighted on the concert stage and in recordings could do no wrong.

But the son of a cop who left him at age eight to be raised by his mother and stepfather in suburban Hempstead, Long Island, experienced a major slump in box office appeal in the early '90s.

Murphy began his career early. While still a student at Roosevelt High School, he performed his stand-up act at local bars and youth clubs. After high school he hit the comedy-club circuit and at 19 was picked to join the cast of Saturday Night Live.

Despite the low points of his career, Murphy has enjoyed huge success in the industry, including a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination for his work in the feature film Dreamgirls (2006). Other popular roles for Murphy include the voice of Donkey in the animated feature Shrek plus all its sequels, the role of a con man in Tower Heist (2012) and a high-flying literary agent with an unusual curse in A Thousand Words (2012).

In 2006, after 13 years of marriage to Nicole Mitchell and five children together, they were divorced. He also has two sons from out-of-wedlock relationships and a daughter ex-girlfriend Melanie Brown. He married producer Tracey Edmonds on New Year's Day 2008 on a private island off Bora Bora in French Polynesia, but the ceremony was not legal in the United States, and before they could have a legal marriage, they split in mid-January 2008.

In 2011, it was announced that Eddie would host the 84th Academy Awards on February 26, 2012 however, he ended up pulling out after his creative partner (who was also one of the award show's producers and Murphy's Tower Heist director) Brett Ratner became involved in a scandal and was shamed into leaving. The job of host eventually went to Billy Crystal.