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Biography
The son of Brooklyn policeman who died when he was eight, comedy superstar Eddie Murphy was raised in the comfortable middle-class community of Hempstead by his mother and stepfather. A natural-born class clown, he was voted the most popular student at Roosevelt Jr-Sr High. By the age of 15, he was doing standup gigs at 25 dollars to 50 dollars a pop, and within a few years he was headlining on the comedy-club circuit. Murphy was 19 when he was hired as one of the backup performers on the NBC comedy weekly Saturday Night Live. His unique blend of youthful arrogance, sharkish good cheer, underlying rage, and street-smart versatility transformed the comedian into SNL's prime attraction, and soon the country was reverberating with imitations of such choice Murphy characterizations as sourball celebrity Gumby, inner-city kiddie host Mr. Robinson, prison poet Tyrone Green, and The Little Rascals' Buckwheat. Just when it seemed that he couldn't get any more popular, Murphy was hastily added to the cast of the 1982 comedy/melodrama feature film 48 Hours, and voila, an eight-million-per-picture movie star was born.
Filmography
- The Haunted Mansion (2003)
- Daddy Day Care (2003)
- The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)
- I Spy (2002)
- Showtime (2002)
- Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)
- Shrek (2001)
- Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)
- Bowfinger (1999)
- Life (1999)
- Dr. Dolittle (1998)
- Holy Man (1998)
- Mulan (1998)
- Metro (1997)
- The Nutty Professor (1996)
- Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
- Beverly Hills Cop 3 (1994)
- Boomerang (1992)
- Another 48 Hrs. (1990)
- Harlem Nights (1989)
- Coming to America (1988)
- Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987)
- Dr. Dolittle 2 (1986)
- The Golden Child (1986)
- Best Defense (1984)
- Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
- Trading Places (1983)
- 48 Hrs. (1982)
Daddy Day Care
Cast: Eddie Murphy (Charlie Hinton), Lacey Chabert, Jeff Garlin, Anjelica Huston, Regina King, Steve Zahn, Leila Arcieri (Kelly), Elle Fanning, Michelle Krusiec, Sloane Momsen (Beth-Anne), Parker McKenna Posey (Georgia), Paul Anthony Reynolds (Marty), Makenzie Vega (Bridget)
Premise: When a father (Murphy) loses his lucrative "dotcom" job, and finds himself in jeopardy of financial ruin, he joins his friends (Zahn, Garlin) in opening a free-spirited "guy-run" business called "Daddy Day Care" (in his house), much to the chagrin of the owner (Huston) of a more traditionally-operated rival center (King plays Murphy's wife; Krusiec plays a teacher at Huston's center; Arcieri plays a young single mother who becomes Zahn's romantic interest).
Next Movie(s)
The Haunted Mansion
Release Date: November 26th, 2003
Cast: Eddie Murphy (Jim Evers), Terence Stamp, Aree Davis, Marc John Jefferies (Michael Evers), Martin Klebba (Happy Ghost), Nathaniel Parker, Wallace Shawn, Terence Stamp, Marsha Thomason (Sara Evers), Jennifer Tilly (Madame Leota), Dina Waters
Based Upon: The popular Disney theme park attraction, which the studio hopes to turn into a series of family-oriented movies. There has already been a made-for-TV movie (complete with Steve Guttenberg) based on a more recent ride, Tower of Terror. There are Haunted Mansion attractions at Walt Disney World (Florida), Disneyland (California), and one at Disneyland Paris (it's called Phantom Manor there).
Premise: When a man (Murphy) and his family (Thomason, Jefferies) encounter a ghost while visiting a haunted house during a job interview, he learns the value of family, and the lesson that he should make sure he never neglects them. Ahh, isn't that a nice thought? (Davis plays Murphy's daughter.)
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Release Date: TBA 2005
Cast: Eddie Murphy; other cast not yet announced.
Based Upon: This is a comedic remake of the 1957 science fiction thriller by the same title, which was based upon a novel by Richard Matheson (What Dreams May Come).
Premise: (3/9/00) In the original film, the lead character got caught in a radioactive cloud that shrank him. 44 years later, it's possible a different method of shrinking will be introduced for this film. Details at this point are not yet known about the plot. (5/11/00) Director Peter Segal gave Cinescape a teensy-tiny bit of information: the movie is set in New York City, and Eddie shrinks because he breaths in "something really bad". (11/12/03) This detail has been revealed: Eddie plays a Las Vegas magician, who finds that people think his shrinking is just part of his act.
Beverly Hills Cop IV
Release Date: Unknown; that will depend upon when (if) filming actually does get started.
Cast: Eddie Murphy (Axel Foley); other cast not announced yet. It's unknown if series regulars like Judge Reinhold and Bronson Pinchot would return for more.
Premise: Not much is confirmed about this newest entry in the continuing adventures of police detective Axel Foley (Murphy). There will probably be irreverent high jinks (like bananas in exhaust pipes), as well as the usual assortment of action scenes (car chases, shoot outs, explosions, etc). One possibility is that the location could change in this film from the Los Angeles of the first three films. Back in 1997, Jerry Bruckheimer told The Calgary Sun that "Eddie wants to send Axel to a really foreign environment next time out so we're looking at ideas that would put him somewhere like London, Paris or Moscow." Of course, that quote is three years old... the plans could've changed a good bit since then.
Shrek 2
Release Date: May 21st, 2004
Eddie Murphy is also in Shrek 2 with Mike Myers go here, Mike Myers, to find out more.
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