Saturday Night Live
In 1980, the then unknown Murphy badgered talent coordinator Neil Levy to give him a shot on Saturday Night Live. Levy repeatedly rejected him, saying that the show already had a full cast. But Murphy continued pleading with Levy, saying that he had several siblings banking on him getting a spot on the show. Levy finally conceded and allowed him an audition. On the basis of the audition performance, Levy then began advocating to new executive producer Jean Doumanian to let Murphy on the show. After seeing Murphy's audition for herself, she too began pleading with the network to allow Murphy on the show. NBC only agreed after it was determined that Robert Townsend had not yet signed a contract, at which point Murphy was cast as a featured player.[citation needed]
Murphy made his debut in the second episode of the 1980-1981 season, hosted by Malcolm McDowell, as an extra in a skit called "In Search of the Negro Republican". Two weeks later, Murphy had his first speaking role as
More about Eddie Murphy (From Wikipedia)
Early Life
Murphy was born in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator, and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and amateur comedian. Murphy's read more...
Stand-up Comedy Routines
Murphy performed stand-up comedy at the same Bay Area Comedy Club as Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg. His early comedy was racy, akin to Richard Pryor, whom Murphy has credited read more...
Saturday Night Live
In 1980, the then unknown Murphy badgered talent coordinator Neil Levy to give him a shot on Saturday Night Live. Levy repeatedly rejected him, saying that the show already had a read more...
Early Acting Career
In 1982, Murphy made his big screen debut in the 48 Hrs. alongside Nick Nolte. The movie was perhaps most notable for two scenes: 1) a scene involving Murphy (on a bet with Nolte) read more...
Singing Career
Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by the The Bus Boys. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "Party All read more...
Legal Woes
In 1985, King Broder claimed Murphy had signed an "indefinite contract" with him when Murphy was 19 and sued him for $30 million for breach of contract when Murphy was worth an estimated read more...
Career Slump
From 1989 until the mid-1990s and again in the mid 00's, box office results for Murphy's films dropped, hitting a low point with the critically- panned Beverly Hills Cop III (a movie read more...
Comeback And Image Makeover
Murphy's box office results began to recover in 1996, starting with The Nutty Professor. He followed with a series of very successful family-friendly movies like Mulan, Dr. Dolittle read more...
Personal Life
In 1988, Murphy had a brief relationship with singer Lorraine Pearson of the pop group Five Star.
Murphy began a longtime romantic relationship with Nicole Mitchell after meeting read more...
Relationships
Following his divorce from Mitchell, he dated Spice Girl Melanie B or Melanie Brown, who became pregnant and stated that the child was Murphy's. When questioned about the pregnancy read more...