Eddie Murphy

By 1990 Eddie Murphy was a cultural phenomenon, extremely famous, and still is. He has starred in many great movies in fact, there are too many to count, so here’s a list of his most popular movies from the late 1980s to the early 2000s with the year that they came out in case you want to learn more or watch them!

1. 1988 - Coming to America       2. 1989 - Harlem Nights        3. 1996 - The Nutty Professor               4. 1998 - Dr. Dolittle     5. 2001 - SHREK         6. 2003 - Daddy Daycare           7. 2007 - NORBIT

Now, you might be wondering, why is Murphy’s career relevant? “All of these movies came out before we were even born!” you might say, or “Sure, maybe he was important in the late 90’s, but why should I read about him now?” Well, these are all wonderful and important questions to ask yourself, or even me, but what’s even more important is to understand the pathways Eddie Murphy paved for the actors and comedians you see on your screen every. Single. Day. Whether you know him or not, don’t worry—you’re all set to dive into this article. In celebration of the documentary that premiered on Netflix on November 12th that was all about him, “Being Eddie”, I decided to not only craft a biography on him but also provide summaries on his most famous movies with super fun facts to go along with them. As Murphy said, “Don’t hesitate, go for it,” and read this article!

Eddie Murphy was born on April 3rd, 1961, and was raised in Brooklyn, New York with his mom, step-father, older brother Charlie, and half brother Vernon. Murphy started gaining attention when he started on Saturday Night Live in 1980 at the age of 19 as a regular cast member and a favorite character for many watchers. He stayed at SNL for 4 years and left in 1984 to keep pursuing his career in acting and comedy. He came back for the finale episode of Season 45 in 2019 as a guest star and performed a few comedy skits.

Though Eddie’s big break was at SNL, he also performed his first stand up comedy film, Delirious, in 1983 during his SNL career. Delirious was also released as a comedy song album the same year and won a Grammy at the 1984 Grammy Awards (FUN FACT: In Delirious, Eddie Murphy wore a bright red leather suit that was talked about all over the media for being iconic and extremely characteristic!) This stand up was pure and unfiltered comedy. It wasn’t only a hit, but a classic. Eddie Murphy was one of many African American comedians and actors who set a path for numerous entertainers today.

A year before, in 1982, Murphy made his first appearance as an actor on the big screen in the hit movie, 48 Hrs. 48 Hrs follows an unorthodox cop Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) who pulls an unknown and quite cocky bank robber, Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy), from jail on a temporary leave for two days. The two go on an action packed adventure to capture Reggie’s old partner who has recently been committing various crimes all over San Francisco. This movie was a box-office success and made around 278.9 million dollars as of late 2025. It also got Murphy nominated for his first Golden Globe! 48 Hrs was an opportunity for Eddie to make it as not just a comedian, and not just an actor, but an entertainer.

Murphy’s second debut movie was Beverly Hills Cop. Beverly Hills Cop came out in theaters in 1984 and was a hugely successful production, making over 15.2 million dollars in its first weekend. Beverly Hills Cop has a fairly similar story line to 48 Hrs due to its cat-and-mouse cop chase plot (FUN FACT: The original movie idea came from a speeding ticket). According to a review of this influential but aged movie by The Times UK, “much of the film’s appeal stems from the sizzling energy and sharp dialogue, a lot of which was improvised on the spot by Eddie Murphy.” Eddie won a Golden Globe Award for his outstanding performance in this motion picture and proved, once again, that he was the embodiment of pure talent in his field of work.

After seeing how people all over the world thought that his first stand up comedy was absolutely hilarious, Eddie decided to release another titled RAW. RAW is the highest grossing stand up comedy film as of late 2025 and was a second film feature to Delirious. RAW had many different elements and responded to a lot of backlash from Delirious in a comedic and entertaining way. RAW came out in 1987 and made 50.5 million dollars in the box office. Being Edddie has so many other influential entertainers, producers, directors, writers, comedians, musicians, and actors all saying the same thing. Eddie was meant to do what he does. He was meant to make people laugh and laugh and laugh. Celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jamie Fox, and Adam Sandler have explained what an impact Eddie Murphy had on the film industry that can’t be changed, and I hope that after reading, and hopefully learning from, this article, you can, too.