Edward Regan Murphy was born on April 3, 1961 in Brooklyn, New York City, and grew up in the Bushwick section of the borough.1)
His mother, Lillian, worked as a telephone operator, while his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer who also dabbled in acting and comedy.2)
When Murphy's single mother fell ill, he and his elder brother were placed in foster care for a year.3)
Murphy has stated in interviews that his stint in foster care influenced the development of his sense of humor. His mother and stepfather Vernon Lynch, an ice cream plant foreman, reared him and his older brother Charlie in Roosevelt, New York.4)
Murphy began composing and performing his own routines at the age of 15, largely influenced by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.5)
His early humor was distinguished by frequent cursing and skits that satirized a wide range of characters (including White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs), African Americans, Italian Americans, overweight people, and LGBT people).6)
Murphy put out two stand-up specials.7)
Eddie Murphy, his debut album, was published in 1982. Delirious was shot in Washington, D.C. in 1983. Due to Delirious' fame, his concert video Eddie Murphy Raw (1987) gained a wide cinematic distribution, generating $50 million; the film was shot in New York's Felt Forum part of Madison Square Garden.8)
From 1980 until 1984, Murphy was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live. He has performed stand-up comedy and was voted #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-up Comedians of All Time.9)
Murphy has been nominated for Golden Globes for his roles in 48 Hrs., the Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor.10)
He won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in 2007 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as soul singer James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls.11)
Murphy's cinematic roles include Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in DreamWorks' Shrek franchise, and the Chinese dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan.12)
He performs many roles in certain films, in addition to his primary character, as a tribute to one of his idols, Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and other films.13)
Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire in Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he portrayed the lead part in two iterations, as well as his character's father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Norbit, and Meet Dave are among his many credits.14)
As of 2014, Murphy's films had made over $3.8 billion at the box office in the United States and Canada, and $6.6 billion globally.15)
His flicks earned him the sixth-highest-grossing actor in the United States in 2015.16)
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presented Murphy with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.17)
Murphy now resides on Long Island, New York.18)
Murphy has a son, Eric, with his former girlfriend Paulette McNeely, and a son, Christian, with his former girlfriend Tamara Hood.19)
Murphy established a long-term love connection with Nicole Mitchell after meeting her at an NAACP Image Awards ceremony in 1988. They were together for over two years before marrying on March 18, 1993, at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City.20)
Murphy and Mitchell were parents to five children: Bria, Myles, Shayne, Zola, and Bella.21)
Mitchell filed for divorce in August 2005, alleging “irreconcilable disagreements”. On April 17, 2006, the divorce was completed.22)
Murphy began seeing former Spice Girl Melanie Brown after his divorce from Mitchell in 2006, and she fell pregnant and claimed the kid was Murphy's. When asked about the pregnancy by RTL Boulevard in December 2006, Murphy informed Dutch reporter Matthijs Kleyn, “I don't know whose child it is until it comes out and undergoes a blood test”. “Don't leap to conclusions, sir”.23)
Brown gave birth to a daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on April 3, 2007, Murphy's 46th birthday.24)
On June 22, 2007, Brown's attorneys claimed in People that a DNA test had proved Murphy's paternity. Brown indicated in an interview that Murphy has not pursued a connection with Angel, despite reports in 2010 that Murphy was getting to know her.25)
Murphy married Tracey Edmonds, the former wife of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, in a secret wedding on an island off the coast of Bora Bora on January 1, 2008.26)
The pair issued a statement on January 16, 2008, saying, “After much study and debate, we have jointly decided that we would forego having a formal ceremony since it is not essential to define our relationship further,” and referred to their Bora Bora wedding as a “symbolic union”. They intended to have a legal ceremony upon their return to the United States, but they did not, and their wedding was never formalized.27)
In 2012, Murphy began dating model Paige Butcher. Izzy, their daughter, was born on May 3, 2016.28)
Art Buchwald sued Murphy and Paramount Pictures in 1988, claiming that they exploited concepts from a screenplay he submitted to Paramount as the foundation for Murphy's film Coming to America.29)
Murphy was detained by police on May 2, 1997, after being seen picking up a transsexual prostitute. Atisone Seiuli, the prostitute, was detained on an outstanding prostitution warrant. Murphy was not arrested or prosecuted and said he was only taking Seiuli for a ride.30)