Eddie Murphy Net Worth Estimate:
Eddie Murphy net worth is currently estimated as being at approximately $200 million. The majority of Eddie Murphy net worth has come from his longstanding illustrious career in the Hollywood film and entertainment industry.
Who is Eddie Murphy?
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Eddie Murphy (middle name: Regan) is a comedian, actor, writer, singer, and producer. Eddie Murphy started out as a stand up who was once ranked as one of the hundred greatest of all time by Comedy Central. He first gained prominence thanks to being a Saturday Night Live cast member between the years 1980 and 1984.
Eddie Murphy has also had an illustrious career as a Hollywood actor, appearing in numerous films, including 48 Hrs, Trading Places, the Beverly Hills Cop films, Dolemite Is My Name, and The Nutty Professor, all of which garnered him Golden Globe noms.
Eddie Murphy was critically acclaimed and also got an Oscar nom and won the Golden Globe for playing James Thunder Early in the film version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls.
Eddie Murphy is also famous for his vocal acting in roles such as Donkey in the Shrek films and Mushu in the Disney animated classic Mulan. Overall, his films have grossed nearly 7 billion globally.
The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honored him in 2015 with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and in 2020, the Emmys granted him an award for Best Guest Actor, for hosting SNL.
Eddie Murphy’s Career
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Eddie Murphy was inspired to become a comedian when, at the age of fifteen, he first heard the iconic Black comedian Richard Pryor’s album That N*****’s Crazy. He was also hugely inspired by the British comedian Peter Sellers, who would regularly play multiple distinct characters in each of his films, which Eddie would go on to do as well.
Eddie Murphy was also inspired as a teen by comedians, actors, and icons such as Robin Williams, Charlie Chaplin, Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali, Redd Foxx, and Bill Cosby.
In July 1976, Eddie Murphy did an impression of Al Green at a Roosevelt Youth Center talent show, which went so well he started performing at other nearby clubs as well. Soon he was traveling even further out by train to perform, skipping school to do so without telling his mom. Eventually, he had to take summer school due to bad grades.
Eddie Murphy’s first huge break was being cast on NBC’s legendary sketch comedy late night show Saturday Night Live as a regular cast member. Some of his most famous characters were a depressed Gumby, a parody of Mr Rogers called Mr Robinson, and an adult version of Buckwheat, the classic Black character from The Little Rascals.
When Rolling Stone did an all-time ranking of every single of the one hundred and forty one SNL regular cast members up to that point in February 2015, they placed Eddie Murphy in second place, only behind John Belushi, crediting him for almost singlehandedly saving the show after the original cast left.
Afterwards, Eddie Murphy was primarily known as a stand up comedian, releasing two major stand up specials as films: Delirious in 1983, and Raw in 1987. Both were massively successful and influential. Comedians such as Chris Rock and Russell Brand have called them hugely impactful to their comedy.
Not everyone was happy with the material, however. Even at the time, gay rights groups protested the shows for his anti-gay stereotype humor. In recent years, he has apologized for what he now calls ignorant humor.
Eddie Murphy had his first big screen acting role in 1982 in the now classic action film 48 Hrs, costarring with Nick Nolte. Nick Nolte was meant to host the Christmas ep of SNL that year but he fell ill, so Eddie Murphy took over, becoming the only SNL cast member to ever host while he was still a cast member.
In 1983, Eddie Murphy costarred with SNL alum Dan Aykroyd in Trading Places. The film was directed by John Landis, who would go on to also direct Eddie Murphy twice more, in Coming to America and Beverly Hills Cop III.
In 1984, Eddie Murphy starred in the smash hit Beverly Hills Cop, his first lead role without a costar. It was the top grossing film of 1984, and the top grossing comedy as well as R rated film ever. In 1986, he launched a production company called Eddie Murphy Television Enterprises in conjunction with Paramount TV.
In 1986, Eddie Murphy starred in The Golden Child, a supernatural comedy. In 1987, he returned to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise with Beverly Hills Cop II, which was another huge hit, making $300 million globally. By the close of the 80s, Eddie Murphy was the biggest star in Hollywood. In 1988, his production company joined with CBS.
1989 and beyond started to see a decline for Eddie Murphy overall. Beverly Hills Cop III got terrible reviews, and he himself later practically disowned it. And a lot of his other films from the time also saw diminishing box office returns, although Another 48 Hrs and Boomerang did do well overall.
In 1989, Eddie Murphy directed, produced, co-wrote, and starred in On Harlem Nights with his brother Charlie, featuring Red Foxx and Richard Pryor in roles as well.
Eddie Murphy’s films stand out for having largely Black casts. Examples include Boomerang, Harlem Nights, Coming to America, Life, and Vampire in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, many famous Black actors got their early starts in Eddie Murphy films. Examples include Damon Waynes (Beverly Hills Cop), Cuba Gooding Jr and Samuel L Jackson (Coming to America), Chris Rock (Beverly Hills Cop II), Dave Chapelle (The Nutty Professor), and Martin Lawrence and Halle Berry (Boomerang).
Beginning with The Nutty Professor in 1996, in which Eddie Murphy played numerous roles, his box office started to pick up again. In the period of 1998 through 2011, he became known for making appearances in a lot of family films.
These include Mulan, Dr Dolittle and Dr Dolittle 2, the Shrek films, The Haunted Mansion, Daddy Day Care, and The Klumps. In Shrek, Eddie Murphy played the much beloved role of Donkey, the ogre Shrek’s fun loving sidekick who ultimately falls in love with a lady dragon and has half-donkey half-dragon offspring.
Eddie Murphy continued to do a number of adult films, such as Metro, Showtime, and I Spy, but none of them did nearly as well. Meanwhile, The Adventures of Pluto Nash was one of the biggest film flops in history, grossing a mere $7 million globally. The budget had been over one hundred million.
He did have one big adult hit, however, in the form of Bowfinger, costarring Steve Martin and directed by Frank Oz. In this meta comedy, he played both an exaggerated version of himself as well as a nerdy man who happened to look like Eddie Murphy.
In 2006, Eddie Murphy got one of the best and most lauded roles of his career, playing a soul singer called James Thunder Early. He received an Oscar nomination in addition to winning the Golden Globe, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, and the Screen Actors Guild award for the performance.
In 2011, Eddie Murphy appeared in the Brett Ratner directed film Tower Heist with Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, and Ben Stiller.
In 2015, Eddie Murphy appeared on the SNL 40th Anniversary Special. In it, Chris Rock made a special tribute to him as an introduction. He got a standing ovation but people criticized him later for how hands off he was on the special, only appearing briefly, and not telling any jokes or playing any of his beloved characters.
Later that year, The Kennedy Center honored Eddied Murphy by awarding him the coveted Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
In 2019, Eddie Murphy starred in a film called Dolemite Is My Name, which was released on Netflix. It was a critical smash, with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating. The Golden Globes nominated him for his role as Rudy Ray Moore.
At the end of the year, Eddie Murphy hosted SNL, and he made amends for his seeming snub at the 40th special by reviving all of his iconic characters. He ultimately won an Emmy for his appearance.
In March 2021, Coming 2 America, the sequel to Coming to America was released to great excitement.
Eddie Murphy has a singing career, as well. In the 80s, he released two hit songs: “Party All the Time” and “Put Your Mouth on Me”. The former appeared on his album How Could It Be, in 1985. In 2004, VH-1 called it the seventh worst song of all time.
In the early 90s, Eddie Murphy dropped an album called Love’s Alright. One of the songs featured Michael Jackson and was called “Whatzupwitu”. Another was a duet with the singer Shabba Ranks, “I Was a King”.
In 1992, Eddie Murphy appeared in Michael Jackson’s music video for “Remember the Time”, along with supermodel Iman and basketball player Magic Johnson.
Throughout the Shrek films, Eddie Murphy also sang numerous songs for the soundtrack. He sang a cover of The Monkees’ classic song “I’m A Believer” in the first Shrek film. In Shrek 2, he and Antonio Banderas sang a duet of Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca”.
In Shrek the Third, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas dueted on “Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again)”.
After a break lasting many years, Eddie Murphy once again released a single in 2013. It was called “Red Light” and was in the reggae genre. It featured an appearance by the legendary rapper Snoop Dogg.
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Eddie Murphy Early Life
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Eddie Murphy was born on the third of April in the year 1961 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States of America and grew up in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn with his parents and older brother, Charlie.
His dad, Charles Edward Murphy, was an amateur comedian and actor, as well as a cop, and his mom, Lillian, worked as a telephone operator.
Eddie Murphy’s parents split up when he was only three years old, and in 1969, when Eddie was eight years old, his dad was stabbed to death by a spurned lover. Not long afterwards, his mom fell ill, and Eddie and Charlie had to spend a year in foster care, which he claims hugely helped him develop his brand of humor.
After that year, Eddie and Charlie’s mom and stepdad Vernon Lynch moved them all to Roosevelt, New York, where Vernon worked in an ice cream factory as a foreman.
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Eddie Murphy’s Personal Life and Family
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In 1989, Eddie Murphy had his first son, Eric, with his girlfriend Paulette McNeely. By the next year, Eddie Murphy had a new girlfriend, Tamara Hood, with whom he had his second son, Christian, almost immediately after.
In 1988, Eddie Murphy also met a woman called Nicole Michelle at the NAACP Image Awards, and they became an official couple in 1991, marrying in 1993 and eventually having 5 kids: Bella, Zola, Shayne, Myles, and Bria. They divorced in 2006.
Shortly afterwards, Eddie Murphy began a relationship with Melanie Brown, of Spice Girls fame, and she gave birth to a baby girl called Angel Iris Murphy Brown on the 3rd of April, 2007, which happened to be Eddie Murphy’s 46th birthday.
In 2008, Eddie Murphy exchanged vows with but did not legally marry Tracey Edmonds, a film producer who used to be married to Kenneth Babyface Edmonds.
In 2012, Eddie Murphy began dating Paige Butcher, a model from Australia, and they had a daughter together in 2016 and then a son in 2018.
Eddie Murphy has donated a great deal of money over the years to various AIDS, cancer, creative arts, homelessness, family support, health, and education charities, as well as the Martin Luther King Jr Center.
Despite being raised Catholic, Eddie Murphy does not consider himself to be a religious person today.
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Eddie Murphy’s Social Media Influence
Eddie Murphy does not have a huge social media presence other than on Facebook, where his account is run by a team. Therefore, other than that one place, social media likely doesn’t have as significant an impact on Eddie Murphy net worth as it does for many other celebrities.
Eddie Murphy has an official public verified Facebook account. Eddie Murphy has over twelve and a half million followers on this popular social media platform.
Eddie Murphy’s team uses his Facebook account to post plugs for his latest films and projects, as well as to post video messages from Eddie to his fans. This, naturally, helps connect Eddie with his fanbase and keep them up to date with his career, which in turn helps Eddie Murphy net worth.
Eddie Murphy does not have an official public verified Twitter account. This may not be surprising as sometimes older celebrities, particularly ones at the level of Eddie Murphy, don’t necessarily feel the need to share their thoughts and observations with their fans in as direct a manner as Twitter provides.
With that said, should the situation change and Eddie Murphy ever choose to sign up for one, we will be sure to update this page with that information. After all, our goal is to keep our readers informed of all of the latest news about Eddie Murphy net worth, life, and career.
Eddie Murphy does not have an official public verified Instagram account. This may not be surprising as sometimes older celebrities, particularly ones at the level of Eddie Murphy, don’t necessarily feel the need to connect with their fans in as direct a manner as Instagram provides.
With that said, should the situation change and Eddie Murphy ever choose to sign up for one, we will be sure to update this page with that information. After all, our goal is to keep our readers informed of all of the latest news about Eddie Murphy net worth, life, and career.
Eddie Murphy does not have an official public verified LinkedIn account. This may not be surprising as many celebrities, particularly ones at the level of Eddie Murphy, don’t necessarily require the sort of business networking that LinkedIn provides
With that said, should the situation change and Eddie Murphy ever choose to sign up for one, we will be sure to update this page with that information. After all, our goal is to keep our readers informed of all of the latest news about Eddie Murphy net worth, life, and career.
TikTok
Eddie Murphy does not have an official public verified TikTok account. This may not be surprising as sometimes older celebrities, particularly ones at the level of Eddie Murphy, don’t necessarily feel the need to connect with their fans in as direct a manner as TikTok provides.
With that said, should the situation change and Eddie Murphy ever choose to sign up for one, we will be sure to update this page with that information. After all, our goal is to keep our readers informed of all of the latest news about Eddie Murphy net worth, life, and career.
Eddie Murphy Net Worth & Bio Summary
| Name | Eddie Murphy |
| Real Name | Eddie Reagan Murphy |
| Age | 61 |
| Place of Birth | Brooklyn, New York, USA |
| Occupation | Comedian, Actor |
| Net Worth Estimate | $200 Million |