Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy Biography
 
Murphy began his comedy career at the age of 16, as part of a comedy duo with fellow comedian Mitchell Kyser at the Roosevelt Youth Center in Roosevelt, Long Island, where he grew up. At 19 he became a performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live television show, not long after graduating from Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School. His characters include a parody of Buckwheat from the Little Rascals and an inner-city black version of Fred Rogers known as "Mr. Robinson". Former SNL writer Margaret Humphert has said Murphy and Bill Murray are the two most talented people in the history of the show. Murphy left the show midway through the 1983-1984 season, appearing in filmed sketches for the remainder of that season.
 
Murphy later starred in many comedies including the Beverly Hills Cop series. He was recognized by receiving a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a comedy or musical for his performances in Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places, The Nutty Professor, and most recently Dreamgirls.
 
He is a well-known voice actor and voiced Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu, in Disney's Mulan. Murphy also has the distinction of having starred in more sequels than any other actor in Hollywood. Those films include:Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Another 48 Hrs. (1990), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), Shrek 2 (2004), and the upcoming Shrek the Third (2007).
 
In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, including Coming to America, where he played four radically different characters, the Nutty Professor films, where he played much of the Klumps clan, and 2007's Norbit. Another trademark of Eddie Murphy's is his deep, infectious, and considerably goofy laugh.
 
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Eddie Murphy's older brother, Charlie Murphy, is also an actor, best known recently for his appearances on Chappelle's Show.
 
Source: Wikipedia

Personal life and woes
 
In 1985, King Broder, who actually did nothing to further Murphy's career, 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 $50 million dollars. Broder even claimed Murphy got his 'Buckwheat' character from an idea he had for 'The Identical Triplets.' In court papers filed in State Supreme Court in Mineola, New York, Murphy said he and Broder had verbally agreed to dissolve the relationship before the end of 1980. Murphy stated, at the time, "He was working as a shoe salesman and had very limited professional experience when he signed the agreement." He also charged that Broder misrepresented himself as the agent for singers Tina Turner, Neil Sedaka and comedian Andy Kaufman. As Murphy was in the process of filming Beverly Hills Cop II at the time of the suit, Paramount Pictures ended up settling the case out of court and paying Broder an undisclosed amount so that they would not lose any more money in production costs.
 
In addition, according to Eddie's childhood friend Harris Haith in his book, Growing Up Laughing With Eddie, "long before Murphy did any writing for Coming To America, Art Buchwald had approached Paramount Pictures with the idea for a similar film. His material was rejected, but the information was retained by Paramount. They liked Buchwald's idea but did not see fit to pay him and saved it for use later down the road. Some years later, Paramount presented the idea of Coming to America to Eddie and gave him the contract. Murphy wrote a screenplay that came to light exactly as it aired on the silver screen. In 1988, Buchwald sued Murphy and Paramount Pictures, but Murphy was not found liable because Paramount had received the material and plagiarized it before giving it to Eddie. He did not know the origins of the piece, he just took the idea and expounded on it to bring about the final version of the movie." However, Buchwald and his partner Alain Bernheim did win the suit against Paramount Pictures, was awarded damages, and then accepted a settlement from Paramount. The case was the subject of a 1992 book, Fatal Subtraction: The Inside Story of Buchwald V. Paramount by Pierce O'Donnell and Dennis McDougal.
 
In May, 1997, Murphy was stopped by policemen for picking up a transvestite prostitute. Murphy was never charged in the incident, but the transvestite, 20-year-old Atisone Seiuli (known as Shalomar) told a reporter that Murphy had placed $200 on her leg and asked her what kind of sex she liked. Murphy, on the other hand, claimed he was simply being a "Good Samaritan" and giving a person in need a lift. This incident was later lampooned by Tim Meadows on Saturday Night Live. This particular sketch, along with comments from David Spade, reportedly created an even greater rift between Murphy and SNL. Even worse, other transvestites came out of the woodwork, claiming they'd had sex with Murphy. Murphy sued both the Globe and the National Enquirer for $5 million, for slander, libel and invasion of privacy, then pulled out. Seiuli eventually recanted her claims. The story ended one year later when Seiuli was found dead on the street, dressed only in bra, panties and towel. Apparently, Seiuli was locked out of her apartment, attempted to use the towel to swing from the roof into an open window, and fell. Murphy began a longtime romantic relationship with Nicole Mitchell after meeting her in 1988 at an NAACP Image Awards show. They lived together for a year and a half before getting married at the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City on March 18, 1993. They had five children together, but in August 2005, Mitchell filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." The divorce was finalized on April 17, 2006.
 
Following his divorce from Nichole, he dated Melanie Brown ("Scary Spice" of the 90's English pop group Spice Girls) who stated that her unborn child is Murphy's. When questioned about the pregnancy at a movie premiere in December 2006, Murphy told a reporter, "I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir." Murphy is presently dating Tracey Edmonds, a film producer, who is the former wife of singer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.
 
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Linked from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Murphy
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