Edward Regan “Eddie” Murphy was born on 3 April 1961, in Brooklyn, New York USA. Eddie Murphy is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director and musician, but is best known as a comic actor, to the extent where as of 2014, films featuring Murphy have grossed over $3.8 billion at the United States and Canada box office, and $6.6 billion worldwide, making him the fourth highest-grossing US actor of all time.
So just how rich is Eddie Murphy? Sources have estimated that the total size of Eddie Murphy’s net worth today reaches $85 million, a good deal of his wealth having been accumulated from film appearances, but all his talents have contributed.
Eddie Murphy Net Worth $85 Million
Although Eddie Murphy’s mother, Lillian, worked as a telephone operator, his father Charles worked as a transit police officer and was an amateur actor and comedian. Being 15, Murphy was already writing and performing his own programs, which were influenced by Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. Still, Eddie Attended Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York, before beginning his acting career. Murphy began his career as well as the net worth accumulation as a stand-up comedian and released two albums ‘Delirious’ and ‘Raw’. From 1980 he started working as a regular actor on the ‘Saturday Night Live’ TV show. In 1982, Eddie debuted on the big screen, co-starring with Nick Nolte in the action comedy film directed by Walter Hill ’48 Hrs’. for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the Best Acting Male Debut. Of course this also added to Eddie’s net worth as well as fame.
In 1983, ‘Trading Places’, a comedy film directed by John Landis was released in which Eddie Murphy co-starred alongside Dan Aykroyd. The film received generally favorable reviews by critics and brought a ‘Best Actor’s’ nomination for Murphy at the 41st Golden Globe Awards. After such a successful start, Eddie Murphy continued his starring career and accumulation of net worth in films including ‘Beverly Hills Cop’, a 1984 action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, ‘The Golden Child’ a 1986 fantasy comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie, and ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’, a 1987 action-comedy film directed by Tony Scott.
Up until 1990, critics and audience loved Murphy but by 1992 results dropped and his appearances on ‘Beverly Hills Cop III’ directed by John Landis, ‘Boomerang’ directed by Reginald Hudlin, ‘Harlem Nights’ directed by Eddie Murphy himself, and ‘Another 48 Hrs.’ directed by Walter Hill were not very successful. However, since 1998 Eddie has managed to increase his net worth and popularity as he followed with a series of very profitable family-friendly films like ‘Mulan’, ‘Dr. Dolittle’ and its sequel, the ‘Shrek’ series, ‘Daddy Day Care’, ’ The Haunted Mansion’, and ’The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps’.
Murphy is the winner of an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production for his voice acting in ‘Shrek’ and a National Society of Film Critics Award for the Best Actor in ‘The Nutty Professor’ which also helped add to Murphy’s net worth. In addition to this Eddie Murphy’s net worth increased after he starred in the motion picture version of the Broadway musical ‘Dreamgirls’ as soul singer James ‘Thunder’ Early. Eddie Murphy was the winner of a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award in that category.
Overall, Eddie Murphy has starred in over 40 films and 20 TV productions, which have brought him 50 award nominations in various categories (including ‘Worst….’) of which he has won 15. Together with box office receipts mentioned above, these are indeed impressive statistics.
In his personal life, Eddie Murphy married Nicole Mitchell in 1993. They had five children together but divorced in 2005. In 2008 he married Tracey Edmonds. In addition to his marriages, he has three children out of wedlock, including a son with Tamara Hood, and a daughter, with his ex-girlfriend, Melanie Brown.
Eddie is also a noted philanthropist, donating money to the AIDS Foundation, and cancer, education, creative arts, family/parent support, health and homeless charities. He has also donated to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, and $100,000 to the Screen Actors’ Guild‘s strike relief fund.
