Eddie Murphy
He’s managed to go from the King of Raunchy Comedy to Mr. Family Values in a single decade, completing one of the most remarkable and hard-fought transformations in Hollywood history. During his career, Eddie Murphy has seen both great heights and remarkable depths. He is a true Hollywood celebrity in that he offers both great performances and laughably bad ones - with a healthy dose of scandal (cross-dressing prostitutes) thrown into the mix. Eddie was always too smart and too vocal for his own good. Growing up in the Bushwick projects in Brooklyn New York, he used to stage big contests with his friends in which they would try and outdo each other with elaborate insults. He developed a knack for doing different voices from television at an early age and was the family entertainer. As a teenager he began working the bar circuit, performing comedy acts for cheap change and a little bit of fame. Eventually, he got a steady gig at a bar where he was billed as the next Richard Pryor. It was a billing that Eddie would try to live up to. At the time, there were very few black comics performing stand-up in New York, and Pryor offered a good role model to aspire to. Murphy saved enough money doing comedy to attend Nassau College, and juggled an education with a blossoming comedy career for a little while. In 1980, he auditioned for a slot on Lorne Michael’s Saturday Night Live and he was cast as an occasional performer. However, his occasional performances were such hits that he soon became a full member of the “Not Ready for Primetime Players.” His characters, like Buckwheat and Gumby, remain amongst the most legendary in SNL history, and no Best of SNL compilation is complete without them. Murphy made his first movie while still working on SNL. 48 Hrs., co-starring Nick Nolte, was a hit and Eddie soon started thinking that maybe making movies was more worth his while than SNL. He left the show in 1984, after the success of his stand-up video Delirious confirmed that audiences wanted more of Murphy. Despite the fact that he was labeled homophobic and a misogynist, he had a definite core group of supporters.

In 1984, Eddie released Beverly Hills Cop, an action/comedy which helped to define the genre. Two sequels have since followed, and the series is amongst the most successful franchises of all time. With the success of a second stand-up video, Raw in 1987, Eddie seemed to be in the prime of his career. Being such a prominent celebrity can take its toll, not only was his fastlane life scrutinized in the press, but he was also criticized by many prominent black leaders for doing little to help blacks break into Hollywood. He attempted to make up for things with 1991's Harlem Nights, which boasted a large ensemble of black talent, but the film was a dud and audiences stayed away. Another 48 Hrs. attempted to harken back to Eddie’s glory days, but it was seen as a pale comparison to its original. With Vampire in Brooklyn, Eddie hit an all time low. Despite some moderate success along the way, he seemed to be rather tapped out. He had lost his edge and had not replaced it with anything new.

But just when everyone was ready to write Eddie off as a has-been, he came out with The Nutty Professor, a remake of the Jerry Lewis classic. Universal took a risk casting the former bad boy in its family film but the gamble payed off. Eddie starred (under a ton of latex) as an overweight man who invents a way to make himself into a thin, attractive ladies’ man. Murphy played multiple roles in the film, falling back on his impersonations to get him by. Nutty Professor reminded audiences of Eddie’s SNL days. Although he stumbled with the formulaic Metro, Murphy had twin successes with Mulan and Doctor Dolittle in 1998. Eddie seems to be on top of his game, mostly with the 1999 release of the well-received comedy/drama Life, although he is realistic enough to know that may change. He says that if his career were to dry up tomorrow, he would be happy to stay at home with his wife and three children. He has more than lived the celebrity life - now he’s ready for something a little more normal.