The Eddie Murphy reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
(provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Eddie Murphy

Why not sponsor a child for Christmas in 2008?
Eddie Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American comedian and actor.

Murphy began his comedy career as a performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live television show. His characters include a parody of Buckwheat from the Little Rascals and of Fred Rogers. Murphy later starred in many comedies including the Beverly Hills Cop series and Coming to America. He is a versatile voice actor and voiced the donkey in Shrek and the dragon in Mulan. In many of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character.

His early comedy was racy, akin to Richard Pryor, whom Eddie says was the one "that wanted [him] to get into comedy." Characterized by excessive swearing and making fun of gays, singers, and others, Eddie became, in a sense, the Pryor of the 80's. However, in the late 80's and early 90's, Eddie's fame was fading until 1996, when Eddie would make his comeback in family-friendly comedies, starting with "The Nutty Professor".

Murphy had a one-hit wonder in the 1980s with the single "Party All the Time".

Filmography