Eddie Murphy
- Style
- Chevron
- Peak Era
- 1980s
- Born
- 1961
- Hall of Fame
- Inducted 2025
- Fan Votes
- 1 legendary · 0 meh
About Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1961 and was doing stand-up in local clubs by fifteen. He joined Saturday Night Live in 1980 at age nineteen and is widely credited with saving the show during its roughest era, creating characters like Gumby, Buckwheat, and Mr. Robinson that are still quoted today.
His run of films through the 1980s is one of the great hot streaks in Hollywood history: 48 Hrs. (1982), Trading Places (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Coming to America (1988), and Harlem Nights (1989), which he also wrote and directed. The mustache was there for all of it, a neat, confident chevron that became part of the Murphy brand right alongside the laugh.
Later decades brought The Nutty Professor (1996), the voice of Donkey in Shrek (2001), an Academy Award nomination for Dreamgirls (2006), and a celebrated comeback in Dolemite Is My Name (2019). He received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015 and the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2023.
Why the Stach Became Iconic
Eddie Murphy's mustache was the coolest thing on a movie screen for most of the 1980s. Trim, dark, and perfectly proportioned, it sat above the most famous laugh in comedy and under the most famous leather jacket in Beverly Hills.
In Coming to America it also got to show its range: Prince Akeem's royal version, the barbershop crew's various attempts, and every character in between. Few mustaches have been asked to do so much acting.
Appearances
- Saturday Night Live (1980–1984)
- 48 Hrs. (1982)
- Trading Places (1983)
- Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
- Coming to America (1988)
- Harlem Nights (1989)
- Dreamgirls (2006)
- Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
- He joined Saturday Night Live at 19, one of the youngest cast members in the show's history.
- He received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2015.
- His 1985 single "Party All the Time," produced by Rick James, reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Dreamgirls (2006).
- In Coming to America he played four different characters, several of them under heavy makeup by Rick Baker.
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