Eddie Murphy Net Worth: The ‘Coming to America’ Star Built a Comedy Empire Worth Millions

Eddie Murphy net worth is something many fans are curious about. He is one of the most famous comedians and actors of all time. From stand-up comedy to blockbuster movies, he has entertained audiences for decades. His work in films like Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, and Shrek has made him a Hollywood legend. 

So, let’s take a closer look at how he built his wealth and what keeps him successful.

What Eddie Murphy Net Worth?

Eddie Murphy is an American actor, comedian, and singer with an estimated net worth of $200 million. He has made his fortune through stand-up comedy, blockbuster movies, voice acting, and television. At the peak of his career, Murphy was one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, earning $20 million per film. His voice work as Donkey in Shrek also added millions to his bank account, with the franchise earning billions worldwide.

Even though Murphy took a break from acting for a few years, his wealth continued to grow through royalties, investments, and real estate. His return to the big screen with Coming 2 America and other projects has kept him among Hollywood’s wealthiest stars.

Salary 

Eddie Murphy had a steady rise in salary over his career. In 1981, he earned just $4,500 per episode on Saturday Night Live. By 1982, he was making $450,000 for 48 Hours. A year later, his salary jumped to $30,000 per episode on SNL. In 1990, Eddie earned $7 million for the sequel Another 48 Hours.

In 1984, Eddie’s paycheck for Best Defense was $1 million. Throughout the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, Eddie earned over $250 million from films. His total film earnings have likely passed $300 million.

Eddie earned big paychecks for his movies. In 1987, he made $8 million for Beverly Hills Cop II, which is like $18 million today. He got another $8 million in 1988 for Coming to America. In 1994, he earned $15 million for Beverly Hills Cop III. For The Nutty Professor 1996, Eddie got $16 million. He made $17.5 million for Doctor Dolittle in 1998 and $20 million for Nutty Professor II in 2000.

For Nutty Professor II, Eddie also received 20% of the movie’s earnings, which brought his total to more than $60 million. In 2001, Eddie earned $3 million for Shrek, plus $20 million for Doctor Dolittle 2. His salary for The Adventures of Pluto Nash 2002 was also $20 million.

In 2004, Eddie made $10 million for Shrek 2, and $4 million for Shrek Forever, which could have been up to $12 million with backend points. In 2011, he earned $7.5 million for Tower Heist.

In 2019, Eddie was in talks for a $70 million deal to record comedy specials for Netflix. This was $10 million more than Dave Chappelle’s deal for three specials.

Early Life

Eddie Murphy was born on April 3, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Bushwick neighborhood. His mother, Lillian Murphy, worked as a telephone operator. His father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and also enjoyed acting and comedy.

Tragedy struck when Murphy was eight years old. His father was murdered in 1969, which deeply affected him. Murphy later shared that he had faint memories of his father and that his death was due to a crime of passion.

When his mother fell ill, Murphy and his older brother Charlie had to stay in foster care for a year. Murphy often talked about how this experience shaped his humor. Afterward, they were raised by their mother and stepfather, Vernon Lynch, who worked as a foreman at an ice cream plant.

Acting Career

Eddie Murphy’s comedy career began when he was just fifteen. He was inspired by Richard Pryor’s album That Nigger’s Crazy and started doing impressions of people like Al Green. He would skip school to perform at local clubs, and his mother made him attend summer school when she found out.

In the 1980s, Eddie became a star on Saturday Night Live (SNL). He helped save the show with his characters like Mr. Robinson and Gumby. He also starred in hit movies like 48 Hrs. 1982 and Trading Places 1983. His movie Beverly Hills Cop 1984 made over $230 million at the box office and became the highest-grossing comedy of all time at the time.

Eddie Murphy’s fame grew with stand-up specials like Delirious 1983 and Eddie Murphy Raw 1987. He also starred in The Golden Child 1986 and Beverly Hills Cop II 1987, which was a big box-office hit. Eddie’s company, Eddie Murphy Television Enterprises, made deals with CBS and helped launch his career in television.

In the 1990s, Eddie’s films started to get mixed reviews. Movies like Beverly Hills Cop III 1994 didn’t do well, but he found success in Another 48 Hrs. 1990 and Boomerang 1992. He also worked with his brother Charlie Murphy on Harlem Nights 1989, where he also worked as a director and producer.

Throughout his career, Eddie used his status to help many Black actors, like Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Rock, get their starts. He also starred in Coming to America 1988 and Life 1999, which featured a mainly Black cast. Despite some setbacks, Eddie remains one of Hollywood’s biggest stars

Eddie Murphy’s career has seen many highs and lows. He starred in Mulan 1998, Dr. Dolittle 1998, Shrek series, Daddy Day Care 2003, and The Haunted Mansion 2003. These movies were big hits with families. However, some of his adult films didn’t do well. Metro 1997, I Spy 2002, and Showtime 2002 made less than $40 million. The Adventures of Pluto Nash 2002 is one of the biggest box-office flops, earning only $7 million worldwide. But Bowfinger 1999 was a success, making $98 million.

In 2006, Murphy shined in Dreamgirls, playing James’s “Thunder” Early. His performance earned him a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and even an Oscar nomination. He didn’t win the Oscar, which many say was because of bad reviews for his film Norbit 2007. Murphy left the Oscars right after he lost.

Murphy worked in Tower Heist in 2011 with Ben Stiller and others. He was also set to host the Oscars in 2012 but dropped out due to a scandal. He worked on the movie Miles and Me with Halle Berry and Laurence Fishburne, but the project never took off. In 2015, Murphy attended the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special and received a warm welcome, but his appearance was brief.

In 2019, Murphy’s career made a big comeback with Dolemite Is My Name, where he played Rudy Ray Moore. The movie was a hit, and Murphy received a Golden Globe nomination. Later that year, Murphy returned to Saturday Night Live for the first time since 1984. His return was a huge success, and he won his first Emmy for it.

In 2021, Murphy returned to his Coming to America role in Coming 2 America. He also announced that a new Beverly Hills Cop movie was coming. The movie, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, was released on Netflix in July 2024.

Looking ahead, Eddie Murphy is working on new projects. He signed a deal with Amazon Studios in 2021. He will also play George Clinton in a biopic. Fans can look forward to Shrek 5, where Murphy will return as Donkey in 2026.

Singing career

Eddie Murphy is not just a comedian; he is also a singer. He sang background vocals for the Bus Boys on their song “(The Boys Are) Back in Town”, which appeared in the movie 48 Hrs. and in his comedy special Eddie Murphy Delirious. Murphy had two popular songs in the 1980s: “Party All the Time”, produced by Rick James, and “Put Your Mouth on Me”.

He had already started singing before these hits with songs like “Boogie in Your Butt” and “Enough Is Enough”, which was a parody of a song by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer.

Eddie Murphy’s first album How Could It Be 1985 featured “Party All the Time”. He also released a duet with Crystal Blake called How Could It Be. This album had a follow-up song, but it wasn’t as big of a hit. In 2004, “Party All the Time” was voted one of the “50 Worst Songs of All-Time” by VH-1 and Blender. But in 2006, Sharam used a sample of the song for the UK hit “PATT (Party All the Time)”.

In the 1990s, Murphy recorded Love’s Alright and made music videos with big names like Michael Jackson. He starred in “Whatzupwitu” with Jackson and performed “I Was a King” with Shabba Ranks. He also appeared in the “Remember the Time” music video by Michael Jackson. Murphy was part of Joe Piscopo’s comedy single “The Honeymooners Rap” and performed in Coming to America where he sang “To Be Loved” as a character with a funny accent.

Eddie Murphy even sang in Shrek movies. He sang “I’m a Believer” in the first Shrek film and “Livin’ La Vida Loca” in Shrek 2 with Antonio Banderas. In Shrek the Third, he performed “Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again)”. In 2013, Murphy released a reggae song “Red Light” featuring Snoop Dogg and is working on a new album called 9.

Personal life

Eddie Murphy has had a busy family life with several relationships and children. In the late 1980s, he had two sons: Eric, born July 10, 1989, with Paulette McNeely, and Christian, born November 29, 1990, with Tamara Hood.

Murphy then started a long relationship with Nicole Mitchell. They met in 1988 and got married in 1993 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. They have five children together: Bria, Myles, Shayne Audra, Zola Ivy, and Bella Zahra. They divorced in 2006 after Mitchell filed for “irreconcilable differences.”

In 2006, Eddie Murphy began dating Melanie Brown, a former Spice Girl. She got pregnant and later gave birth to a daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on Murphy’s 46th birthday, April 3, 2007. A DNA test confirmed Murphy was the father. However, he did not initially pursue a relationship with her, though reports in 2010 said they started to bond.

Eddie Murphy later married film producer Tracey Edmonds in a private ceremony in Bora Bora on January 1, 2008. However, they soon announced they would not legally marry but would stay friends.

In 2016, Murphy had a daughter named Izzy Oona with Australian model Paige Butcher. They also have a son named Max Charles, born November 30, 2018. They got engaged in September 2018, and Murphy honored his late brother, Charlie, by naming his son’s middle name after him. In July 2024, they married in Anguilla.

Real Estate

Eddie Murphy has owned several amazing homes over the years. In the 1990s, he lived in a big mansion in Granite Bay, California. It was part of a fancy gated community near Sacramento. After selling that home, Eddie bought a huge lot in Beverly Park, Beverly Hills, for $10 million. Beverly Park is an expensive neighborhood where famous people like Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington, Rod Stewart, and Sylvester Stallone live.

In 2001, Eddie built a 40,000 square-foot mansion on the lot. It has 32 rooms, including 9 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. The mansion also has a pool, tennis court, library, and bowling alley. If he sold it, it could be worth $30-40 million. Eddie once owned another house in Beverly Hills in the 1980s. It was later sold in 2016 for $85 million.

In 2007, Eddie Murphy bought a private island in the Bahamas called Rooster Cay for $15 million. He used to own another island called Pearl Island too. In 2012, he sold his New Jersey home for $12 million after trying to sell it for $30 million for seven years.