Eddie Murphy has never struggled to find work.
The “Coming to America” star, 63, recently revealed that he’s only had to audition for one role in his almost 50-year career.
Murphy opened up about his early career and first few gigs in the new Apple TV+ documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet.” He suggested his fame and success as an actor were inevitable – especially after he landed a role on “Saturday Night Live” in 1980.
“Early on, I just knew I was going to be fa — I started when I’m around 16, I’m going, ‘I’m gonna be famous,’” the “Beverly Hills Cop” actor said in the new two-part documentary.
“When I was 19, I got ‘Saturday Night Live,’ and things just started happening,” Murphy continued. “I didn’t go through all of the stuff that a lot of actors, I didn’t go through auditions.”
He then revealed the one – and apparently only – acting job he has ever had to audition for.
“I had one audition in my whole life,” the “Boomerang” star said. “I think I’m the only actor that could say that. I had one audition. It was for ‘Saturday Night Live.’”
After Murphy landed a spot on “SNL” in 1980, subsequent acting roles started pouring in.
He starred in the buddy cop action comedy flick “48 Hrs.” with Nick Nolte in 1982, followed by “Trading Places” in 1983 and then “Beverly Hills Cop” in 1984. Murphy’s latest movie, as the voice of Donkey in “Shrek 5,” is scheduled to release next year.
Murphy also discussed the advice he received from Hollywood stalwart Sidney Poitier, heavyweight boxing champ Larry Holmes, and singer James Brown.
Poitier, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 94, reportedly convinced Murphy not to play “Roots” author Alex Haley in a planned adaptation of the writer’s “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”
“Around that same time, I bumped into Sidney Poitier at something, and I asked him, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking about playing Alex Haley!’” he recalled. “And Sidney Poitier said, ‘You are not Denzel [Washington], and you are not Morgan [Freeman]. You are a breath of fresh air, and don’t f–k with that!’”
“I didn’t know if it was an insult or a compliment,” Murphy added. “I was like, ‘What?’”
As for Holmes, he reportedly told Murphy, “Don’t forget where you came from,” while Brown advised him to “stop cursing and to bury his millions in the woods.”
“And I said, ‘Why bury my money in the woods?’ ” Murphy continued in the new Apple TV+ documentary. “He said, ‘The government will take it from you. So bury it.’ And I said, ‘But can’t the government take your land?’ And he said, ‘But they won’t know where the money is.’ That’s a true story. That’s the kind of advice I used to get.”
“I was in uncharted waters,” Murphy added. “For Sidney and all those guys, when I showed up, it was something kind of new. They didn’t have a reference for me.”
“Number One on the Call Sheet” was released on March 28. It explores the experiences of Black actors in Hollywood. Part one focuses on Black men in the industry and features interviews with not just Murphy but also actors like Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Jamie Foxx and Will Smith.
Murphy’s claim that he only ever had to audition for “SNL” also comes after the comedian returned to the show for its 50th anniversary special in February. He played Tracy Morgan in the return of the popular sketch “Black Jeopardy.”
