Eddie Murphy — The comedian was the highest grossing actor of all time at one point. His box office receipts now place him in the top five in Hollywood history. His meteoric rise to fame is well chronicled. He was born and raised in New York and tried out six times to be a part of “Saturday Night Live” before he got in the door during SNL’s decline. You know what happened from there. He ruled the show, revitalized it temporarily, then exited quickly to star in 48 HRS, Delirious, Trading Places and then entered the upper Hollywood stratosphere with Beverly Hills Cop and the comedic classic RAW. The Golden Child and Beverly Hills Cop II passed the $100 million mark even if they didn’t pass the critics’ smell test before he happened upon Coming to America at his artistic and influential peak.
