Eddie Murphy joined Saturday Night Live at nineteen and is generally credited with saving the show, then became the most commercially successful comic actor of the 1980s with 48 Hrs, Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America.
The 1990s and 2000s brought a run of family films and multiple-role performances under prosthetics, in The Nutty Professor and Norbit.
Dreamgirls brought a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and Dolemite Is My Name is the late achievement, playing Rudy Ray Moore with genuine affection.