Eddie Murphy walked into an audition room for Saturday Night Live in 1980 as an unknown 19-year-old comedian from Brooklyn
It was his very first formal tryout for a major television role and it would turn out to be the last audition he would ever do in his entire life.
After blowing producers away and becoming the breakout star who single-handedly saved SNL in the early 1980s, Hollywood took notice. Directors and studio executives didn’t ask Eddie to read scripts or audition alongside other actors; they began writing blockbuster movies specifically for him.
From 48 Hrs. and Trading Places to Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, and Shrek, every iconic character in his legendary 40-plus-year career was handed directly to him without a single audition requirement.
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