Comedy legend Eddie Murphy has revealed that he only auditioned once in his entire career—and it was for Saturday Night Live. The Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America star, now 63, shared this surprising fact in the Apple TV+ documentary Number One on the Call Sheet, offering a rare glimpse into his unconventional rise to fame.
Murphy, who started performing as a teenager, said he always believed success was inevitable. “Early on, I just knew I was going to be f***. I started when I was around 16, and I was going, ‘I’m gonna be famous,’” he recalled. By 19, he had landed a spot on Saturday Night Live, launching a career that bypassed the usual struggles many actors face. “I didn’t go through all of the stuff that a lot of actors do. I didn’t go through auditions,” he admitted.
Murphy also reflected on advice he received from Hollywood greats. The late Sidney Poitier once discouraged him from playing Roots author Alex Haley in a planned adaptation of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Boxer Larry Holmes reminded him to stay grounded, while music icon James Brown had a more unconventional suggestion: stop cursing and bury his money in the woods. “I asked him why, and 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,” Murphy recounted with a laugh.
Despite being surrounded by industry veterans, Murphy acknowledged that he was in “uncharted waters” early in his career, making it difficult for others to give him relevant advice. However, his natural talent and confidence paved the way for an extraordinary journey—one that started with a single audition and led to decades of success in Hollywood.