Early life and education

Murphy was born on July 12, 1959 in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. His mother, Lillian, was a telephone operator, and his father, Charles Edward Murphy, was a transit police officer and an amateur actor and comedian. As an adolescent, he spent 10 months in jail.

In 1978, on the day Murphy was released from jail, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served for six years as a Boiler Technician. In 1983, shortly before being discharged from the Navy, Murphy witnessed a mushroom cloud over Beirut. He later learned that it was the aftermath of the Beirut barracks bombing in which 307 people were killed.

Career

Although he had minor roles in several films in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Murphy's first major role in a motion picture was in the 1993 film CB4, where he portrayed the antagonist, Gusto. In 2005, he appeared in King's Ransom (alongside Anthony Anderson and Jay Mohr). In the film, Murphy portrayed "Herb", a gay ex-con who is hired by King (Anderson) to kidnap him in a fake kidnapping.

Murphy also worked behind the scenes with the hip hop group K-9 Posse, a hip hop duo composed of his half-brother Vernon Lynch, Jr. and Wardell Mahone. On their 1988 self-titled debut, Murphy was credited as the album's executive producer as well as songwriter on the songs "Somebody's Brother" and "Say Who Say What". He also made an appearance in the video for the duo's first single "This Beat Is Military".

Murphy achieved fame as a recurring performer on Chappelle's Show, particularly in the Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories sketches. In these, Murphy recounts his misadventures as part of his brother Eddie's entourage, including encounters with various celebrities such as Rick James and Prince.

After Chappelle's Show host Dave Chappelle left the show, Murphy and Donnell Rawlings hosted the "lost episodes" compiled from sketches produced before Chappelle's departure. Murphy has done voiceovers for Budweiser radio commercials, provided the voice for Iraq War veteran/criminal Ed Wuncler III on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim series The Boondocks, and the voice for a pimp named Jizzy-B in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game. Recently, Murphy provided the voice for Spock on the G4TV's Star Trek 2.0 shorts, and the dog in his younger brother Eddie's 2007 film, Norbit.

On March 20, 2009, Murphy began starring in his own sketch comedy series Charlie Murphy's Crash Comedy on Crackle. A stand-up special, Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize premiered on Comedy Central in late February 2010. Murphy also makes special appearances in 1000 Ways to Die and the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet? as Frank Kingston.

In 2014-15, Murphy has played Vic on the Adult Swim live action show Black Jesus.

Personal life

Murphy has been a resident of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey. He was married to Tisha Taylor Murphy from 1997 until her death from cancer in 2009. The couple had two children together, and Murphy has another child from a previous relationship. Charlie Murphy is a karate practitioner.

Filmography

Films

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Harlem Nights	The Muffin Man
1990	Mo' Better Blues	Eggy
1991	Jungle Fever	Livin' Large
1993	CB4	Gusto
1996	Pompatus of Love, TheThe Pompatus of Love	Saxophone Man
1998	Players Club, TheThe Players Club	Brooklyn
1999	Unconditional Love	Detective
2002	Paper Soldiers	Detective Johnson
2003	Death of a Dynasty	Dick James/Dukey Man/Sock Head
2005	Lovesick	Damian
2005	King's Ransom	Herb Clarke
2005	Roll Bounce	Victor
2006	Night at the Museum	Taxi Driver
2007	Three Days to Vegas	Andre
2007	Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe	Griss
2007	Norbit	Lloyd	voice / also writer
2007	Unearthed	Hank
2007	Twisted Fortune	Angel Robbins
2007	Universal Remote	Various
2007	Perfect Holiday, TheThe Perfect Holiday	J-Jizzy
2008	Bar Starz	Clay the Doorman/Arnie
2008	The Hustle	Junior Walker
2009	Frankenhood	Franklin
2010	Our Family Wedding	T.J.
2010	Freaknik: The Musical	Al Sharpton
2010	Lottery Ticket	Semaj (James spelled backwards)
2011	The Cookout 2	Coach Ashmokeem	TV movie
2012	Moving Day	Cedric
2016	Meet the Blacks	Key Flo

Television and video

Television and video

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Saturday Night Live
1990	Kid Who Loved Christmas, TheThe Kid Who Loved Christmas		TV movie
1995	Martin	Big Bro	1 episode
1995	Murder was the Case: The Movie	JC	Direct-to-video
2003-2006	Chappelle's Show	Various	8 episodes, also writer
2004	One on One	Senator Larry Eldrige	TV series
2005	Denis Leary's Merry F#%$in' Christmas	Himself
2005-2010	Boondocks, TheThe Boondocks	Ed Wuncler III	voice, 10 episodes
2006	Thugaboo: Sneaker Madness	Big Kid	voice
2006	Thugaboo: A Miracle on D-Roc's Street	Big Kid	voice
2006	Wild 'n Out	Himself
2007	Beef IV	Narrator	voice
2007	We Got to Do Better	Host	TV series
2007	Pauly Shore's Natural Born Komics		Direct-to-video
2009	Nite Tales: The Series		TV series
2010	Charlie Murphy: I Will Not Apologize	Himself
2010	Lopez Tonight	Himself
2010-2011	Are We There Yet?	Frank	TV series, 5 episodes
2010	1000 Ways to Die	Himself	TV series
2013	Hawaii Five-0	Don McKinney	TV series
2014-2015	Black Jesus	Vic	TV series
2016	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Bellybomb	voice

Videogames

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	Jizzy B.
2005	Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure	White Mike

Writing

Writer

Year	Title	Notes
1995	Vampire in Brooklyn	Story and screenplay
2002	Paper Soldiers
2007	Norbit	Story and screenplay

[ Source: Wikipedia ]