Like a good many comedic actors who rose to fame in the 1980s, Eddie Murphy first gained popularity through being a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Successful movie roles followed this, as did some high-profile stand-up specials: Delirious (1983) and Eddie Murphy Raw (1987), neither of which can be considered feature films in the traditional sense, but are still worthy of honorable nominations.

Murphy also found some success as a singer, but it’s his movies that endure the most, and continue getting released to this day, thanks to a resurgence of sorts for Murphy and his career in the last few years. The following films – including both live-action and animated works – are representative of the best Eddie Murphy’s filmography has to offer, and are ranked below from good to great.

10 '48 Hrs.' (1982)

Director: Walter Hill

Most people would point to Lethal Weapon and its sequels as representing the peak of 1980s buddy cop movies, and maybe that’s fair… but 48 Hrs. came first, and scratches a very similar itch. Additionally, it’s extra important to consider and highlight when it comes to Eddie Murphy specifically, as it was the first feature film he ever appeared in, and he has a starring role at that.

He’s paired with Nick Nolte as the other half of the buddy duo, with Murphy being the younger, hipper, and funnier of the pair (and a criminal), and Nolte being comparatively older, grumpier, and more grizzled (as a cop getting the help of Murphy’s criminal character). It hits the beats you’d expect, but this kind of movie populated a formula that’s a winning one for a reason, and so 48 Hrs. is a pretty good time overall.

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9 'Bowfinger' (1999)

Director: Frank Oz

Bowfinger is one of numerous movies about making movies, and a key one in showing why that kind of premise – and the self-referential humor that often comes with it – is so much fun. It’s about a struggling filmmaker who comes up with a wild plan to find success and avoid bankruptcy, with it essentially involving filming a movie undercover and around a well-known actor, never getting his permission necessarily, but still having him be the movie’s “star.”

Steve Martin is fantastically cast as the scheming director, and Eddie Murphy plays both the oblivious actor and that actor’s twin brother, who’s eventually brought in to help make this messy and ambitious film. As a satire about fame and Hollywood, Bowfinger is pretty good, with Martin and Murphy (the latter in two roles) making for a great comedic pairing.

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8 'Coming to America' (1988)

Director: John Landis

For a while, Eddie Murphy was famous for playing several roles in the same movie, but in a post-Norbit world, some might say he was more infamous for doing so. It depends on the movie, though, and what Murphy has to work with. Thankfully, in Coming to America, the material was strong, and so it’s fun to see him play four roles at once within the same movie, disappearing into each pretty effectively.

The main character, though, is Prince Akeem Joffer, from the fictional African nation of Zamunda. He does indeed visit America to try and find a bride, with most of the comedy coming from how he tries to fit in as an ordinary person within a chaotically busy New York City. It’s a fish-out-of-water comedy through and through, but it works, holding up pretty well; not perfectly, but well enough considering its age.

Rent on Amazon

7 'Dreamgirls' (2006)

Director: Bill Condon

As mentioned before, Eddie Murphy’s a singer on top of being an actor and stand-up comedian, with a total of three studio albums released between 1985 and 1993. Look, none of those were necessarily great albums, but they’re one part of Murphy’s vast career in entertainment, and did showcase that he had some singing chops, and could perhaps star in a musical if he wanted to. And he did, in 2006, with Dreamgirls.

He's certainly got some competition in the singing department, considering Dreamgirls also stars the likes of Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson, and Jamie Foxx, but Murphy’s quite good here, all things considered. It’s also notable for being a rare non-comedy that Eddie Murphy has starred in, instead being about three young women trying to make names for themselves as singers, first by providing backing vocals for Murphy’s character, a well-established singer. It’s a solid story elevated by the music and the strength of the various performances, with Dreamgirls being quite good overall.

Rent on Apple TV

6 'Trading Places' (1983)

Director: John Landis

Trading Places came one year on from 48 Hrs., and was another key early role of Eddie Murphy’s that helped his rise to fame as a movie star. His co-star here is Dan Aykroyd, who plays a well-off commodities broker, while Murphy plays a less well-off street hustler. Like the rather literally-titled Coming to America, Trading Places does indeed see these two trading places.

It all comes about because of a bet between considerably wealthy individuals who seem to want to initiate the swap for sheer amusement. There’s something of a message here, too, even though Trading Places is largely focused on comedy and never gets too serious, and it also works surprisingly well as a Christmas movie, for anyone burnt out on watching all the usual suspects during the holiday season.

Rent on Apple TV

5 'Shrek 2' (2004)

Directors: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon

You could make the argument that animated movies shouldn’t be considered alongside an actor’s live-action movies for the purposes of ranking, but few people have been quite as good at voice acting as Eddie Murphy. His voice is naturally expressive, but he seems to push it even further when all he has to work with is that voice, and the charisma/personality found in his live-action roles ultimately shines through in those voice-only roles.

Case in point, Shrek 2, which is also just a great sequel in any event, and exceedingly close to the first in terms of quality. Donkey is just as rambling, lovably annoying, and energetic as he was in the first movie, and making him have to compete, in a sense, for the role of the title character’s sidekick leads to plenty of comedy (fittingly, Antonio Banderas also makes a huge impression voicing that competitor, Puss in Boots).

Watch on Peacock

4 'Beverly Hills Cop' (1984)

Director: Martin Brest

While 48 Hrs. had its fair share of comedy and a little action, Beverly Hills Cop generally offers more, and feels a bit snappier/explosive as a result. As such, it helped establish Eddie Murphy as something of an unconventional action movie star even better than that 1982 film did, not to mention it also allowed him to play a cool and charismatic cop this time around: Axel Foley.

The movie does still allow Murphy chances to be funny, but he does get to do more than just serve as comedic relief. He’s also unequivocally the star here, whereas he shared top billing earlier on in his career with Nolte (48 Hrs.) and Aykroyd (Trading Places). Beverly Hills Cop has also become the more successful and long-running live-action series Murphy’s been associated with, given a fourth film in the series, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, was released 40 years on from the first movie.

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3 'Mulan' (1998)

Directors: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook

Forget about the Mushu-less live-action remake in 2020. For anyone wanting the real Mulan movie, it came out in 1998, and it still holds up amazingly well. The story is simple but powerfully and memorably told, following a young woman who disguises herself as a man to save her aging father from getting conscripted into the army, which is after recruits because of an impending Hun invasion.

Eddie Murphy voices a tiny dragon known as Mushu, who is undoubtedly there for comedic relief, but it’s welcome when the rest of Mulan can get surprisingly heavy, owing to it taking place during wartime. There is a balance between the more dramatic parts and the comedy Murphy offers, and he’s able to steal scenes without overwhelming the movie… though given Robin Williams’s role as the Genie in Aladdin, Mushu will probably never top any list as the absolute best comedic sidekick from an animated Disney movie (the competition’s just too tough there).

Watch on Disney+

2 'Dolemite Is My Name' (2019)

Director: Craig Brewer

Though always known for his straightforward comedies and memorable voice roles, Eddie Murphy had, before 2019, still demonstrated more range than people give him credit for. But then 2019 saw the release of Dolemite Is My Name, which is also technically a comedy, but gives Murphy much more to do than most of his fairly one-note live-action roles of the 2000s and 2010s had offered.

That’s because Dolemite Is My Name succeeds as a biographical film on top of being a comedy, with Murphy portraying the central figure, Rudy Ray Moore, who starred in, wrote, and produced various cult classic blaxploitation movies, particularly during the 1970s. Dolemite Is My Name works as a homage to Moore, a celebration of his wild films, and a well-told biographical story, with Murphy being excellent in the lead role. It likely would’ve been Oscar-nominated, had 2019 not been such a strong year overall (Adam Sandler’s turn in Uncut Gems was even snubbed that year).

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1 'Shrek' (2001)

Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson

One of the most iconic animated movies of all time (arguably), it’s hard to look past Shrek any time there’s a ranking to be done that could feature Shrek as a contender. It was an early computer-animated film, and one that signified Pixar didn’t have a monopoly over the format, by any means. It also was kind of edgy, but never pushing things too far, appealing to young and old alike while being an effective parody of fairytales/old Disney movies, nevertheless remaining a good fantasy film in its own right.

It introduced numerous iconic characters, too, with Eddie Murphy’s Donkey obviously being one of them. He says too many memorable things to count, and Murphy’s line deliveries are just perfect (everyone else is strong too, though, especially Mike Myers). Shrek is a big enough deal that a Shrek 5 has been announced, scheduled to release a full quarter of a century after the original… and people are still – not to mention already – excited about it.

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