Eddie Murphy Returns To NBC's 'Saturday Night Live' 40th Anniversary For First Time In 30 Years Since Leaving Cast

Iconic comedian, Eddie Murphy, will be making his long-awaited return to the Saturday Night Live stage for the first time since he left the show over 30 years ago as a regular SNL castmember. The NBC live comedy is celebrating their 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live on February 15th, which Murphy will be a part of. 

Murphy explained to News One about why he's never returned to the show since leaving in 1984: "It's just timing. It just never worked out where the timing was right for me to do it ... They're actually having a 40th anniversary I think in two weeks. I'm going to that, and that'll be the first time I've been back since I left."

Eddie Murphy cast a cast member on Saturday Night Live from the 1980-84 and became one of the most popular cast of all time. 

Murphy's films make him the 4th-highest grossing actor in the United States and he was ranked no. 10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs., Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls.

Eddie Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the Chinese dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire in Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, Norbit, and Meet Dave.

As of 2014, films featuring Murphy have grossed over 3.8 billion in the United States and Canada box office, and 6.6 billion worldwide.