The incomparable Eddie Murphy has been a staple on both the big and small screen since skyrocketing to superstardom on Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s, with the talented comedian and actor going on to star in a slew of fan-favorite hits like Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, and the beloved Shrek franchise. The recipient of numerous accolades like a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy, Murphy is one of Hollywood’s most respected and illustrious performers, but there is one award he hasn’t nabbed: an Oscar.

Though Murphy was nominated for the award for his impressive work in the musical Dreamgirls, he has yet to take home the prestigious statuette, a fact that Ryan Reynolds believes is downright shameful. In fact, the Deadpool star feels that Murphy’s side-splitting performances in the ’90s sci-fi comedy The Nutty Professor was worthy of winning the coveted Oscar, as he portrayed a whopping seven characters in the delightfully over-the-top flick. Let’s check out what Reynolds had to say.

The Nutty Professor Release Date June 28, 1996 Runtime 95 minutes

Eddie Murphy Dazzles in a Tour De Force Comedic Performance

A remake of the ’60s Jerry Lewis classic, the 1996 sci-fi comedy The Nutty Professor is also a parody of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde and centers on obese and compassionate university professor Sherman Klump as the brilliant research scientist creates an experimental formula for weight-loss. After going on a date with the kind graduate student Carla Purty (Jada Pinkett Smith) and being picked on by a stand-up comic at a show, an embarrassed and upset Klump decides to test the serum out on himself, leading to the creation of his evil alter ego, Buddy Love.

Sherman finds himself in an epic power struggle with the charismatic-yet-obnoxious Buddy, as his confident persona begins to develop another independent personality and changes the professor into an arrogant jerk. Not only does comedy legend Eddie Murphy portray both the lovable Sherman and Buddy in the wildly entertaining remake, he also appears as six other characters in The Nutty Professor including Sherman’s stern father Cletus and his wise-cracking grandma Ida Mae. The flick allowed Murphy to showcase his dazzling range as an actor by taking each over-the-top character and completely making them unique and hilarious.

Related The 11 Most Essential Eddie Murphy Moments In Movies, Ranked Eddie Murphy is a hard-working, and prolific actor. Here are 11 moments from his film career that we consider to be essential.

Reynolds Declares Murphy Deserves His Flowers

Though The Nutty Professor went on to dominate the box office and gross $274 million worldwide, Hollywood staple and Deadpool & Wolverine actor Ryan Reynolds revealed that Eddie Murphy’s exceptional performance in the blockbuster hit was worthy of an Academy Award and should have been a major contender during the 1997 awards season. The fact that Murphy was able to charm and delight moviegoers while wearing heavy prosthetics and create seven sidesplitting personas spoke volumes to Murphy’s acting prowess, with Reynolds commending the SNL alum and Variety Awards Circuit in 2024:

“Just the fact that he could sit at a table and be 10 different characters at one table, that is singular. And that is a kind of talent that, I don’t know that we’ve at this stage in our scientific journey of life could understand fully.”

In the interview, Reynolds further discussed how the comedy genre is not given enough appreciation or the recognition it deserves by the Academy or awards bodies and felt Murphy not receiving a nomination for Best Actor was “one of the greatest injustices”, adding that as comedians “we sort of unnecessarily hurdle ourselves over comedy as a craft” while admiring the fantastic work he did in The Nutty Professor and its 2000 sequel The Klumps. Reynolds called Murphy a major inspiration as a performer, revealing:

“I would watch Eddie Murphy’s stand-up comedy, and I would be doing, like trying on clothes as a personality, I would be doing impressions of all of these people, all of the time, memorizing how they moved, what they did.”

Other Famous Faces Share the Sentiment

Though it may be hard for some to imagine Eddie Murphy walking home with the highly-coveted statuette for his uproarious seven performances in The Nutty Professor, the sentiment that the revered comedian deserved his flowers for the film has been expressed by some of the entertainment industry’s most dazzling stars, who share the sentiment. While Murphy memorably starred in a slew of hits like Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, and Dolemite Is My Name, there’s no denying he acted his proverbial butt off in the ’96 farce.

Related Eddie Murphy’s 10 Best Performances of All Time Eddie Murphy has entertained us for 40 years. From comedy to drama, and an Academy Award nomination, here are the best performances of his career.

Fellow Saturday Night Live icon Chris Rock has also singled out Murphy’s tour de force performance in the flick, favorably highlighting his fearless determination and range to that of English actor and comedian Peter Sellers, who was nominated for three Academy Awards for his satirical work. Rock told The New York Times in 2006 that the Trading Places star deserved far more credit for the comedy gold he put on-screen throughout his enduring career, agreeing with Reynolds’ future observations and declaring of the trailblazing movie star:

“Eddie is all those wacky family characters he portrays in
Coming to America
and
The Nutty Professor
pictures. Eddie should have got multiple Oscars for the multiple characters that he played in those movies alone.”

Anchorman’s David Koechner also voiced his appreciation for Murphy in The Nutty Professor, which he described in a 2015 podcast appearance as “one of the greatest performances of all time” due to his remarkable ability to “create a personality, not a voice, a personality for each one of those characters.” The Hollywood veteran himself has frequently cited his role as Sherman Klump and his colorful family members as one of his favorite performances and projects, reflecting on his illustrious work to The New York Times and saying:

“Those makeups that Rick Baker did, that turn you into another person and there’s no sign of me: I could walk in a room, and a person wouldn’t even know it was me… I can’t think of another person that could do
Nutty Professor
.”

Rent/Buy The Nutty Professor on Apple TV.