We’ve seen Eddie Murphy tackle multiple roles in a single film, but one of his earliest portrayals of various characters in a movie came courtesy of Coming to America. Long before The Nutty Professor, Murphy played the role of Prince Hakeem and the ornery old men in the barbershop in the 1988 classic, and the actor revisited his roles while speaking with Jimmy Kimmel recently about the sequel, Coming 2 America. It was common knowledge that Murphy wore a bit of makeup to create the illusion that he was, indeed, someone else, but that fact seemed to fly right over Oprah Winfrey’s head as she reportedly didn’t know those characters were the comedian, as well.
“A lot of people don’t know that’s us in those makeups,” said Murphy. “Last week, I was doing the other interview with Oprah and… I said something about the barbershop, and ‘I’m that Jewish man,’ and she was like, ‘What do you mean, you’re the Jewish man?'”
“I said, ‘Oh yeah, I’m the old Jewish guy in the barbershop.’ She was like, ‘What?'” Murphy shared. “She couldn’t believe it. And she’s seen the original Coming to America and [this sequel] and all this time didn’t know.” Check out Murphy’s interview and a behind-the-scenes clip of Murphy making fun of himself as he gets his makeup done to portray the Jewish character, Saul. When you first watched the film, did you know Murphy played multiple roles? Have you checked out the sequel?