Background

Eddie Griffin was born on July 15, 1968 in Kansas City, Missouri, United States to the family of Eddie Griffin, Sr. and Doris Thomas. The boy was raised by his mother who worked as a telephone operator.

Education

Eddie Griffin attended Lincoln High School in Kansas City. At the age of 15 he moved to Compton, California and finished his senior year at Compton High School.

Career

When Eddie was 15, he managed to open a dance studio in Kansas City. He choreographed and performed in halftime shows for Kansas City Chiefs. That was followed by military service in the US Navy which lasted less than a year. Griffin was discharged for using marijuana.

After that, Eddie started his full-time stand-up and acting career. He performed stand-up comedy in twenty-two-city tour with Andrew Dice Clay, at Comedy Store in Los Angeles, worked with the music group Ecclectic Divinity, and toured with the vocal group the Dells.

Since 1991, Eddie has appeared in more than forty five films. Roles in such movies as The Last Boy Scout, Coneheads, and Jason’s Lyric soon led to Eddie's own hit comedy series Malcolm and Eddie where he starred with Malcolm-Jamal Warner. In addition to lending his acting experience to this sitcom, Griffin also wrote and directed four episodes, one of which starred his Godfather and mentor Richard Pryor.

In 2001, Eddie was offered a lead role in Double Take alongside friend Orlando Jones. Griffin then starred beside Denzel Washington in John Q, earning him respect as a dramatic actor. Shortly thereafter, his leading-man status lead to one of his most notable roles, Anton Jackson in Undercover Brother. Eddie’s extensive film resume includes films such as Armageddon, and the worldwide successful comedy franchise Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo as well as Date Movie, Scary Movie 3, My Baby’s Daddy which he starred, wrote and executively produced for Miramax.

Eddie starred alongside Eddie Murphy in the hit feature Norbit released in 2007. Later that year he contributed to and performed on T-Pain’s worldwide successful album Circus and starred in Disney’s Beethoven’s Big Break.

Griffin's Comedy Special You Can Tell ‘Em I Said It premiered on Comedy Central February 2011 and he appeared in the feature film American Hero where he plays a wheelchair bound sidekick to Stephen Dorff‘s heroic character, released December 11, 2015. Eddie’s most recent comedy special Undeniable premiered on Showtime in 2018 to rave reviews.

Griffin has also participated in writing the screenplays for several of his films, including Foolish, DysFunKtional Family, and My Baby’s Momma. Foolish, the story of a young comedian trying to break into the stand-up business, was primarily written by fellow African-American comic Master P, but parts of Griffin’s own stand-up act are featured. DysFunKtional Family is also built around Griffin’s stand-up routine. That film features scenes of Griffin on stage rifling on his unconventional childhood, interspersed with scenes of Griffin’s relatives chatting about their pasts at a family reunion. The film is not entirely flattering to Griffin’s family—one anecdote involves his mother chasing him in her car after he fought back when she tried to punish him for misbehaving—but "nothing’s too personal," Griffin told a CNN.com interviewer. "People say they believe in God and there'll be a Judgment Day, so you gonna have to tell the stories one of these days. Why not tell it now?"

In 1998, the comedian founded Blue Light Records.

Achievements

• Eddie Griffin first got his start in entertainment in 1988 when he moved to New York City to pursue stand-up comedy and 31 years later he still continues to entertain audiences.
  
  Comedy Central honored Eddie Griffin as one of the Top 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of all time. He has conquered not only the stage, but the silver screen as well, appearing in over 50 films and numerous television shows. Griffin is a gifted actor, dancer, choreographer and singer in domestic and foreign territories around the world.

Works

More photos

• Comedy special

  • Eddie Griffin: Undeniable

    (This comedy special is Griffin's magnum opus about the wo...)

    2018

• movie

  • Undercover Brother 2002
  • Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo 1999
  • Dysfunktional Family 2003

• television series

  • Malcolm & Eddie

    (Malcolm McGee is a responsible and sensible 20-something ...)

    1996

Views

Griffin says that black comedy continues to stand the test of time, transcending racial barriers.

When the famous comedian Bill Cosby was convicted of sexual assault, Griffin lashed out at his accusers and suggested there was a conspiracy in the U.S. to topple African-American cultural icons. Eddie said, "There is a systematic effort to destroy every black male entertainer's image. They want us all to have an asterisk by our name."

Quotations: "You know, black comedians are there to get up and tell the fucking truth and bare their souls, while lot of times Caucasian comedians get up there and try to be clever. Black comedians do not have that option because the education system is kind of fucked up. So, when you get up there you have to use what you got and you go up and what you have is truth. I think the harder you grew up, the more opportunity for funny stories you have because the more fucked up the situation, the more pain you have to draw from to find the humour. If I’d grown up in the suburbs, and was a nice decent family, the illusion of that is kind of hard to say."

"The best humanity comes out in some kind of tragedy and the best way to deal with emotions is to face them."

"Comedy is a way of emptying oneself emotionally. You can take whatever pleasures and pains of life there are and empty yourself in front of a live audience, which is kind of strange. But, that is the way I do it."

Personality

Eddie Griffin is known to be an outspoken person. He delivers this approach even in interviews.

Physical Characteristics: Eddie Griffin is 1,7 m tall.

Interests

• Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor

Connections

Eddie Griffin has been married a total of four times. With the first wife, Carla, they were together just for a year and gave birth to a son. In 2002 the actor tied the knot for the second time and married a nurse Rochelle Lyn. They have a daughter. After the divorce with Rochelle, Eddie married Nia Rivers. However, the family union ended as well. The couple has a son. In 2017 Griffin celebrated a wedding with Ko Lee.

The actor has children from other relationships.

Father:

Eddie Griffin, Sr.

Mother:

Doris Thomas

Spouse:

Ko Lee

ex-wife:

Carla Griffin

Son:

Eddie Griffin, Jr.

ex-wife:

Rochelle Lyn

Daughter:

Elexa Griffin

ex-wife:

Nia Rivers

Son:

Meko Lee Griffin

Daughter:

Leah Griffin

colleague:

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Friend:

Luenell Campbell

Friend:

Mike Tyson

Friend:

George Lopez

References

• Official web-site