It's Official: Eddie Murphy Named Host of the 84th Annual Academy Awards

11:56 AM PDT 9/6/2011 by Gregg Kilday

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Jason Kempin/Getty Images For Tribeca Film Festival

Producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer select the comedian, who has not hosted the Oscar broadcast before.

It's official: Eddie Murphy will host the 84th annual Academy Awards, which ABC will broadcast live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 26.

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Brett Ratner and Don Mischer, who are producing the annual awards show, presented their choice on Tuesday to officials at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, who signed off on Murphy hosting.

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It will be the first time that Murphy, who shot to fame in the 1980s, first on Saturday Night Live, and then in movies like 48 Hrs. and Beverly Hills Cop, has hosted the show. He has appeared as a presenter on several broadcasts, most recently in 2009 when he presented the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Jerry Lewis. He also received an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor for his performance in the 2006 musical Dreamgirls.

"Eddie is a comedic genius, one of the greates and most influential live performers ever," Ratner said. "With his love of movies, history of crafting unforgettable characters and his iconic performances -- especially on stage -- I know he will bring excitement, spontaneity and tremendous heart to the show Don and I want to produce in February."

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"I am enormously honored to join the great list of past Academy Award hosts from Hope and Carson to Crystal, Martin and Goldberg, among others," Murphy said. "I'm looking forward to working with Brett and Don on creating a show that is enjoyable for both the fans at home and for the audience at the Kodak Theatre as we all come together to celebrate and recognize the great film contributions and collaborations from the past year."

Rattner recently directed Murphy in the upcoming comedy Tower Heist, in which Murphy co-stars with Ben Stiller, which Universal will release Nov. 4.The performer also has a second feature, A Thousand Words, coming from DreamWorks on Jan. 13.

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