Eddie Murphy reveals he made his daughter Bella audition for Coming 2 America

Eddie Murphy returns as Prince Akeem in the highly-anticipated Coming 2 America, with his 19-year-old daughter Bella making her acting debut as well.

The 59-year-old actor made it clear, though, that she didn’t just get the role because of her father’s stature, she had to audition.

The iconic comedian and his daughter opened up about the sequel in a new interview with Good Morning America on Thursday, about Bella getting the role of Akeem’s daughter, Omma.

‘She had to audition for Craig Brewer, who directed the movie. I wasn’t musclin’ my kid into the movie,’ Murphy said.

‘She had to really be able to — you know, to deliver. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten the role,’ he added.

‘I just wanted to be good. I didn’t want people to watch it and be like, “Oh, that must be his daughter ‘cause she can’t keep up with everyone else.” You know what I mean?’ Bella said.

‘I just really wanted to do the best that I could. And I’m really proud with how it turned out,’ she added.

The original Coming to America debuted in 1988, following Murphy’s Prince Akeem from the fictional country of Zumunda, who travels to America to find his bride.

The original comedy, which also starred Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley and James Earl Jones, was a hit at the box office, the second-highest grossing movie of the year behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, though Murphy didn’t realize how much it resonated with audiences until 25 years later.

‘I knew that it was on TV all the time and lines from the movie started becoming catch phrases, like a sexual chocolate milkshake was on the menu, so I started think, let’s explore making this come together, and that’s when it started, ‘he said.

He added that the original movie also features, ‘the very first mic drop in the history of the world,’ when Randy Watson drops the mic on stage.

When Bella was asked at what age did she know Coming to America was a big deal, she said the first time she watched the movie was the first time she saw, ‘Black royalty on screen.’

‘And, on top of it, it was my dad, so that was already super impactful for me, and very empowering,’ she added.

There is also a scene in the sequel where Bella gets to fight her dad, which she said was ‘really fun,’ with her dad joking, ‘What do you mean it was fun? You’re grounded.’

The film was originally slated for a theatrical release in December through Paramount Pictures, but it was later acquired by Amazon and released March 5 through Prime Video.

When asked about the release, Murphy said it ‘worked out perfectly’ because now more people could see it.

‘I’m happy that it turned out this way, ‘ Murphy added.