Eddie Murphy, an American actor and comedian, has bagged his first Emmy for ‘Saturday Night Live’ (SNL) 40 years after he started acting on the comedy series.

The 59-year-old earned the win after he was nominated in the ‘Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series’ category for his role.

He had been put up for the award alongside Fred Willard of ‘Modern Family’, and Adam Driver (Saturday Night Live).

Others who had been nominated alongside him are Dev Patel of ‘Modern Love’, Brad Pitt (Saturday Night Live) and Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel).

While this marked his fifth nomination, Murphy earned his first in 1983 for the ‘Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy’ category after his work on SNL in 1983.

“Thank you to everybody at the Emmys. Thank you so much for giving me an Emmy, I don’t have an Emmy,” he said,

“This is 40 years since I started Saturday Night Live. This is my first Emmy, so thank you so much.

“I want to thank Lorne Michaels for putting this whole thing together and making this happen. And I want to thank the cast and the writers and the crew at SNL.

“This was a very very special thing for me to come back and have the show turn out the way it did. I’m still floating from it. And thank you to everybody for giving me an Emmy.”