The Voices of 'Shrek': Where Are They Now?

Mike Myers

Myers had already made his mark in the world of comedy by the time he voiced the titular ogre in the original Shrek movie. He held a cast spot on Saturday Night Live for six seasons, from 1989 to 1995, and starred as Wayne Campbell in Wayne's World and its sequel, which were based off of his SNL sketch by the same name. Myers secured widespread acclaim in 1997, when he debuted as the eponymous spy in the first Austin Powers movie. He reprised the cult classic character in two sequels in 1999 and 2002.

In the latter half of the aughts, Myers starred in The Love Guru and as a minor character in the Oscar-winning drama Inglourious Basterds. After the fourth and most recent installment Shrek Forever After premiered in 2010, Myers proceeded to take an eight-year-long break from big screens. He came back in 2018 with appearances in Terminal and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Nearly a year before the fifth Shrek movie was confirmed in 2023, Myers told GQ he was keen to revive the beloved character.

"I loved playing Shrek," he told the outlet in May 2022. "If I had to do one Shrek a year I'd be thrilled."

Myers and wife Kelly Tisdale have three children.

Eddie Murphy

Another Shrek star who got his start on Saturday Night Live, Murphy was a well-established star prior to voicing the ogre's energetic sidekick, Donkey. The longtime funnyman is known for his roles in the Beverly Hills Cop movies, the 1983 comedy Trading Places and his late-'90s classics The Nutty Professor and Dr. Dolittle.

In the 2000s, Murphy voiced Donkey in all four of the Dreamworks animated films but went on to pursue more dramatic roles. He also gave award-winning performances as soul singer James "Thunder" Early in 2006's Dreamgirls and as the titular character in 2016's Mr. Church. Murphy played the comedian Rudy Ray Moore in the 2019 biopic Dolemite Is My Name, and in 2021 he reprised his role in the '80s film Coming to America for its sequel, Coming 2 America.

The father of 10 is engaged to Paige Butcher.

Cameron Diaz

When Diaz signed on to voice Princess Fiona, she was known for her comedic roles in My Best Friend's Wedding, There's Something About Mary and The Mask, among others. She'd also established herself the drama genre thanks to appearances in Any Given Sunday and Being John Malkovich.

Between and after the four Shrek films, Diaz furthered her comedy career with films like The Holiday, What Happens in Vegas and What to Expect When You're Expecting. She's also published two health-focused best-selling books: The Body Book and The Longevity Book, which hit shelves in 2013 and 2016, respectively.

Diaz married Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden in January 2015, and the couple welcomed a daughter, Raddix Chloe Wildflower Madden, in 2019.

Antonio Banderas

The Spanish actor kicked off his Hollywood career a few years before he provided the voice for the slick, sword-wielding feline in footwear who first appears in Shrek 2. Throughout the '90s, Banderas could be seen in major productions like Philidelphia in 1993, Interview with a Vampire the following year and in 1998, as another swordsman (albeit a human one) in The Mask of Zorro.

Since debuting in the role of Puss in Boots, Banderas has reprised Zorro, played a ballroom dancing instructor in 2006's Take the Lead and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He played Vincent in Life Itself, starred in the Spanish drama Pain and Glory and costarred with Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman in The Laundromat, Steven Soderbergh's 2019 Netflix film.

In 2011, Banderas' Shrek character got his own starring moment in a prequel, which was named after the swashbuckling cat with former costar Salma Hayak voicing his furry love interest. The spin-off's sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, premiered in 2022 and was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award.

The actor has one daughter with ex Melanie Griffith and is currently dating Nicole Kimpel.

John Lithgow

The actor behind the arrogate Lord Farquaad boasts an impressive career that began decades before Shrek came out in 2001. Lithgow launched his career on the stage in the '70s, earning a Tony Award for his Broadway debut in The Changing Room. The following decade, he made a splash on the big screen with The World According to Garp, Terms of Endearment and Footloose, among other major films. On television, Lithgow played Dick Soloman on 3rd Rock from the Sun from 1996 to 2001. He nabbed a total of three Emmys for his starring performance.

Lithgow only appeared as Shrek's nemesis in the first film of the franchise (his character meets his unsavory end at the mouth of a dragon), but his career continued to flourish post-Farquaad. He returned to the stage for a 2002 theatrical adaptation of Sweet Smell of Success, winning another Tony and a place in the American Theater Hall of Fame. In film, Lithgow went on to appear in features like the biopic Kinsey, the 2014 space drama Interstellar, Miss Sloane and Tommy Lee Jones' The Homesman. Back on the small screen, Lithgow took home an Emmy for his role in Dexter in 2009 and his portrayal of Winston Churchill in season 1 of The Crown.

The actor has three grown children.

Julie Andrews

Queen Lillian rules over the kingdom of Far Far Away, so it's only fitting that the actress voicing her would be Hollywood royalty. Andrews's role in Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After added to a long list of award-winning performances that began in the 1940s when she debuted on the British stage.

In 1964, she took home the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Mary Poppins, the soundtrack for which nabbed her a Grammy as well. Andrews claims six Golden Globes, the second of which she won for her historic starring role in The Sound of Music in 1965. She won her first Emmy in 1973, for her variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour, and she's been nominated for three Tony Awards.

By the time Shrek viewers heard her voice in the franchise's second film, Andrews had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and several lifetime achievement awards. She became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2001 and named a Dame Commander by Queen Elizabeth II the previous year.

After voicing Fiona's mother in the Shrek franchise, Andrews voiced Gru's mom in the 2010 animation Despicable Me, then again in 2017 for Despicable Me 3 and in the 2022 spinoff Minions: The Rise of Gru. In 2018, Andrews lent her voice to a character in Aquaman. Most recently, in 2020, Andrews narrated the Netflix series Bridgerton and the fantasy film The King's Daughter in 2022.

Andrews has three grown daughters.

John Cleese

Co-founder of the Mighty Python comedy troupe, Cleese voices Fiona's father, King Harold, in the second, third and fourth Shrek films. In years prior, he was well known for his 1988 film A Fish Called Wanda, which he wrote and starred in alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. In 2001, Cleese featured in the first Harry Potter film as Nearly Headless Nick.

As the Shrek franchise ran, Cleese focused on comedy, taking his show John Cleese—His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems on tour in New Zealand in 2005 then at universities in the United States. He continued to perform around the globe in 2009 and 2010 on his Alimony Tour and in 2013, on a tour titled John Cleese: Last Time to See Me Before I Die.

Cleese adapted the French play Monsieur Chasse! to write Bang Bang!, which toured around America in 2018 and in the U.K. at the beginning of 2020.

The actor has two grown children and is currently married to designer and former model Jennifer Wade.

Jennifer Saunders

Saunders, who rose to fame as a comic in the '80s and '90s, continued her voice acting career after her first major animated appearance in Shrek 2. In the 2009 stop-motion flick Coraline, she was the protagonist's eccentric neighbor April Spink. In 2015, the British actress lent her voice to the Minions movie as Queen Elizabeth II, and she can be heard as the theatrical Miss Nana Noodleman in Sing and its sequel, Sing 2.

The former manipulative Fairy Godmother from the Shrek sequel also appeared in the 2022 mystery Death on the Nile, which featured Dawn French, Kenneth Branagh and Gal Gadot. In past few years Saunders has been in several theatrical productions, including London productions of Blithe Spirit and Sister Act the Musical.

She is married to actor Ade Edmondson, with whom she has three children.

Rupert Everett

Decades before he appeared as Prince Charming in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, Everett broke into the entertainment industry with his role in the 1982 Oscar-winning short film A Shocking Accident. In the late '90s and early aughts, he could be spotted playing the confidantes of Julia Roberts' character in My Best Friend's Wedding and Madonna's in The Next Best Thing.

In the years leading up to his voice work for the wicked prince hoping to woo Fiona, Everett worked as a writer, playwright and TV presenter. He went on to appear in British TV documentaries on Romantic poet Lord Byron and explorer Sir Richard Burton.

His acting career continued on the stage, as he featured in productions like Pygmalion in 2010 and played Oscar Wilde in a 2012 revival of The Judas Kiss. In film, Everett shared the screen with Emily Blunt in Bill Nighy in the 2010 comedy Wild Target. In 2018, the Shrek alumnus directed, produced and starred in a his biographical drama based on the life of Oscar Wilde.