Eddie Murphy

Lore & Background

Donkey arrives in Shrek's swamp not as a hero or a quest-giver, but as a displaced, anxious creature who simply wants to belong somewhere. Eddie Murphy's vocal choices—breathy, quick, almost breathless—convey a character who is perpetually on the verge of excitement or panic, oscillating between sycophantic adoration and genuine hurt. This emotional volatility is what makes Donkey feel alive rather than merely funny; he is a creature who has been rejected by the world and is terrified of being rejected again, so he clings to Shrek with a ferocity that borders on obsession.

Over the course of the franchise, Donkey's arc mirrors a universal longing: to be chosen, to be needed, to be family. His marriage to a horse in the second film, his role as a father and a community member in the third, and his desperate attempt to save Shrek's life in the fourth all build on the foundation Murphy laid in that first swamp encounter. The character's humor is never just slapstick; it is the humor of someone who has decided, against all evidence, that this one grumpy ogre is the best thing that ever happened to him, and he will not take no for an answer.

Murphy's background as a stand-up comedian and musical performer is audible in every line. The rhythm, the callbacks, the sudden shifts from a whisper to a belt—it all reads like a live performance captured in animation. This gave Donkey a theatrical, almost vaudevillian quality that set him apart from the more measured voices of other animated sidekicks and made the character feel like he was performing directly to the audience in the room.

In Their Own Story

The swamp was quiet in the way only a swamp can be quiet—thick with mist, dripping with the slow percussion of water on lily pads. Shrek stood at the edge of his clearing, arms crossed, jaw set, watching the little donkey pace back and forth on the muddy path like a caged animal. The donkey kept stopping, turning, starting again, his big ears swiveling as if listening for a sound that wasn't there. Finally he stopped, faced the ogre, and said something so earnest, so unbearably hopeful, that even the toads in the pond went still. Shrek grunted. The donkey's whole body lit up like a lantern. He trotted closer, then closer still, until he was practically bumping into Shrek's knee. "So, uh," the donkey said, voice crackling with the particular electricity of a man who has just been told the door is not, in fact, closed. "Can I, maybe, just—sit?" Shrek didn't answer. The donkey sat. He had sat. And in the green, dripping silence of the swamp, something that had been alone for a very long time shifted, just slightly, toward the sound of a small, eager, ridiculous heartbeat.

Reader's Guide

Donkey first appears in Shrek (2001), the DreamWorks Animation feature that redefined the studio's output and the animation landscape. He is a talking donkey—small, wide-eyed, and possessed of an almost supernatural need for companionship—who stumbles into the life of a reclusive ogre and refuses, with the tenacity of a barnacle, to leave. His role is that of the emotional engine and comic counterweight: where Shrek is sardonic, withdrawn, and wary, Donkey is exuberant, trusting, and incapable of reading a room. He becomes Shrek's best friend, a husband, a father, and ultimately the one who risks everything to protect the ogre he loves.

The character is voiced throughout all four feature films by Eddie Murphy, whose rapid, high-pitched, breathless delivery gives Donkey a vaudevillian energy that no other voice in the franchise matches. Murphy's background in stand-up comedy and musical performance is woven into every line, making Donkey feel less like a cartoon and more like a live performer who happens to be a farm animal. No alternate voice actor is credited for the role across the main series.

Fan note: You can hear the exact moment in the first film where Donkey stops being a nuisance and becomes a friend, and it hits like a punchline that makes you cry a little.

Did You Know?

• Donkey's song performance of 'I'm a Believer' in Shrek 2 became one of the most-quoted and parodied animated musical moments of the 2000s, cementing the character's status as a cultural touchstone beyond the film itself.
• Eddie Murphy's vocal performance for Donkey is noticeably higher in pitch and faster in cadence than his typical speaking voice, a deliberate choice that required sustained physical energy during recording sessions to ma
• Donkey is one of the few characters in the Shrek universe who is not a traditional fairy-tale archetype; he is simply a donkey who talks, which makes his emotional vulnerability and desperate need for belonging stand out
• The dynamic between Shrek and Donkey was often described by the creative team as a 'grumpy old man and his golden retriever' pairing, a comparison that highlights how Murphy's performance made a farm animal feel like the