At the beginning of the 2001 film Shrek, the title character lives as a recluse in a remote swamp in the fairy-tale land of Duloc. When other beings cross his path, he frightens them away so that he can be left alone to enjoy taking mud showers and snacking on slugs and bugs. After coming to the aid of a talking donkey named, simply, Donkey, he becomes drawn into the machinations of the evil Lord Farquaad, who wants to rule Duloc and rid it of its fairy-tale characters. Shrek ultimately saves Duloc and rescues the beautiful Princess Fiona, who turns out to be an ogre herself. The two fall in love and marry.

In subsequent films, Shrek becomes involved in a web of intrigue surrounding the throne of Far Far Away, Fiona's homeland. He must fend off an assassination attempt engineered by Fiona's father, the king, and ultimately defend the throne from an attempted coup by the rotten Prince Charming.

The source for the character Shrek was the children's book Shrek! (1990) by William Steig. DreamWorks Pictures acquired the film rights to the character and introduced him to a much larger audience in the hit computer-animated film. In that movie and sequels including Shrek 2 (2004) and Shrek the Third (2007), the ogre's voice was provided by well-known comedic actor Mike Myers, who gave Shrek a signature Scottish accent. The Shrek films were noted for incorporating pop culture references into a fairy-tale setting.