Adam Sandler’s 2011 Jack and Jill. “When I met Adam at his office for the part, it turned out that he didn’t know who I was. But he’d asked his Mexican nanny and gardeners ‘who’s the funniest comedian in Mexico?’ and they told him it was me. And that’s how I got the role.” Derbez went back to Sandler’s house to thank the nanny and gardeners “as they did more for my career than all my agents.”

  Derbez was also picked to dub the voice of Donkey (Eddie Murphy) in Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004) in the Spanish releases of the movies, as well as the voice of Mushu the dragon in Mulan (1998). Then he tried his luck in Hollywood in 2002.

In an interview with the HFPA, Derbez talked about his arrival in Los Angeles that year. “The first time I came here from Mexico, to have my whole entourage, my driver, my three assistants, production company, everyone, you know, helping me with my luggage. I get to the airport and the airline, oh, Mr. Derbez, you are here. And then I arrive here and it’s just me carrying my luggage and taking a taxi, then arriving at the studio for a meeting and going with the assistant to the reception and she is not able to pronounce my name, like who are you? Eugenio Derbez.  Hey, okay, well, Mr. Derbez, whatever. And then they treat me really bad like, yeah. I was like, I swear I have an audience, I swear I’m important and really bring people to the box office. Well, yeah, sure. Have you done anything in the US?  Not yet.  Okay, thank you very much and that was it. It was like a great lesson because I was able to understand that it’s not that you’re better than anyone, it’s just that in one place you are someone and in another place you’re no one, you’re just a human being.”

Jennifer Garner, How to Be a Latin Lover with Salma Hayek in 2017, and 2018’s remake of Overboard with Anna Faris. In 2019, he appeared as the villain in Dora and the Lost City of Gold as well as the voice of one of the birds in The Angry Birds Movie 2.

Derbez is a racing fan and has bought and raced several Formula 1 cars. A well-known stage actor in Mexico, he is best known for the Mexico City production of the Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He has hosted the Latin Grammys in 2010 and 2014. Variety called him the No.1 most influential Hispanic male in the entertainment industry in 2014.