Donald Glover is one of entertainment’s most adaptable talents, with his best movies and TV shows highlighting the performer’s versatility. A graduate of NYU, Glover is perhaps best known for his musical career as the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist Childish Gambino. His music, which has seen him break into the Billboard Top 100, isn’t the only thing audiences might know him from. Glover has also established himself as a skilled stand-up comedian and a terrific writer, earning several awards for the latter.
Glover has appeared in several high-profile films and shows, even voicing the grown version of Simba who appears in The Lion King (2019) remake. Glover’s best works speak to his adaptability, highlighting his dramatic chops and comedic skills without undercutting one or the other. Glover is one of the rare genuine multi-hypheneites, someone who excels in whatever branch of the entertainment industry he tackles. While his comedic turns in films like The To Do List (2013) and dramatic turns in upcoming sci-fi films like Bando Stone & the New World highlight that flexibility, these 10 movies and shows best highlight Donald Glover’s charms and craft as a performer.
10. Mystery Team (2009)
Released in 2009 and serving as the cinematic launching pad for a number of modern comedy stars, Mystery Team was an early indicator of Donald Glover’s subversive comedic stylings. From the comedy group Derrick Comedy that Glover founded alongside Dominic Dierkes and DC Pierson, Mystery Team is a goofball comedy that plays like a parody of classic kids’ adventure films like The Goonies (1985) or E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Also serving as the feature film debuts for Aubrey Plaza, Ellie Kemper, Neil Casey, Ben Schwartz, and Bobby Moynihan, Mystery Team is a goofy film with plenty of laughs, even if the overall shagginess wouldn't match the heights it would achieve in later years. Loud, brash, and proudly weird, Mystery Team has the same kind of energy that makes movies like Hot Rod (20070 cult classics.
9. 30 Rock (2006-2013)
30 Rock was one of Donald Glover’s first true showcases for broad audiences, where the young actor worked as a writer and occasional guest star. Hired by Tina Fey to write on the show when he was just 23, Glover’s sense of comedy and style quickly helped establish him as one of the show’s most unlikely finds from one of the best sitcoms of the 21st century.
Following the employees at NBC and the sketch series The Girlie Show (quickly renamed TGS when Tracy Jordan joined the show), Glover served as an executive story editor and writer on several episodes. His contributions to the series include the “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” sequence, as well as several memorable cameo appearances. Fans of Glover might not see too much of him in the series, but 30 Rock, which eventually earned Glover and the rest of the writing staff a WGA award, is a major foundational piece of the actor’s career.
8. Guava Island (2019)
A strangely perfect fusion of Childish Gambino and Prince’s Purple Rain (1984), Guava Island is deeply ambitious and musically compelling. Set on the fictional island of Guava Island, the film focuses on Glover’s Deni Maroon, a musician who intends to hold a festival on the island to celebrate the community. Bolstered by a supporting cast that includes Rihanna and Letitia Wright, the almost dream-like qualities of Guava Island give it a mysterious and charming element.
Fans of Childish Gambino’s music should definitely check out this film, which serves as the source for some of the singer’s biggest hits like “This Is America.” Glover’s answer to music-driven films like The Beatles’ Help! (1965), Guava Island is a delightful and tragic exploration of the impact that music and ambition can have on a person.
7. Swarm (2023)
Created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, Swarm is a good reminder of Glover’s talents as a creative working behind the scenes. The seven-episode miniseries focuses on Dre, whose obsession with the popstar Ni’Jah leads to a series of murders across the United States. At times evocative of darker stories like Misery (1990) and Yellowjackets (2021), Swarm is an unsettling and darkly comedic exploration of just how far fandom will push someone.
Glover doesn’t appear much in the show until Episode 7, which establishes a meta-layer that only adds to the darker implications of the story. Swarm may be more ambitious than tight, but all of that celebrity culture commentary and underlying themes about the price of fame and the cost of devotion make Swarm a must-watch for horror fans who love a bit of cultural satire in their scares.
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Donald Glover only appears briefly in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but his energy perfectly matches the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s more grounded take on the wall-crawling superhero. Glover appears as Aaron Davis, a street-level criminal saved by Spider-Man before meeting him again. It’s a brief scene but a crucial one, not just for advancing the plot but also for further establishing the kind of superhero Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is.
Glover deploys a blunt snark to the scene that undercuts all of Spider-Man’s interrogation efforts while highlighting the grounded and natural heroics of Peter Parker. It’s a funny beat that has left fans clamoring for Glover to return to the Marvel Universe, which he’s only done in minor appearances in the Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) animated show and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023).
5. Adventure Time (2010-2018)
Donald Glover was one of many celebrities to appear in the long-running Cartoon Network series Adventure Time and the first season of the subsequent spin-off series Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (2023). Still, his appearance is also one of the most memorable. Glover plays Marshall Lee, the gender-flipped version of series regular Marceline within the Ice King’s in-universe fan-fiction. Glover delivers a memorably cool and disarmingly charming performance in the main show, but he gets more room to show off the depth of his vocal performances in Fionna and Cake.
Set within a relatively realistic world, Marshall Lee’s romance with Gary Prince is one of the sweetest aspects of the show’s first season. Glover fits in naturally with Adventure Time’s mix of snarky humor, emotional whimsy, and musical inventiveness to deliver a delightful performance. Fans of Steven Universe (2013) should definitely make sure to check out both series, and will be plenty excited when Marshall Lee arrives on the scene.
4. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Solo: A Star Wars Story is a mixed bag of a prequel, with the central performances doing their best to elevate a sloppy story. At the core of the cast’s appeal is the charming riffs on Star Wars icons, such as Alden Ehrenreich’s take on Han Solo and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s memorable turn as a rebellious droid. However, the real scene-stealer is Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.
Deploying the same layer of charm that made Billy Dee Williams so memorable in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as an older version of the same character, Glover imbues Lando with a cool sense of confidence and charm that never takes away from the more dangerous qualities of the character. The film also adds layers to Lando through his more tragic backstory, giving Glover a chance to showcase his more dramatic side along the way. As the rumors of a Lando spin-off have never materialized, it’s a shame that audiences haven’t gotten another chance to see Glover shine in the role of Lando.
3. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)
A quietly personal riff on relationships, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is an emotionally resonant dramedy that also knows how to embrace action when it’s called for. With Glover opposite Maya Erskine, the duo is terrific as strangers who pair up to pose as a married couple while working as undercover spies.
Darkly hilarious when it wants to be and genuinely exciting whenever the action hits, the real draw of the show is the dynamic that develops between John and Jane. Steadily growing closer as their missions become more dangerous, the back-and-forth between Glover and Erskine gradually becomes a fitting metaphor for the trials and tribulations of any long-term romantic relationship. Charming, exciting, and with just the right level of ambiguity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a terrific show that easily overshadows the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) film that inspired it.
2. Community (2009-2015)
As the show that really put Donald Glover on the map, Community remains a high benchmark for comedy that few shows have been able to surpass. Set at the Greendale Community College, Community is an absurd fusion of Freaks and Geeks (1999) and The Simpsons (1989), an almost cartoonish riff on the basic sitcom structure that defined series creator Dan Harmon’s genre-hopping habits before Rick and Morty (2013).
Glover plays fan-favorite Troy Barnes in the show, a former high school star athlete who is short on smarts but makes up for it with charm and heart. At times, playing Troy like a nine-year-old in the body of an adult, especially when paired up with Danny Pudi’s Abed, Glover finds the right balance of emotion and comedy to make Troy more than just a punchline machine, even while remaining arguably the most consistently funny member of the cast.
1. Atlanta (2016-2022)
Donald Glover’s best achievement as a filmmaker, Atlanta, is one of the most ambitious and compelling dramedies of the 21st century. Glover created the series and starred in it, as well as serving as showrunner, executive producer, and writer. A sprawling show that initially focuses on Glover’s music manager, Earn, and his cousin, Paper Boi, the series gradually expands to a larger cast of characters, a blend of genres, and a willingness to experiment in a way that only the best shows ever even attempt.
Equal parts Twin Peaks (1990) and Rap Sh!t (2022), Atlanta is a wholly unique series that solidified Glover as a true master of his craft. A terrific series that benefits from Glover’s dramatic and comedic chops, Atlanta is almost perfect from end to end, and it remains the highlight of the filmmaker’s career so far, earning it the top spot on this list.
