King Simba

King Simba

Simba is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Disney's The Lion King franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film The Lion King, Walt Disney Animation's 32nd animated feature, the character subsequently appears in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) and The Lion King 1½ (2004) as well as the 2019 remake of the original film. Simba was created by screenwriters Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. While Mark Henn served as Simba's supervising animator as a cub, Ruben A. Aquino animated the character as he appears as an adult. Simba was inspired by the character Bambi from Disney's Bambi (1942), as well as the stories of Moses and Joseph from the Bible. Additionally, several similarities have been drawn between Simba and Prince Hamlet from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. In 1997, The Lion King was adapted into a Broadway musical, with actors Scott Irby-Ranniar and Jason Raize originating the roles of the cub and adult Simba, respectively. JD McCrary and Donald Glover voice the cub and adult Simba respectively in the CGI remake. The word Simba translates to "Lion" in the Swahili Language.

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