The Lion King – animated vs live action cast: Who plays who?

Who plays who in The Lion King?

The main character of The Lion King is Simba, the cub who leaves his pack after the death of his father Mufasa, fearing he caused his death.

In the original movie, the cub of Simba was voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, while Matthew Broderick was the voice of the adult Simba, who grew up away from the Pride with Timon and Pumbaa.

In the remake, however, the cub was voiced by young JD McCrary and rapper Donald Glover voiced the adult Simba.

His father, the mighty Mufasa, is voiced by the same actor in both versions, James Earl Jones.

Mufasa is the king of the Pride Lands, and sadly dies at the hand of his younger power-hungry brother, Scar, who then blames Simba for the death.

Scar, the antagonist of the piece, is voiced by Jeremy Irons in the original movie, and by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the 2019 live action film.

Another character who is key to bringing Simba back to the Pride, despite Scar’s horrific and vicious ruling, is Nala, a young female cub.

As a cub she is voiced by Niketa Calame, then Moira Kelly as an adult in the original movie, however the 2019 remake saw Nala gain some mega star power.

In that movie, Beyonce voices Nala as an adult, while Us star Shahadi Wright Joseph voices the cub.

The pair who take Simba in and help him to escape the horrors of his past are Timon and Pumbaa, a meerkat and a warthog.

Of course, their original voices were iconic, with Nathan Lane playing Timon and Ernie Sabella lending his voice to Pumbaa.

These voices became so well known, the idea of who could replace them was shocking to many.

However, the director Jon Favreau made the perfect choices of Seth Rogen as Pumbaa and Billy Eichner as Timon, who perfectly fit the style of the film.

The final iconic roles to be remembered are those of Zazu, the red-billed hornill who acts as the PA to Mufasa, and Rafiki, the eccentric mandrill who acts as a shaman to the lions.

Zazu was first played by Rowan Atkinson, the famed English comedian, and was then taken on by John Oliver in the 2019 film, with the pair looking not too dissimilar in real life.

For Rafiki, Robert Guillaume voiced the character originally, while John Kani took on the role in 2019.

Other smaller roles included Sarabi, Simba’s mother, and Sarafina, Nala’s mother, were voiced by Madge Sinclair and Zoe Leader respectively in the original movie, while Alfre Woodard and Penny Johnson Jerald voiced them in the 2019 remake.

Finally, the evil Shenzi, the hyena who was Scar’s henchman, is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg in the original and by Florence Kasumba in the live action film.

Of course, there were three hyenas in the original, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, however only Shenzi was voiced in the remake.

Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings voiced Banzai and Ed in the original.

Source link