The unequivocal star, protagonist, head honcho, and general attention-seeker (and -getter) in this story is Simba. Over the course of the movie, we watch him go from sweet and silly lion cub to bra...

Dripping with sarcasm and cynicism, Scar is the typical Disney villain: we love to hate him, and whenever he does something, we can't look away. Voiced by the incomparable Jeremy Irons, Scar is an...

Tall, strong, and—can a cartoon lion be handsome? Fine, we'll say it—handsome, Mufasa is the very picture of nobility. He is a just and beneficent leader. He loves both his wife, Sarabi, and hi...

Even though she doesn't get a whole ton of screen time, Nala is The Lion King'sresident kung-fu expert (think back to the time when she and Simba wrestled, and she was all like, "Pinned ya! Pinned...

Good, old Rafiki: you can always count on him to have a giant gourd full of beans, a head full of prophecies, and a disarmingly red butt. His name actually means "friend" in Swahili, which speaks v...

Timon and Pumbaa are a pair invented for comedy: one's a tiny, wisecracking meerkat, and the other is a giant, emotionally honest warthog. Timon sounds like a used car salesman, while Pumbaa sounds...

If we're gonna stick to the whole The Lion King-as-Hamlet thing here, then Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed occupy the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (and Guildenstern?). Hungry and eager to please,...

The red-billed hornbill who is both Simba's tutor and Mufasa's majordomo, Zazu can be a little shrill ("Step lively! The sooner we get to the watering hole, the sooner we can leave!"), but ultimate...

Sarabi barely gets any screen time, but her role as a nurturing, motherly presence shouldn't be ignored. She is, after all, the lioness who gave birth to the future king of the Pride Lands. And, sh...