Simba is a fictional character and the 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. Development Conception The Lion King was conceived by Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg in 1988. Filmmakers jokingly nicknamed the film "Bambi in Africa" due similarities between the film and Disney's own Bambi (1942), and their respective main characters. Although considered an original coming-of-age story that follows Simba as he grows up and "tak[es] on the responsibility of adulthood," directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff drew inspiration from other sources for the character, namely the biblical figures Moses and Joseph. Producer Don Hahn said that, like them, Simba is "born into royalty, is then exiled, and has to return to claim [his] kingdom". Unlike the studio's three previous films The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992) which are essentially love stories, The Lion King focuses on Simba's relationship with his father instead, which Allers identified as "The real heart and emotional underpinning of the whole story". In April 1992, the filmmakers hosted a "brainstorming session" in which much of the film's original story was largely re-written, particularly Simba's personality. Originally, Simba was intended to remain with the pride after Mufasa's death until this idea was re-written in order to make the character more "likable and sympathetic." Several film and entertainment critics have noted similarities and parallels between the stories of The Lion King and William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, and their protagonists. Allers said that