Claim: The Lion King is an artistic work.

Simba is a fictional character who appears in Disney 's The Lion King franchise . Introduced in Walt Disney Animation 's 32nd animated feature film The Lion King -LRB- 1994 -RRB- , the character subsequently appears in its sequels The Lion King II : Simba 's Pride -LRB- 1998 -RRB- and The Lion King 1 1/2 -LRB- 2004 -RRB- .   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 .   Although considered an original character , Simba was inspired by the character Bambi from Disney 's Bambi -LRB- 1942 -RRB- , 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 tragedy of the same name . In , The Lion King was adapted into Broadway musical , with actors Scott Irby-Ranniar and Jason Raize originating the roles of the cub and adult Simbas , respectively .