Zookeeper Cast, Character & Animal Voice Guide

Alongside Kevin James, the cast of the 2011 comedy, Zookeeper, sees many high-profile celebrities help make it a memorable fantasy movie as they voice several of its anthropomorphic animals. James stars as the titular hero, who is considering a career switch as he feels that’s the only way he can improve his chances at finding love. The news comes as a shock to his animal friends, and the zoo creatures try and set him up with someone else to convince him to stay. Zookeeper didn’t fare well with most critics but is still worth a watch for family-friendly comedy fans.

What is worth noting about the Zookeeper cast is the stellar voice cast behind the animals and the actual animals themselves. The movie features some iconic animal performers, like Crystal the Monkey (Night at the Museum, The Hangover Part II) who provides the physical likeness for the tufted capuchin Donald, and the late Bart the Bear 2 (Game of Thrones, Into the Wild) who plays the grizzly bear Jerome. Other non-speaking performers include Tom Woodruff, Jr. (the Oscar-winning special effects supervisor behind Death Becomes Her and Aliens), who serves as the in-suit performer for the Western lowland gorilla Bernie.

Kevin James As Griffin Keyes

The Zoo Caretaker

Actor: Apart from Zookeeper, Kevin James has had memorable roles like the titular protagonist in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, teacher-turned-MMA fighter Scott Voss in Here Comes the Boom (directed by Zookeeper‘s Frank Coraci), and he earned an Emmy nomination for playing parcel-delivery man Doug Heffernan in The King of Queens. He developed a strong relationship with Adam Sandler, who helped him get his break as a leading man by producing his movies, including Zookeeper.

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Character: Griffin Keyes is the kind-hearted caretaker at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. While he loves his work and the animals that he takes care of, he feels that being a zookeeper is a boring job that ruins his chances of dating anyone. However, when his animal friends reveal that they can talk, Griffin receives some valuable love advice from them. Griffin then sets out to learn that he might be better off losing his girlfriend and finds that love is closer than he imagined.

Rosario Dawson As Kate

Actor: Rosario Dawson joins the Zookeeper cast as a zoo veterinarian named Kate. Another prominent medical character in Dawson’s filmography is the nurse Claire Temple in Netflix’s Marvel shows like Daredevil and The Defenders. She is also known for playing the ex-Jedi warrior Ahsoka Tano in live-action Star Wars properties, the vigilante sex worker Gail in the Sin City movies, and the Amazonian warrior Wonder Woman in the DC Animated Movie Universe.

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Character: Kate harbors a benevolent and understanding attitude towards the animals, much like Griffin (although she is definitely smarter than him). The two form an unlikely couple, and the animals try their best to bring them together. This is a nice surprise, as Griffin spent most of the movie trying to get the animals’ advice on getting back with his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie. However, Kate is a much better person and has a lot more in common with Griffin than the materialistic Stephanie.

Leslie Bibb As Stephanie

Actor: The antagonistic love interest of Zookeeper is played by Leslie Bibb, who, similar to Rosario Dawson, has played a Marvel character. In the first two Iron Man movies and What If, Bibb plays the journalist Christine Everhart. Additionally, Bibb has had a stellar TV career, earning herself a Teen Choice Award for playing the popular high-schooler Brooke McQueen in Popular, and she also played the superheroine Lady Liberty in Jupiter’s Legacy.

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Character: Stephanie is introduced as Griffin’s girlfriend, but the mean-spirited character constantly belittles him for his choice of career. Eventually, Stephanie does consider getting back with Griffin, but her selfishness still gets in the way. For much of the movie, Stephanie is the love interest that Griffin wants to win over and is who the animals work to help him get back with. However, thanks to her selfish attitude and bad personality, Griffin soon finds someone better in the end.

Nick Nolte As Bernie

Actor: The gorilla is voiced by Nick Nolte, who is well-known for his Oscar-nominated performance as the troubled father, Paddy Conlon, in Warrior and his Golden Globe-winning turn in The Prince of Tides as Tom Wingo. Nolte has also dabbled in popular franchises, playing genetics researcher David Banner in Hulk and voicing the solitary farmer Kuiil in The Mandalorian. Nolte also earned a Primetime Emmy Awards nomination for his role in Rich Man, Poor Man.

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Character: The Zookeeper cast includes many acclaimed actors voicing the protagonist’s animal friends. One such talking animal is the gorilla, Bernie. Even though he’s kept in a separate enclosure and often seen as misunderstood as intimidating, he actually has a lot of empathy to show. This animal character has the best backstory, as an abused gorilla who was sent into seclusion when the zookeeper who abused him lied about an attack. He gets the best moment of all animals in Zookeeper’s end.

Sylvester Stallone As Joe

Actor: The big cat Joe is voiced by Sylvester Stallone, whose other voice credits include King Shark in The Suicide Squad and the ant soldier Corporal Weaver in Antz. Stallone is, of course, better known for his action star persona, having played the Vietnam War veteran John Rambo and the heavyweight boxer Rocky Balboa in numerous movies. Stallone also occasionally ventures into comedy, having played aging boxer Henry Sharp in Grudge Match and the titular mobster in Oscar.

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Character: Joe is an idealistic lion who strongly believes that the zoo’s animals shouldn’t talk to humans. However, it is Joe’s frustrated yeling that first alerts Griffin to the idea that the animals can talk. Even though he yells and screams a lot, Joe means no harm and is actually gentler than expected. Joe also has a mate named Janet (voiced by Cher), and together, they attempt to help Griffin do whatever he can to win back his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie.

Adam Sandler As Donald

Actor: The Zookeeper cast includes Adam Sandler, who has collaborated with Kevin James in many films like Grown Ups and Pixels. Donald isn’t Sandler’s only voice role, as the comedian also voiced Count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania and several characters in Eight Crazy Nights. A prolific performer in both comedies and dramas, some of Sandler’s best characters include the titular short-tempered golfer in Happy Gilmore and the panicky jewelry dealer Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems.

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Character: In Zookeeper, Adam Sandler voices the smooth-talking monkey, Donald. He’s quite a smart ape (as is evident from his plans to make Griffin look like a hero in front of his peers). He is one of the key talking animals in the film, and that makes sense since Adam Sandler is also one of the movie’s producers. However, he takes on this invisible voice role. As for Donald himself, Crystal the Monkey played the animal. Fans might remember Crystal from The Hangover.

Joe Rogan As Gale

Actor: After Zookeeper, Rogan would collaborate again with co-star Kevin James and director Frank Coraci in the sports comedy Here Comes the Boom, playing himself while commenting on MMA matches. Rogan previously hosted Fear Factor and played the streetsmart radio station handyman and electrician Joe Garrelli in NewsRadio. The podcaster has several movie and TV roles to his name, but he almost always just plays himself, both fictionalized and realistic versions.

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Character: MMA commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan is in the Zookeeper cast, playing Stephanie’s ex-boyfriend Gale. He shares quite a toxic relationship with her, getting back together for some time and bullying Griffin along the way. He is one of the minor antagonists in the movie, someone whom Griffin has to overcome so he can become the man that he needs to be in the end. It was a rare character part for Rogan, but he fit the antagonistic role easily.

Nat Faxon as Dave Keyes

Actor: Nat Faxon is an accomplished screenwriter, having won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing The Descendants. As an actor, Faxon has voiced the optimistic half-elf, Elfo, in Disenchantment, Dakota Johnson’s goofy on-screen brother Ben Fox in Ben and Kate, and the midlife crisis-struck husband Russ Bowman in Married. He also recently took on a live-action recurring role in the Roseanna spinoff series The Conners.

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Character: Dave is Griffin’s brother who runs a successful car business. While he lacks the emotional depth to understand his sibling’s troubles, Dave is still helpful enough to help out Griffin with a chance to work at his dealership. With a better career and plans to marry his girlfriend, Dave’s perfect life serves as an antithesis to that of Griffin’s.

Ken Jeong As Venom

Actor: Venom brings some of Ken Jeong’s trademark hyperactive comic timing that audiences are used to seeing him evoke as Spanish teacher Ben Chang in Community, gangster boss Leslie Chow in The Hangover trilogy, and wealthy businessman Goh Wye Mun in Crazy Rich Asians. Interestingly, in 2011, Ken Jeong and Crystal the Monkey appeared together in Zookeeper as well as The Hangover II in which Crystal played a drug dealer’s monkey.

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Character: Living up to his name, Venom works at the zoo’s reptile house. But while he’s proficient at dealing with reptiles, his social mannerisms can be quite awkward when it comes to humans. This actually puts him a lot closer to Kevin James’ Griffin, who shares a similar fondness for the animals, and also helps when the animals start talking, since it means that Venom can finally relate to someone he feels a connection to.

Zookeeper Supporting Cast & Characters

Steffiana de la Cruz as Robin Keyes – Robin is Dave’s fiancée, who later becomes his wife. She is played by Steffiana de la Cruz, who has appeared in many movies and shows starring her real-life husband Kevin James. These include a role as a shopper in Paul Blart: Mall Cop and several characters in The King of Queens.

Donnie Wahlberg as Shane – Shane is the abusive zookeeper who often puts the lives of other animals in jeopardy. He is played by Donnie Wahlberg who is known for playing Detective Eric Matthews in the Saw series and war hero Carwood Lipton in Band of Brothers.

Jon Favreau as Jerome – Even director and actor Jon Favreau joins the Zookeeper cast, voicing the brown bear Jerome. Favreau is known for directing movies like Iron Man and The Jungle Book while also playing Tony Stark’s bodyguard Happy Hogan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the titular protagonist in Chef, and lawyer Foggy Nelson in Daredevil.

Cher as Janet – The lioness Janet is voiced by Cher, the legendary singer and actor who won a Best Actress Oscar for playing Italian American widow Loretta Castorini in Moonstruck. Cher has also had starring roles in Burlesque as lounge owner Tess and in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again as Ruby Sheridan, the mother to Meryl Streep’s protagonist Donna.

Faizon Love as Bruce – The zoo in Zookeeper has no dearth of bears with Faizon Love voicing the Kodiak bear Bruce. Love is best known for his involvement in the Friday cast as drug supplier Big Worm and gangster Sean “Sweet” Johnson in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Maya Rudolph as Mollie – Maya Rudolph, who acted alongside Kevin James in Grown Ups, voices a reticulated giraffe named Mollie in Zookeeper. Rudolph is well known as a former Saturday Night Live cast member and for voicing several characters in the adult animated series Big Mouth.

Judd Apatow as Barry – Another noted director who voices one of the animals in Zookeeper is Judd Apatow. The Knocked Up and Trainwreck filmmaker voices Barry the Elephant in Zookeeper, one of his few acting roles. Apatow has also played a news station employee in Anchorman and a Hollywood producer in The Disaster Artist.

Bas Rutten as Sebastian – MMA fighter and actor Bas Rutten joins the Zookeeper cast as the voice of the wolf Sebastian. Rutten is Kevin James’ longtime collaborator having played a drill instructor in Paul Blart: Mall Cop and former MMA fighter Niko in Here Comes the Boom.

Don Rickles as Jim – An American bullfrog named Jim is voiced by veteran actor Don Rickles. While Zookeeper was the final feature film that was released in his lifetime, Rickles is often remembered for voicing Mr Potato Head in Toy Story and for hosting his self-titled variety show The Don Rickles Show.

Jim Breuer as Spike – The Zookeeper cast features several Saturday Night Live alumni including Jim Breuer who voices the crow Spike. Breuer’s prominent roles include the stoner Brian in the cult comedy Half Baked.