<Li> David Schwimmer as Melman, a hypochondriac giraffe who is afraid of germs . When they were looking for a voice actor for Melman, they listened to Schwimmer's voice on Friends and, according to McGrath, thought that it "sounded really neat ." </Li> <Li> Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria, a strong, confident, but sweet hippopotamus . McGrath said that they found all these traits in Pinkett Smith's voice, when they listened to her . </Li> <Li> Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien XIII, a ring - tailed lemur and the king of the lemurs . King Julien was initially only meant to be a "two - line" character until auditioning Baron Cohen improvised eight minutes of dialogue in an Indian accent . </Li> <Li> Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice, an aye - aye and King Julien's royal advisor . </Li>

Who does the voice of the lemur in madagascar