Jessica Chastain Signs on for 'Madagascar 3'

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Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain, currently generating a lot of awards heat for her work in The Help, has signed on for her first animated gig.

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The actress is lending her voice to DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston and comedian Martin Short also have joined the voice cast of the movie, which sees Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sacha Baron Cohen reprise their animal roles. Frances McDormand also is in the cast.

Chastain will voice a new character named Gia the jaguar while Cranston a Siberian tiger and Short one called Stefano the sea lion.

Eric Darnell and Conrad Vernon are directing the movie, which is scheduled for a June 8, 2012, release.

The storyline given in Friday’s announcement states: “Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo and Melman the Giraffe are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple, and of course, King Julien, Maurice and the Penguins are all along for the comedic adventure. Their journey takes them through Europe, where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent — Madagascar-style.”

Chastain is repped by CAA, Mosaic and Hansen Jacobson. Cranston is repped by UTA, Short by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.