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Disney made Peter Mansbridge an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Mouse House asked the CBC’s chief news anchor to voice newscaster Peter Moosebridge in its latest animation motion picture Zootopia, and he said ‘yes.’

Mansbridge says that he was motivated by his family past and his present status as a grandfather. “They treated me like a rock star,” says Mansbridge of his three grandchildren when they found out he was in a Disney movie.

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Mansbridge was thrilled that he did the cameo for another reason. Disney’s The Wonderful World of Disney series holds a special place in his early memories when his family immigrated from London to Ottawa in the 1950s.

“That was always an important moment for us, not only as a TV show but as a family experience,” he says.

Zootopia co-director Byron Howard says Disney colleague Chris Williams, who was raised in Waterloo, Ont., recommended Mansbridge, calling him “the Canadian Walter Cronkite.”