Bruno Mars Lending His Voice for ‘Rio 2′

The birds from the animated film 'Rio' are coming back for a sequel, and this time Bruno Mars will be joining them. The singer has agreed to provide a voice for the upcoming film, due in April 2014.

The original 'Rio' featured the voices of Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, George Lopez and Jesse Eisenberg, all of whom will return for the sequel. 'Rio 2' will introduce several new characters, and Mars has been added to the team along with Andy Garcia, Kristin Chenoweth, and Rachel Crow. Also voicing a character will be singer Janelle Monae, who plans to contribute a song to the soundtrack. Let's keep our fingers crossed that Mars records a new song for the movie too!

Mars was great during his hosting gig on 'Saturday Night Live' and seems to have the talent to pursue a movie career in the future, so the 'Rio 2' role will could be a small step in that direction.

'Rio' hit theaters in April 2011 and boasted a soundtrack with music from will.i.am, Taio Cruz, and Foxx. The film made $480 million worldwide as audiences embraced the story of the computer-generated talking birds who escaped from smugglers. The new movie follows the family of birds as they move to the Amazon.

Watch the Bruno Mars 'When I Was Your Man' Video