Discover which Disney princesses had their features inspired by different real-life celebrities
Does art imitate life or does life imitate art? At Disney, the second option is the most common to notice! This is because some of the studio’s princesses were inspired by some celebrities from the real world as inspiration for their creation, as these holders of the title of royalty had their appearance shaped according to the most striking visual characteristics of their inspirational muses known in Hollywood.
It is worth remembering that there are three princesses in total who went through this same creative process. Furthermore, they all emerged at completely different times in history, obtaining the attributes of people who were also relevant in the same period of their creations. But who are they?
1. Snow White
The first princess of Disney and also the first character in an animated feature film, Snow White, can have several different inspirations, the most cited among them, Hedy Lamarras Buzzfeed points out, an actress who, in addition to becoming one of the biggest names in the Golden Age of Hollywood, earned the title of “mother of Wi-Fi”, after creating a torpedo communication system that became the basis for the development of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Still, his look was inspired by not just one, but five famous people in the 1930s. According to the ScreenRant portal, Jean Harlow, Marlene Dietrich It is Claudette Colbertand the dancer Marge Champion were chosen to have at least one characteristic mirrored in the princess. Look!
- Jean Harlow: thin eyebrows and curly hair;
- Marlene Dietrich: the princess’ makeup that uses purple eye shadow, rosy cheeks and bright red lipstick;
- Claudette Colbert: the rounded face, the big eyes and the small mouth;
- Marge Champion: Snow White’s movement, as the animators needed to accurately draw all the steps taken by the princess in a fluid and playful way.
2. Ariel
The daughter of King Triton, Ariel appeared in ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989) with the same physical attributes as the actress Alyssa Milano. The information was told by the star herself in an interview with the talk show Wendy Williamsin 2013, where she revealed that she discovered the fact when she was invited to present ‘The Making of the Little Mermaid’, as she noticed that the animator Glen Keane she was based on a photo taken when she was still a child to perfect the mermaid’s features.
3. Tiana
Tiana, from ‘The Princess and the Frog’ (2009), was inspired by her original voice actress, Anika Noni Rose. Disney’s first black princess has a round nose and full lips like Roseand above all it has a characteristic that may have gone unnoticed by some fans of the animation, given that Prince Naveen’s wife was left-handed!
The facts were revealed by the voice actress in a text published on Instagram in which she spoke about the changes in the princess’s main features made in “WiFi Ralph: Breaking the Internet”, an animation released in 2018, which had portrayed Tiana with a thin nose and tone with lighter skin, but after complaints from fans it was redesigned with its original attributes.
Source: Recreio
