It’s not often the little girl in me comes out, but the moment I was given the chance to interview Paige O’Hara, voice of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, I was giddy with excitement, just as I was 20 years ago when I saw the movie with my mom.
Getting to play the role of a princess is any little girl’s dream and it was a dream of O’Hara’s to play the part of Belle. In fact, receiving the role of Belle seemed like a fairytale with the way that it played out in her life. “It was an incredible week because I had auditioned for it 5 times and I was really excited about it. I really was thinking I was going to get it.” O’Hara shared. “My husband to be proposed to me the day before I got the job and it was my birthday. So I got engaged, my birthday and the role of Beauty and the Beast all happened in a matter of 3 days.”
O’Hara, who began her career on Broadway, didn’t have to look far to find herself in her character Belle, Disney’s first brown haired, brown eyed princess.
“I relate to her quite a bit actually. Particularly the part of her that felt out of place and odd. Because when I was growing up in Ft. Lauderdale and my friends were you know listening to Led Zeppelin and I was listening to Gershwin and Rogers & Hammerstein. I was also a theater person, which was not the norm.” admitted O’Hara “So I was sort of an oddball, I mean I still managed to have a fairly normal teenaged life, but I’ve always loved books and I’ve always loved that side of her.”
One of her favorite characteristics of Belle and something that drew her to the role was also something she could relate to. “I really wasn’t looking for a man. You know, and that’s the thing about Belle, she’s the only princess that’s not looking for a man. She wants to enjoy life, and that’s me as a young teenager. Wanting to go to Broadway and experience it, travel around the world with my career.”
Beauty and the Beast quickly turned into a Disney classic along side some of the other favorite Disney films like Cinderella and Snow White. After it’s release in 1991 the film caught the attention of major award shows and was nominated for several awards. The animated classic won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture in a Musical or Comedy and two other awards for its music. Beauty and the Beast was also the first ever animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, an honor it held until 2009.
O’Hara calls all of the success “one of the greatest honors of my life.”
Since the film, O’Hara continues to work with her Disney family lending her voice as Belle for other movies and toys. Her latest venture with Disney incorporates a hobby she’s had all her life. “I’m painting oil paintings for Disney Fine Art. Different oil pantings from the film and different scenes from the film. A lot of portrait-driven paintings and it’s really fun because I’ve always been an artist since I was three years old but I’ve never actually been hired to be an artist so this is great.”
It sounds like her life has turned into a Disney fairytale all within itself.
Make sure to check out Beauty and the Beast 3D which is in theaters now.
Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post.
