Jodi Benson

Jodi Marie Marzorati Benson is an American voice actress, actress and soprano singer. She is best known for providing both the speaking and the singing voice of Princess Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid and its sequel, prequel, and television series. Benson voiced the character Barbie in the 1999 movie Toy Story 2, the 2010 Academy Award winning movie Toy Story 3 and the Toy Story toon Hawaiian Vacation. For her contributions to the Disney company, Benson was named a Disney Legend in 2011.
Benson was the original voice of Ariel in the Academy Award-winning Walt Disney Pictures animated feature film The Little Mermaid and continues to perform Ariel and the bubbly voice of "Barbie" in Disney/Pixar's Best Picture Golden Globe winner Toy Story 2 and Academy Award winner Toy Story 3. She also gave voice to the spirited "Weebo" in Disney's live action Flubber, starring Robin Williams. For Warner Bros., she created the voice of Thumbelina, a Don Bluth animated feature film with songs by Barry Manilow. Jodi's other projects include Tinkerbell: Secret of the Wings, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, Balto II: Wolf Quest, and Balto III: Wings of Change. She appeared as Patrick Dempsey's assistant Sam, in Disney’s live-action feature film Enchanted. While being a Disney Legend, she also voiced Jane Doe and Patsy Smiles in Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo. She also voiced the character Tula in Fox's "Pirates of Dark water" series.
==Career==
Benson's debut on Broadway was in the 1983 Kenny Ortega-directed "Marilyn: An American Fable". Other Broadway credits include a starring role in the Broadway musical Smile, where she introduced a song called "Disneyland". Howard Ashman, the lyricist of Smile, would go on to write the lyrics for The Little Mermaid. She describes the song "Disneyland" at the "Smile" Reunion concert held on Sept. 22, 2014, "This is the first piece of the puzzle of my life, the first step of the journey, so to speak". Benson also sings "Disneyland" on a compilation CD called Unsung Musicals. In 1989, Benson appeared in the Broadway musical, Welcome to the Club, alongside Samuel E. Wright, who performed the voice for Sebastian the Crab in The Little Mermaid.
In 1992, Benson received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Polly Baker in Crazy for You. She played the narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1998.
Benson also played the Queen in a one-night concert version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella at the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in May 2010.
She was at the 2012 SYTA conference singing her signature song Part of Your World on Monday, August 27, 2012.
Benson has been the guest artist for the Candlelight Processional for 5 years at Walt Disney World including December 10–13, 2012.
She joined the "2013 Spring Pops" on May 14–15, 2013 as a guest soloist with the Boston Pops.
Benson can be heard on over a dozen recordings and has a six-part DVD series entitled Baby Faith from the creators of Baby Einstein. Her animated TV series include the Emmy Award-winning Camp Lazlo for the Cartoon Network, The Little Mermaid, Batman Beyond, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, The Wild Thornberrys, Barbie, Hercules: Zero to Hero, P. J. Sparkles, and the series Sofia the First for Disney as well as many others.
On the concert stage, Benson has performed as a concert soloist with symphonies all over the world, including The Boston Pops, The Philly Pops (conductor: Peter Nero), The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (conductor: John Mauceri), The National Symphony (conductor: Marvin Hamlisch), Cleveland, Dallas, Tokyo, San Francisco and Chicago Symphonies, to name a few. She starred in the Kennedy Center Honors for Ginger Rogers, and in Disney's Premiere in Central Park with Pocahontas, The Walt Disney World 25th Anniversary Spectacular and Disney's 100 Years of Magic. Benson is the resident guest soloist for the Walt Disney Company/Disney Cruise Line and ambassador for feature animation.
On June 6, 2016, Benson performed the role of Ariel at the Hollywood Bowl's concert performance of The Little Mermaid. She also made a special appearance in ABC's 2019 live musical spectacular The Little Mermaid Live!.
==Filmography==
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1984	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 	Lastelle's Mother (2004 Disney Dub) 	Voice role
1989	The Little Mermaid 	Princess Ariel/Vanessa 	Voice role
1991	Pirates of Dark Water 	Tula 	TV series (voice)
1992	Dance! Workout with Barbie 	Barbie 	Video (voice)
1992	P. J. Sparkles 	P.J. (1988 Mattel) 	Voice
1992	The Little Mermaid 	Princess Ariel 	TV series (voice)
1994	Thumbelina 	Thumbelina 	Voice role
1997	Flubber 	Weebo 	Voice role
1997	A Christmas Carol 	Belle 	Voice role
1998	The Mighty Kong 	Ann Darrow 	Voice role
1998	An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island 	Additional Voices 	Voice role
1998	Hercules 	Helen of Troy 	TV series (voice)
1999	Hercules: Zero to Hero 	Helen of Troy 	Voice role
1999	Toy Story 2 	Barbie 	Voice role
2000	The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea 	Princess Ariel 	Voice role
2000	Joseph: King of Dreams 	Asenath 	Voice role
2001	Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure 	Lady (replacing Barbara Luddy) 	Nominated - Annie Award for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Feature Production
2001	Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse	Princess Ariel 	Voice role
2001	House of Mouse 	Princess Ariel, Princess Belle 	TV series (voice)
2001	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy 	The Blue Fairy 	Additional Voices
2002	Balto II: Wolf Quest 	Jenna (replacing Bridget Fonda in the rest of the franchise)	Voice role
2002	Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa 	Lenee 	Voice role
2003	101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure 	Anita (replacing Lisa Davis) 	Voice role
2003	Mickey's PhilharMagic 	Princess Ariel 	Voice role
2003	K10C: Kids' Ten Commandments 	Leila and Martha 	Voice role
2005	Balto III: Wings of Change 	Jenna 	Voice role
2005	Camp Lazlo 	Patsy Smiles, Ms. Jane Doe, Almondine 	Voice role
2007	Enchanted 	Sam 	
2007	The Save-Ums 	Chloe 	Voice
2008	The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning 	Princess Ariel 	Voice role
2010	Toy Story 3 	Barbie 	Voice role
2011	The Little Engine That Could 	Jillian 	Voice role
2011	Hawaiian Vacation 	Barbie 	Voice role
2012	Secret of the Wings 	Healing-Talent Fairy 	Voice role
2013	Sofia the First 	Princess Ariel and Queen Emmaline 	Voice role, computer animated series
2015	Star vs. the Forces of Evil 	Singing Teacher 	Voice
2016	Clarence 	Diana 	Voice
2018	Wreck-It Ralph 2 	Princess Ariel 	Voice rolein production
2019	Toy Story 4 	Barbie 	Voice rolein production
2019	The Little Mermaid Live! 	Herself 	TV Special
2022	Turning Red 	Bev 	Voice role
2022	The Loud House 	Tammy Gobblesworth 	Voice role
2023	The Wingfeather Saga 	Nia Igiby
Category:Actresses
Category:Voice actresses
Category:Singers
Category:American actresses
Category:1961 births
Category:Living people	
== Discography ==
*1992 Jodi Benson Sings Songs From the Beginner's Bible
*1992 Little Mermaid: Splash hits
*1992 Crazy For You Cast Recording
*1993 Songs from the Sea
*1994 Unsung Musicals
*1995 Songs of Guideposts Junction
*1996 Hollywood Christmas (Various artists)
*2000 Little Mermaid II Soundtrack
== External links ==
* Jodi Benson on Wikipedia 
Category:The Little Mermaid
Category:Camp Lazlo
Category:Toy Story
Category:Lady and the Tramp