Tiana is African-American, and she lives in New Orleans, a real place. Sofia is half-Enchancian and half-Galdizian. The two kingdoms are in a world where a few real countries like France exist, but they're still fictional, making words like Latina and Hispanic less clearly applicable.
The ninth Disney princess and the first of African-American heritage, Tiana dreams of opening her own restaurant, but an adventure in the New Orleans bayou awaits.
In discussing Sofia with Entertainment Weekly, she confirmed: “She is Latina.” Mitchell also confirmed that Sofia was the first Hispanic princess to hold court in the Magic Kingdom.
Princess Elena of Avalor, a "confident and compassionate teenager," will be introduced next year as Disney's first Latina princess, Nancy Kanter, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Disney Junior Worldwide announced today.
According to a Disney spokeswoman, Sofia has a mixed fairy-tale heritage; her mother and father are from Galdiz (which is based on Spain) and Freezenburg (which is based on Scandinavia), respectively.
Tiana is recognized for being Disney's first African American princess. As the film's writers and directors, Clements and Musker claim that their decision to depict Tiana as an African American young woman came naturally simply as a result of the location in which the story takes place.
His skin is brown, but he isn't African-American. "A lot of moms had issues with that," Coleman said. "It felt like it was a slap in the face to black men." Coleman asked a Disney executive if Prince Naveen was Creole and was told that his background was made up; he's whatever ethnicity they have in fictional Maldonia.
You know Elena of Avalor — are you still as pumped as we are about the first Latina princess?! — and are excited about the all-Latinx cast of Coco, but do you know Emperor Kuzco, Harley Diaz, and Cruz Ramirez? Here's a watching marathon you need to settle in for, stat.
The animated series inspired by Latin cultures and folklore, tells the story of Elena, a brave teenager, voiced by Aimee Carrero, who has been learning what it takes to be a great leader by ruling her enchanted fairy-tale kingdom as crown princess until she is old enough to be queen.
As for whether Elsa and Anna are white … the Northuldra are modeled on the Sami, an indigenous people scattered across northern Scandinavia and northwestern Russia who have faced a great deal of discrimination, but there's a lot of disagreement about the genetic and linguistic origins of Sami to this day.
Tiana was born to James and Eudora in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 25, 1989 where they raised her in an all-black neighborhood. Tiana has been a talented cook since she was very young, and shared the dream of opening a restaurant with James, which he called 'Tiana's Place'.
Pin for Later: 21 Disney Prince Facts You Never Knew as a Kid Prince Naveen is the only prince to have a non-American accent. He is from the fictional kingdom of Maldonia, and voice actor Bruno Campos ad-libbed the accent as a combination of Portuguese and French.
Naveen or Navin (Sanskrit: नवीन, IAST: navīna; /nəˈviːn/ na-VEEN) is an Indian male given name and surname. The word means "new", "fresh", "young", "bright", "creative". Naveen is chiefly used in Indian languages, and its origin is Sanskrit.
Naveen is an Indian name (meaning "new"), which suggests that Maldonia is a Eurasian country (the name of Maldonia is a mix between Maldives and Macedonia), although his fluency in English, French and Italian might also indicate that Maldonia is a Mediterranean country, possibly near Monaco.
In Disney's nearly 100-year history, there has been only one Black Disney princess — Princess Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog,” a 2009 animated feature starring Anika Noni Rose. The singer Brandy starred in a 1997 made-for-TV film version of “Cinderella,” a remake of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
Academy Award-winner Ariana DeBose will portray the first Afro-Latina princess. The trailer for Disney's latest animation film, Wish, is here, and we're already in love with the leading princess, voiced by West Side Story Academy Award-winning actress Ariana DeBose.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937, debuting the very first Disney princess with Snow White herself. Voiced by Adriana Caselotti, she's incredibly of her time (i.e. dated af).
Disney has not specified that Princess Elena is Hispanic, but rather that she's "inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore." Wendy Carrillo, writer for The Flama, the first digital network for English-speaking Hispanic millennials, explains more.
In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Snow White meets a handsome prince after he overhears her singing in the woods. When she's poisoned by her evil stepmother, the Prince comes along and kisses her to wake her up. Snow White was thought to be 14 in the film, and the Prince was 31.
As the story took on a life of its own, Disney felt they had to come out with a statement clarifying what their make-believe princess is — and isn't. The end result is that Sofia is not actually Latina.
