Henn was inspired by studio employee Jaimie Milner, a film intern who was working in post production. The fact that Tiana is African American was "never a big issue" for Henn when it came to animating her, but drawing her as both a human and a frog proved difficult.
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.
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'.
Disney's 2009 film The Princess and the Frog was created in response to racial criticism. It features the first Black princess as a means of promoting racial equality. This film attempts to positively portray Black characters, who were depicted as violent and lazy in previous animations.
The idea of making our heroine African American simply grew out of the setting and that was an integral part of the story we pitched to John in March of 2006. We all thought it was a great idea. But it wasn't until later that we fully realized the importance of this in the African American community.
While some claim Jasmine is Arab because the movie opens with a song called Arabian Nights, others believe that the architecture in Agrabah is clearly based on the Taj Mahal, making Jasmine Indian. It's a debate that has fueled speculation that in Hollywood, Indians and Arabs are interchangeable.
New Orleans culture is clearly displayed throughout the film in the music, characters, voodoo references and the food. One thing that Disney does extremely well is create memorable protagonists and villains that are unique from each other.
At some point, James was possibly killed in action (K.I.A.) during the war, so he probably never got to see Tiana get her restaurant. As shown briefly in the film, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (given for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force).
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.
About this DVD: Mulan is a young Chinese woman who breaks tradition and joins the Imperial army, accompanied by her guardian dragon, Mushu, to battle an invading army. In Mulan 2, Mulan and Shang are engaged to be married and must journey to a distant city in a valiant quest to save their beloved empire.
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.
Early in development, Tiana was originally called Maddy and worked as a chambermaid in the La Bouff household. However, public criticism eventually caused her character's name to be changed to Tiana and her job, a waitress.
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.
The original Aladdin story was actually set in China. Aladdin is one of the stories compiled in The Thousand and One Nights — a collection of Middle Eastern and Indian folk tales, however, it did not appear in the original Arabic text.
Disney set to launch an Indian princess for the first time ever. Princess Ananya, has been confirmed by the team, but they have also added that it's quite in the early stages and the team isn't even close to launching her.
The original story of 'Aladdin' is, maybe surprisingly, set in China. In the earliest versions of the story, Aladdin is Chinese. He's also not an orphaned street urchin but a lazy boy living at home with his mother. All the characters in the tale are also Chinese apart from the wicked magician who is from North Africa.
Winter was born on January 28, 1998, the daughter of Chrisoula (née Batistas) and Glenn Workman. Through her mother, she is of Greek descent, and through her father, of German descent.
