Meet Jessica Alexander, The Little Mermaid's breakout star: the bisexual Gen Z actress plays Ursula's human incarnate for 6 minutes in the Disney film, and sticks up for co-star Halle Bailey.
In The Little Mermaid remake, Jessica Alexander plays Ursula's human form Vanessa who may look innocent on the outside, but she also seems a little peculiar. Jessica Alexander is an English actress and model who first gained recognition for her role in BBC series Get Even.
Patricia Ann "Pat" Carroll (born May 5, 1927-died July 30, 2022) was an American actress, voice actress and comedian. She provided the voices of Ursula in The Little Mermaid and Morgana in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
Who is the voice of Vanessa in The Little Mermaid?
She was the sly fiancée of Prince Eric for a day, an attractive woman who briefly becomes the center of the plot and became a fan favorite character. She is voiced by Jodi Benson and later in the movie, Pat Carroll (after her necklace broke).
The name of Ursula's human disguise, "Vanessa", is derived from the Latin word "Vanitas", meaning "Vanity," "Worthlessness," "Emptiness," and "Nothingness." Interestingly enough, a character named Vanitas appears as one of the main villains of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, but unrelated to Ursula.
Poor Unfortunate Souls (from The Little Mermaid)【covered by Anna】
Are Ursula and Triton siblings?
In this novel, Ursula is King Triton's younger sister who was betrayed by him as a child for choosing a tentacled form instead of a mermaid's tail, and grew up as a human in the town of Ipswich with an adoptive human father.
Ursula was initially going to resemble Joan Collins, however, basing the character on Divine made much more sense. "It just seemed like a funny and quirky idea," Minkoff added, "to take [Ursula] and treat her more like a drag queen."
The sea-witch octopus, originally voiced by Pat Carroll and modeled after drag queen Divine, is the epitome of a classic Disney baddie: unabashedly evil and self-serving, with a campy anthem to boot.
Ariel appears as an adult in Return to the Sea and gives birth to a daughter named Melody, becoming the first, and currently, only, Disney princess to become a mother.
Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She voiced Ursula in The Little Mermaid and appeared in CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, ABC's Laverne & Shirley, and NBC's ER. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee.
While Ariel is 16 years old in Disney animated The Little Mermaid film, her love interest is not the same age. The character's voice actor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, was just 16 years old at the time of recording the film, leading to the assumption that the character was intended to be the same age.
Ursula was able to use Ariel's voice as part of a hypnotic spell that allowed her to manipulate humans while on the surface, but these spells were strongly tied to Ariel's voice.
Alexander is openly bisexual. She is an advocate for the LGBT community and has been referred to as a queer icon. She uses her Instagram to spread awareness about LGBT-related issues.
The original character in the 1989 movie was inspired by the triple threat drag queen, actor, and singer Divine, a fact that was mere speculation at first, but has since been confirmed by those involved with the film. Divine catapulted to cult fame after appearing in Pink Flamingos, John Waters' filthy 1972 comedy.
Melissa McCarthy proved she had the vocal chops for 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' Portraying Disney's new Ursula − who tricks Ariel into giving up her golden voice for human legs and feet to pursue her true love, Prince Eric − proved to be one of the hottest casting stories in Hollywood.
Ariel makes this deal because she falls in love with Prince Eric and desires to be with him. Ursula specifically targets Ariel because she sees an opportunity to exploit her curiosity about the human world and her fascination with Prince Eric.
There, before Ursula is fully evil, she actually chooses to have octopus tentacles instead of the usual fishtails that mermaids have, and Triton betrays her because of her choice, banishing her from the kingdom.
In the past, Ursula was a resident of King Triton's palace, before being banished and exiled by order of the king. Scorned, she has since vowed to exact vengeance by harnessing the power of the king's trident and installing herself as ruler of all the ocean.
While it is known that her mother perished, there is no story attached to the event. However, much later, in 2008, an animated The Little Mermaid prequel revealed that Ariel's mother was crushed by a pirate ship during an altercation between humans and merpeople.
In the animated film, Ursula was a villain who enjoyed messing with people and getting what she wanted. In The Little Mermaid live-action, however, Ursula's backstory gets an adjustment — she is upgraded to Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt, making her revenge and motivations all the more sinister.
Melissa McCarthy's version of Ursula is revealed to be King Triton's sister. The sea witch was banished and wanted power and revenge on her older brother, as well as his trident.
In addition to being the god of the sea, Once's Poseidon is also the father of Merrin Dungey's Ursula, a concept omitted from Disney's The Little Mermaid in 1989, though later included in the Broadway musical.
