Jodi Benson

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.

Jodi Marie Benson (née Marzorati; born October 10, 1961) is an American actress and singer.

Benson made her debut in the 1983 Kenny Ortega-directed "Marilyn: An American Fable".

The two of them later married in 1984.

She has two children, a son and a daughter.

Other Broadway credits include a starring role in the 1986 Broadway musical Smile, where she introduced a song called "Disneyland".

In late 1986, Benson first heard of the audition for The Little Mermaid through lyricist and playwright Howard Ashman.

In 1987, Howard Ashman, the lyricist of Smile, would go on to write the lyrics for The Little Mermaid.

She is best known for providing the voice of Ariel in Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid and throughout other films, including its sequel, prequel, and television series spin-off, as well as many other Disney works going up to the present day of the 2020s.

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.

From 1992 to 2011 she was the official voice of Barbie for Mattel and Pixar for projects such as Toy Story and ''Dance!

Workout with Barbie, until the role was taken over by Kate Higgins starting with the series Life in the Dreamhouse''.

For Warner Bros., she did the voice of the title character in Thumbelina in 1994, a Don Bluth animated feature film with songs by Barry Manilow.

Her other projects include Secret of the Wings, 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 Hanna-Barbera's animated series The Pirates of Dark Water.

Benson was born and raised in a Catholic family, graduating from Boylan Central Catholic High School in Rockford, Illinois, and Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.

She experienced a religious conversion while dating actor/singer Ray Benson (not to be confused with frontman Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel).

She played the narrator in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1998.

Benson also filled in for Paige O'Hara as the voice of Belle in House of Mouse and voiced the character Barbie in the second and third films of the Toy Story franchise (1999–2010), and in the Toy Story Toons short Hawaiian Vacation (2011).

In 2004–06, Benson contributed as the host and narrator of the children's Christian home video series called "Baby Faith", created by Integrity Publishers & FamilyTreeMedia.

In 2007, she played the secretary Sam in Disney's live-action/animated film, Enchanted.

Benson also played the Queen in a one-night concert version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella at the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in May 2010.

For her contributions to Disney, Benson was named a Disney Legend in 2011.

She also gave voice to the spirited "Weebo" in Disney's live action Flubber, starring Robin Williams.

She was at the 2012 SYTA conference singing her signature song "Part of Your World" on August 27, 2012.

An article originally published in 2013 by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said the couple "live north of Atlanta, GA."

She joined the "2013 Spring Pops" on May 14–15, 2013 as a guest soloist with the Boston Pops.

She describes the song "Disneyland" at the "Smile" Reunion concert held on September 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.

Benson has been a frequent celebrity narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World, appearing most recently in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021.

Benson can be heard on over a dozen recordings.

Her animated TV series include the Emmy Award-winning Camp Lazlo for 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.

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, and the San Francisco and Chicago Symphonies.

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! Benson was originally going to reprise her role as Sam in the 2022 film Disenchanted, but her scene was cut from the movie.

She recently lent her voice to Ariel in the 2022 video game Disney Dreamlight Valley as well as singing as Ariel on various Disney Princess albums of the 2000s.