Jodi Benson
Jodi Benson
Jodi Marie Marzorati Benson is an American actress, voice actress, and soprano singer. She is best known for providing both the speaking and the singing voice of Disney's Princess Ariel in 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...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActress
Date of Birth10 October 1961
CountryUnited States of America
I remember when John Lasseter called me back in the late 1990s to personally invite me to come be the voice of Barbie in 'Toy Story 2.'
I was the original voice of Mattels Barbie for an 80s claymation workout video.
I love working for Disney! They are my family.
I want to live outside of the box, and I definitely don't want to put God in a box, so I want to be able to dream big and kind of let that go of my small-mindedness.
Ever since the kids were babies, we have treated them with respect. We are the mom and dad for sure, but we look for opportunities for us to sit down and say, 'How are things going for you? Is there anything that we can do as parents to help you? Let's all come up with a solution together.' We work better as a team.
We had put our son into a little preschool in Los Angeles, and it was just not going well, so we brought him back home. We had every intention of putting him back into a traditional school setting, but we just really couldn't find the right match for him. And then we moved to Georgia and again couldn't find the right match.
Anything that has to do with Disney and Pixar, I am on board with. That is where my heart and family are. So when they call, I jump.
The thing that I enjoy about animation is the fact that it is unbridled, and there are no boundaries; when you are in the room, you don't have to focus on your clothing, make-up, hair, your choreography or your blocking; you really do have total freedom.
I grew up with 'Cinderella.' So that was my go-to Disney film, definitely. It was princess-related, and coming from a smaller area in Illinois and wanting to do something greater than myself in Broadway, that was a film that I could really relate to.
I am blessed to perform in the studio and on the concert stage.
I am a follower of Jesus. My husband really brought me to the Lord when I was 18 and I am so lucky to have a platform through the studio.
I am really committed to my faith journey, and I am committed to my family. My husband and I have been married for almost 30 years, and we homeschool our kids. We have a different working-out-of the-box family, but we do make it work, obviously with God's grace, and we are very grateful for that.
I have a lot of mermaid stuff. I did start collecting a lot before I had children because I didn't know if I would have a boy or a girl. So I saved everything.
I have a studio at my house, and there is a sister studio for Disney which is about 45 minutes away, and we haven't dropped a beat. In the art of animation and voiceover work, you can pretty much work from anywhere.