Anika Noni Rose “can not imagine” how time has flown since The Princess and the Frog premiered on Dec. 11, 2009.
In a current interview with PEOPLE about her first youngsters’s e book, Tiana’s Perfect Plan, the actress shared her ideas on the beloved Disney movie and its milestone fifteenth anniversary.
“It is wild how briskly that glided by,” the 52-year-old shared.
She recalled that in her ultimate Princess Tiana audition, she arrived at Walt Disney Animation Studios and walked down the hallway previous paintings depicting movies from Bambi to Fantasia, and she or he “burst into tears.”
“I simply could not imagine it. I all the time wished to be a Disney voice, all the time,” she stated. “I did not must be an individual. That did not matter to me. I’d have fortunately been a mushroom. I’d have been a tree. I’d have been a rock. I’d have been no matter.”
She continued to recall the moments earlier than that ultimate audition: “I used to be strolling by way of the halls of the historical past of my childhood, and at that very same time, I felt in my bones this was for me. I felt it.”
Everett Assortment
She additionally advised PEOPLE how significant it has been to observe youngsters develop up together with her character and the “mind-blowing” impression Tiana has on younger ladies; she’s nonetheless in disbelief each time she spots youngsters of their “little outfits” or “singing the songs,” she added.
Rose revealed that when she speaks with youngsters — or their mother and father come as much as her and inform her how grateful they’re for the character — she’s allowed “to the touch in with youngsters differently.”
Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Assortment
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She recalled that the primary time she noticed a toddler dressed as Tiana was on the D23 Expo, and since, she’s “seen youngsters of all totally different ethnicities, all totally different backgrounds” sporting the signature inexperienced robe.
“Once I’m considering of Black or brown-skinned adults, we spent a lot time rising up making an attempt to suit into one other commonplace of magnificence. And now, at this level, these youngsters, these new youngsters, are snug inside themselves in several methods,” she stated.
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Sean Teegarden/Disneyland Resort
She continued to credit score the animated icon for serving to younger folks “really feel like they match into our house due to Tiana,” chatting with the roster of Disney princesses.
“They do not suppose something of placing on their Tiana costume. You possibly can’t inform them they are not Tiana,” she acknowledged. “It isn’t concerning the reality they are not brown. They nonetheless really feel like they’re Tiana.”
“Brown infants really feel like they’re regal, and their pals, who is probably not brown, have a look at them and completely see that. [They say,] ‘Sure, you’re regal, and you’re a princess.’ ”
“It is these little waves that make modifications when these youngsters wish to be within the faculty play, and so they wish to be the princess,” she continued. “Who’s going to inform them they cannot be the princess at this level? No one, as a result of we see it. It is there.”
