Jodi Benson


Jodi Benson won the role of Ariel over 600 other actresses. Her Broadway stage credits include leading roles in the Howard Ashman musical "Smile" and the 1989 Cy Coleman musical "Welcome to the Club" (which also featured "Mermaid" co-star Sam Wright)

She made her Broadway debut in "Marilyn: An American Fable" in 1983. Her other stage credits prior to "Mermaid" included a national tour of "Sophisticated Ladies," an international tour of "Once Upon A Mattress" and a production of "West Side Story" in Venice, in which she played Anita. She originated the role of Tania in the world premiere of "Dangerous Music" at the Jupiter Theater.

"Ariel was one of the most difficult voices to cast," co-director Ron Clements says. "Because the songs are structured almost as extensions of the dialogue, we felt it was really important to have the same person doing the singing and speaking voice. Jodi has a sweetness and purity to her singing voice and a youthfulness to her speaking voice that was very unique. We felt she best captured the innocent and vulnerable quality we were looking for."

Mrs. Benson says "As an actress, I never realized how difficult it was to get across what you're feeling and thinking just by using your voice. It was a great challenge. I was thrilled to get the part of Ariel and grateful to be able to sing such a beautiful song as 'Part of Your World.' It's not just a song but more as if Ariel was just sitting there, secure in her own place, and speaking this out from the heart."

"Mermaid" opened some professional doors for Mrs. Benson. She lent her voice to other animated productions, including Hanna-Barbera's television series "The Pirates of Dark Water" and Don Bluth's much-delayed feature film "Thumbelina." In 1992, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway musical "Crazy For You."

That same year, she sang two songs as Ariel on the Walt Disney Records album "Sebastian." Her own Disney CD of new "Little Mermaid" songs, "Songs From the Sea," followed the next year.

Late in 1992, Mrs. Benson returned to the role of the red-haired mermaid for the ambitious weekly animated series "Disney's The Little Mermaid," which ran on Saturday mornings on the CBS television network for three years before cancellation. In the show's second year, a CD of songs from the series, including some sung by Mrs. Benson, was released as "The Little Mermaid's Splash Hits." She also provided Ariel's voice for a series of children's read-along cassettes.

A deeply religious woman, Mrs. Benson wrote an article for the inspirational magazine Guideposts about how her marriage to actor Ray Benson was breaking down around the time the "Mermaid" film was in production, and how they rebuilt their marriage with Christian counseling (which they were steered toward by a Disney animator), hard work and faith in God.

Mrs. Benson has also narrated and sung for a series of tapes for children based on The Beginner's Bible and recently starred in a series of children's videos, "Guidepost Junction," one of which was nominated for a Dove Award (Doves are the Grammys of the Christian music industry.) She has also made talk show appearances on Trinity Broadcasting Network, a U.S. religious cable television channel.

She has also provided he voice of Barbie for television commercials, and was in the animated NBC special "Precious Moments," alongside fellow Disney veterans Melissa Manchester (the dance-hall singing mouse in "The Great Mouse Detective") and Don Knotts (Barney Fife of "The Andy Griffith Show" and a veteran of several live-action Disney comedies.)

She was the voice of Professor Brainerd's robot WEEBO in the 1997 remake of "Absent Minded Professor" titled "Flubber."

Her next Disney projects: She is providing the voice of Lady in Disney's direct-to-video sequel to 1955's "Lady and the Tramp." She is also providing the voice of Ariel for a direct-to-video sequel to "The Little Mermaid" and and will do the voice of a Barbie doll for the movie "Toy Story II." Until recently, she was the narrator in a touring production, with her husband Ray, of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

On Jan. 8, 1999, she gave birth to a boy, McKinley Benson, the first child for her and her husband.