Paige O'Hara (born Donna Paige Helmintoller; May 10, 1956)[1] is an American actress, singer, and painter. O'Hara began her career as a Broadway actress in 1983 when she portrayed Ellie May Chipley in the musical Showboat. In 1991, she made her motion picture debut in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, in which she voiced the film's heroine, Belle. Following the critical and commercial success of Beauty and the Beast, O'Hara reprised her role as Belle in the film's two direct-to-video follow-ups, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) and Belle's Magical World (1998), and for a cameo appearance in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
Paige O'Hara | |
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Born | Donna Paige Helmintoller (1956-05-10) May 10, 1956 (age 66) Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
Education | Nova High School |
Alma mater | Parkway Middle School of the Arts |
Occupation |
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Years active | 1983–present |
Spouse | Michael Piontek (m. 1995) |
Awards | Disney Legend (2011) |
Website | www |
O'Hara was born May 10, 1956 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and attended Nova High School in Davie, Florida, and Parkway Middle School of The Arts, also in Florida. She performed in shows with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre.
Her mother is of Irish ancestry, and her father was born in Ireland to a family of Irish, British, Dutch and German background.
O'Hara began acting at the age of four, attending acting classes in her home state of Florida.[2] It was not until she was 12 years old that she developed an interest in singing and enrolled in a performing arts high school.[2] O'Hara cites American actress and singer Judy Garland as one of her idols.[3]
O'Hara made her first appearance on the Broadway stage as Ellie May Chipley in the revival of Showboat in 1983 starring Donald O'Connor. She repeated the role for the Houston Grand Opera's 1989 production and continued with them when the show was moved to the Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Continuing her legacy as Ellie, she also sang the part on the 1989 Grammy-nominated recording of the musical with Jerry Hadley, Frederica von Stade, and Teresa Stratas, conducted by John McGlinn on the Angel EMI label. Her other American stage credits include the title role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Broadway and national tour) and Ado Annie in a national tour of Oklahoma! directed by William Hammerstein. In 1995, she joined the Broadway production of Les Misérables, where she played the role of Fantine.
Internationally, O'Hara has played the role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (Australia).
In April 2011, O'Hara played the role of Judy Garland in From Gumm to Garland: JUDY, The Musical at the Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, Arizona.
A longtime fan of Walt Disney Pictures,[3] O'Hara auditioned for Beauty and the Beast at the age of 35[4] after reading about the film in The New York Times.[2]
In Season 2 of The Legend of Prince Valiant (which starred her Beauty and the Beast co-star Robby Benson), O'Hara had a recurring role as Princess Aleta (who was later promoted to queen). Benson's character Prince Valiant fell in love with Aleta at first sight.
O'Hara also starred as Venus in the BBC's recorded broadcast of the live presentation of Kurt Weill's "One Touch of Venus" and in tribute to her Belle character from Beauty and the Beast, she portrayed Angela, a character in a fictional soap opera, for Disney's 2007 live action/traditional 2-D animated film Enchanted.
For her work as Belle, O'Hara was honored with a Disney Legend Award on August 19, 2011.[5]
As of 2011, O'Hara was replaced by Julie Nathanson as the voice of Belle due to her voice changing significantly over the course of twenty years.[6] Despite this, she still paints Belle for Disney Fine Art and also continues to do promotional appearances for Disney.[6][7][8] In 2016, O'Hara appeared at numerous special screenings of Beauty and the Beast in honor of the film's 25th anniversary.[9][10] O'Hara reprised her role as Belle in the 2018 film Ralph Breaks the Internet.[11]
O'Hara met actor Michael Piontek in 1989. After six years of dating, they married in 1995.[12][13][14]
O'Hara's religious background is Catholic.[12][15]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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1991 | Beauty and the Beast | Belle (voice) | Nominated — Grammy Award for Album of the Year |
1997 | Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas | ||
1998 | Belle's Magical World | Nominated — Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Feature Production | |
1999 | Belle's Tales of Friendship | ||
2001 | Legend of the Candy Cane | Jane Aubrey (voice) | |
Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse | Belle (voice) | Direct-to-video | |
2004 | Sing Along Songs: Disney Princess: Once Upon a Dream | ||
2005 | Disney Princess Party: Volume Two | ||
2007 | Enchanted | Angela | |
2016 | Always Belle | Herself | Documentary |
2018 | Ralph Breaks the Internet | Belle (voice) |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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1993 | The Legend of Prince Valiant | Princess Aleta / Queen Aleta (voices) | 9 episodes |
1995 | The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat | Girls (voice) | Episode: "Felix in Nightdrop Land/Shocking Story", uncredited |
1996 | Adventures from the Book of Virtues | The Princess / June Washington | Episode: "Honesty" |
2002 | Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe In Santa | Nicole (voice) | Television film |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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2000 | Disney's Beauty and the Beast Magical Ballroom | Belle | Voice role |
2005 | Kingdom Hearts II | Voice role, English version | |
2007 | Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ | ||
Disney Princess: Magical Jewels | Voice role | ||
Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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1983 | Showboat | Ellie May Chipley | |
1985 | The Mystery of Edwin Drood | Alice Nutting/Edwin Drood | |
1986 | Oklahoma! | Ado Annie | |
1995 | Les Misérables | Fantine | [16] |
1996 | Peter Pan | Peter Pan | [17][18] |
Disney Legends Awards (2010s) | |
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2011 |
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2013 |
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2015 |
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2017 |
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2019 |
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* Awarded posthumously
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General | |
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National libraries | |
Other |
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