Paige O'Hara (born Donna Paige Helmintoller; May 10, 1956) is an American actress, singer, and painter. O'Hara began her career as a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

actress in 1983 when she portrayed Ellie May Chipley in the musical ''

Showboat A showboat, or show boat, was a floating theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to bring culture and entertainment to the inhabitants of river frontiers. Showboats were a ...

''. In 1991, she made her motion picture debut in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

'', 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 ''Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World'' is a 1998 direct-to-video animated musical film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It was released on February 17, 1998, and is a sequel to the 1991 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature f ...

'' (1998), and for a cameo appearance in ''

Ralph Breaks the Internet ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' is a 2018 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 57th animated film produced by the studio and the sequel t ...

'' (2018).

Early life

O'Hara was born May 10, 1956 in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 Unit ...

, and attended

Nova High School Nova High School is a public high school located in Davie, Florida and is part of the Broward County Public Schools district. It is one of four schools that comprise the Nova Center for Applied Research and Professional Development, the others ...

Davie, Florida Davie is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States, approximately north of Miami. The town's population was 110,320 at the 2020 census. Davie is a principal town of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782. ...

, 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. It was not until she was 12 years old that she developed an interest in singing and enrolled in a performing arts high school. O'Hara cites American actress and singer

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

as one of her idols.

Career

Broadway and stage

O'Hara made her first appearance on the Broadway stage as Ellie May Chipley in the revival of ''

'' in 1983 starring

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. His b ...

. She repeated the role for the

Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians,Giesberg, Robert I., Carl Cunningham, and Alan Rich. ''Houston Grand Opera at ...

's 1989 production and continued with them when the show was moved to the

Cairo Opera House The Cairo Opera House ( ar, دار الأوبرا المصرية, ''Dār el-Opera el-Masreyya''; literally "Egyptian Opera House"), part of Cairo's National Cultural Centre, is the main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital. Home to mo ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. Continuing her legacy as Ellie, she also sang the part on the 1989 Grammy-nominated recording of the musical with

Jerry Hadley Jerry Hadley (June 16, 1952 – July 18, 2007) was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of ''Jenůfa'' (2004 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), '' Susannah'' (1995 Grammy Awa ...

, Frederica von Stade, and

Teresa Stratas Teresa Stratas (born May 26, 1938) is a retired operatic soprano from Canada of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's '' Lulu''. Early life and career Stratas was born Anastasia Stratakis t ...

, conducted by John McGlinn on the

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

EMI label. Her other American stage credits include the title role in ''

The Mystery of Edwin Drood ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is the final novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood's uncle, John Jasper, a precentor, choirmaster and opium ...

'' (Broadway and national tour) and Ado Annie in a national tour of ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tell ...

'' directed by William Hammerstein. In 1995, she joined the Broadway production of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'', where she played the role of

Fantine Fantine (French pronunciation: ) is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. She is a young '' grisette'' in Paris who becomes pregnant by a rich student. After he abandons her, she is forced to look after their chi ...

. Internationally, O'Hara has played the role of Nellie Forbush in ''

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

'' (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.

Transition to film and ''Beauty and the Beast''

A longtime fan of

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

, O'Hara auditioned for ''

'' at the age of 35 after reading about the film in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In Season 2 of ''

The Legend of Prince Valiant ''The Legend of Prince Valiant'' is a 1991–1993 American animated television series based on the ''Prince Valiant'' comic strip created by Hal Foster. Set in the time of King Arthur, it is a family-oriented adventure show about an exiled prince ...

'' (which starred her Beauty and the Beast co-star

Robby Benson Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor and director. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the sports films '' One on One'' (1977) and '' Ice Castles'' (1978). He subsequently ...

), 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 The Disney Legends Awards is a Hall of Fame program that recognizes individuals who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. Established in 1987, the honor was traditionally awarded annually during a speci ...

on August 19, 2011. As of 2011, O'Hara was replaced by

Julie Nathanson Julie Nathanson (born May 10, 1975) is an American actress who can be heard as Silver Banshee and Jewelee in DC's animated film '' Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay'' and as Jess Black in Ubisoft's '' Far Cry 5''. She has been voicing Belle from ''Bea ...

as the voice of Belle due to her voice changing significantly over the course of twenty years. Despite this, she still paints Belle for Disney Fine Art and also continues to do promotional appearances for Disney. In 2016, O'Hara appeared at numerous special screenings of ''Beauty and the Beast'' in honor of the film's 25th anniversary. O'Hara reprised her role as Belle in the 2018 film ''

''. She appeared as a librarian in the TV special '' Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration''.

Personal life

O'Hara met actor Michael Piontek in 1989. After six years of dating, they married in 1995. O'Hara's religious background is Catholic.Paige O'Hara is feeling blessed. September 4, 2016 · Public My true heroine, Mother Teresa is now in sainthood. St Teresa who was an angel on earth, is now a saint in heaven. What a glorious celebration.
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Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre

Discography

* Jerome Kern: ''Show Boat'', conducted by John McGlinn, EMI, 1988

References

External links

* * *
Paige O'Hara at the Disney Legends Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohara, Paige 1956 births Living people Actresses from Fort Lauderdale, Florida American musical theatre actresses American people of British descent American people of Dutch descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American Roman Catholics American sopranos American stage actresses American video game actresses American voice actresses American women painters Audiobook narrators Musicians from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Nova High School alumni 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century American women artists 21st-century American women artists 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics