Jodi Benson

“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 think God must have had something in mind for me that was not on my radar when I first started out in New York. Back then, doing animated voices meant your career was done - it was looked down upon.”

“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.”

“I love working for Disney! They are my family.”

“'The Little Mermaid' changed my life.”

“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 was very flattered when Disney Junior reached out and invited me to come voice Ariel for this special primetime edition of 'Sofia the First.' As the parent myself, I really appreciate the positive messages that this animated series is trying to put out there.”

“אני חושבת שנולדתי עם המתנה להיות מסוגלת לשיר.”

“מה שאני אוהבת בהנפשה זה העובדה שאתה חסר מחסומים; אתה לא צריך להתרכז בבגדים שלך, באיפור, בשיער ובכוריאוגרפיה שלך, באמת יש לך חופש מוחלט.”

“I really like worship music. It settles my soul. Gets me back on track. The lyrics are almost like a prayer, so it's my go-to.”

“For me, I was able to make that statement of faith early on when my career began, so there weren't really a lot of surprises. People around me knew where my husband Ray and I stood as far as my faith went.”

“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.”

“I can't sing, perform, do anything apart from Christ. I have no power or strength of my own.”

“I homeschool, so the start of the day is reading Bible scripture, memorization, and prayer.”

“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.”

“I love working with talented young performers.”

“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.”

“What we try to do at Disney and through Disney character voices is really maintain the integrity of our classic characters at all costs. So Ariel needs to be me for every project, and if there are any other Ariels floating around out there, it's not necessarily Disney.”

“All I've been a part of has been thanks to the Disney company: the job, experience, travel, opportunities have come thanks to Disney. Working for Disney was not part of my original plan, but it was part of God's, and it shows that God is still moving.”

“My husband has a gift for reaching out to people in need. I always look over and see him connecting to someone who needs to talk or needs some support.”