My favorite line to say
for people who are trying to hear Jasmine's voice in my voice is,
"Oh, father,
Rajah was just playing with him,
weren't you, Rajah?
You were just playing with that overdressed, self-absorbed
Prince Achmed, weren't you?"
- Oh, father,
Rajah was just playing with him.
Weren't you, Rajah?
You were just playing with that overdressed, self-absorbed
Prince Achmed, weren't you?
I have a favorite line that
sums up the whole experience.
I get to say in the movie,
"It's all so magical,"
which, is just ... That's how it's been
and continues to be.
- I'm rich, too, you know.
- Yeah.
- The daughter of a sultan?
- I know.
- What stands out to me about Jasmine the most,
is that she is really willing to fight
for what she believes in.
And that was something that I really connected to with her,
because I had that inside of me.
And when I read that in the character,
I just felt that I knew her.
I knew how passionate she was and how far she would go,
for what she felt was right.
- Jasmine, you're a princess!
- Then maybe I don't want to be a princess anymore!
- Oh!
How Jasmine compares to the other Disney princesses?
I felt like she broke some ground
when she hit the scene.
She was a little bit stronger,
a little bit more sure of herself
than the princesses I had seen before.
And she was a little bit more in control.
She did have control of her future,
but she was a little bit more invested in
creating the future that she wanted.
It was my first big job,
but I had been working in radio commercials,
in television. I'd done some TV guest spots.
I'd done a little movie. I'd done a few things,
but this was my first big job, for sure.
And I really didn't even realize how big it was
until it came out.
It was then, or maybe a few months before it came out,
we started to understand that we were part of something huge.
And then when it came out,
and we saw the movie in its entirety I was like
blown away.
I still am. I'm still blown away when I see it.
I can't believe I'm part of something so beautiful.
I feel like Jasmine and Aladdin connect on so many levels.
One, they're both adventurous.
So maybe Aladdin a little bit more than Jasmine. But
Aladdin sort of wakes up that spirit in Jasmine
which is already there, and she keeps up with him.
And she's like, "Any challenge you throw at me,
I'm gonna take it there and further."
So Jasmine really shows him that
she can keep up with him.
- It's a magic carpet.
- It's lovely.
- You, uh, you don't wanna go for a ride, do you?
We could get outta the palace, see the world?
- The key to Jasmine's voice?
For me, it was very intuitive.
I just connected with Jasmine by connecting with the story
and with what was written.
And it's very much my voice.
They weren't asking me to be someone else.
They were asking me to be myself.
And I was my voice, but in a world that was very different
from the world that I had grown up in.
It was an imaginary world and a fantasy world.
And I think that...
what I was able to bring to Jasmine is
authenticity
and emotion through my voice.
But when I'm way up here,
it's crystal clear.
Watching the movie,
I was blown away by the magic carpet ride and
"A Whole New World."
I have the dialogue going into the song
and coming out of the song.
But the song brought me to tears.
The song was just... I love it so much.
And I love "A Friend Like Me."
That's my other favorite scene in the movie.
So working with Robin was a dream come true.
I'd grown up with him. I watched him on "Mork & Mindy."
"Dead Poets Society" had come out just before we did "Aladdin,"
and it was a life-changing movie for me and my generation.
We all loved that movie.
To be able to work with him,
to be in a room and exchanging ideas really was...
it was just beyond anything I ever imagined
would happen in my life.
And I felt really blessed
to have that experience all around, from start to finish.
But really blessed to be with someone that I admired so much
who treated me, and treated Scott, like we were equals.
We were all there doing the same thing and working together.
Of course, we knew we were with greatness,
and that he just being nice.
But we were very lucky to have that time with him.
And he just always had such a warm welcome for me
whenever I saw him
and made me feel like we were forever connected
and part of history together.
I just can't even describe
how that always felt,
and how special he made me feel around other people
because he would throw his arms wide and say, "Princess!"
And give me a big hug and I was like,
"Robin Williams is calling me princess!
This is very, very nice!"
So it was really beautiful to get to know him
in the beginning and to know him all those years. And really,
I don't feel like I never knew him well but,
I felt like I had a moment of being touched by genius.
And that was ... that was really ... that was something.
The themes of these stories that I hear are often about
people who felt bullied as children.
And I feel like I hear this more than the other princesses.
This is something that Jasmine seems to have
given voice to people who felt
trapped by their circumstances.
People who felt bullied by other people.
Jasmine gave them strength to stand up,
and be themselves, and own it.
Themes and the messages in Aladdin
about love, about being true to yourself, about friendship,
these are things we all connect with. And
the way that story is told,
you learn about yourself.
You learn about how you relate to other people,
and it's just joyful.
Everyone wants to laugh,
and that movie always makes me laugh!
So I think that is a big part of why it is
alive and well today.