![]() ![]() ![]() Mark Ashman/Disney Parks via Getty Imagesįace characters are also selected based on height. Male face roles require tall performers: audition announcements for Tarzan, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, and Kristoff from Frozen request actors between 6-foot and 6-foot 3-inches. … And this "slender" to show midriff.Īnna and Elsa at Disney World's 2013 Christmas Day Parade. An anonymous performer currently working at Walt Disney World told us she’s played “Too many to count,” including Chip and Dale, Winnie the Pooh, and six of Snow White’s seven dwarfs. If you don't fit the height requirement for any of the characters they're hiring for, then you get cut immediately.”Īfter being hired, though, performers have a chance to play multiple characters in the same height range. Algoso wore the giant heads of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck, Lilo and Stitch, and Meeko, the raccoon from Pocahontas. “The first cut is made within the first 15 minutes in regard to your height. You must be this tall to wear the costume …įrom shift to shift, multiple performers need to be able to share a costume, and look exactly the same wearing it, so casting agents evaluate aspiring performers on height before even considering their acting abilities. “The audition process is pretty rigorous,” says Luann Algoso, who worked as a fur character at Disneyland for about a year, beginning in 2008. One important note: According to employees, no performer actually “plays” Disney characters. In order to preserve that Disney magic, performers won’t usually admit to portraying Aladdin or Jasmine-instead, they’re simply “friends with” them. Being a fur character involves putting on a giant, fuzzy costume and communicating only through gestures, or “animation.” Also called look-alikes, face characters include mermaids, fairies, and other human or human-like characters. 1. They have their own jargon.ĭisney divides their character performers into two main categories: fur characters and face characters. But what’s it like to be an adult earning your living by pretending to be Mickey Mouse, or Cinderella, or Winnie the Pooh? To find out, we spoke with several current and former Disneyland and Disney World staffers about the reality of life inside the costume. As kids we hugged them, took pictures with them, and collected their autographs. ![]()
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June 2023
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