Yes. You read that right. I auditioned to be a Disney Princess today.
I made an actor’s CV (thanks Scott!) and printed out a headshot (thanks Christina!) and off I went to Pineapple Studios, 7 Langley Street, London.
I prepared very thoroughly by watching The Princess and the Frog, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and half of Mary Poppins. I also practiced my royal wave.
First, I should explain that it wasn’t actually an audition to be a Disney Princess. At least, that was only part of it. The specific audition was to be a character performer at Euro Disney, Paris. This means that you may be a princess (and that’s certainly how they advertised it) but you may also, or only, be a character in a furry suit.
Part one: turn up, get a number, and fill in the form with your basic details.
Part two: listen to a PowerPoint presentation on what it means to be a character performer with Disney. I can’t tell you any of the trade secrets, or it will forever spoil the Disney magic for you and for children around the globe. And they might sue me.
Part three: have your height measured (they don’t adjust the costumes so you have to be within a certain range), and hand in your form.
Part four: create and perform a six-character animation series to some happy Disney music.
Part five: perform a choreographed dance. But my fairy tale was already over by then when I turned into a pumpkin as I was sent home after the animation exercise. If you pass the dance audition, you may be lucky enough to go into the wig fitting and make-up trial to see if you can be one of the specific face characters. Your chances are better, clearly, if you’re male (as ever, the pretty girls auditioning far outnumbered the pretty boys* auditioning) and if you are of a specific ethnicity that works well for, say, Mulan, Tiana, or Jasmine, the odds may ever be in your favour.
*Incidentally, on my way to the audition, I had the sudden thought that this would be the perfect place to meet a Disney Prince! Not true. (1) Few boys, (2) Even fewer attractive, and (3) Even fewer heterosexual. Sad face.
I am of course indignant and flabbergasted that the casting team didn’t think I was Disney Princess material. (I’m practically perfect in every way.) I’m also very disappointed that I didn’t get to give them my beautiful actor’s CV with my headshot and all my fabulous experience, or show them that I also speak French. Zut alors!
My am dram experience in Geneva has certainly prepared me for the audition process, although it’s amazing how nervous you can still get, even when you’re doing something for fun. Unfortunately I didn’t practice any improv though I had intended to, and when it was my group’s turn to perform I lost count so my cowgirl merged into my pirate and my dwarf got confused. But, if I’m perfectly honest, I would with almost complete certainty have been sent home after the dance audition if not before. This way, I got to leave just in time for lunch.
Confused dwarf aside, another reason they may have sent me home was my honesty in answering YES to the question on the form: “Are you claustrophobic?” This is apparently a key barrier since, as the casting director told us repeatedly throughout the morning, everyone has to don the furry suit at some point. This means a lot of time spent sweating away in a big heavy costume while not being allowed to eat or drink, to sit down, or to talk. Maybe not so appealing.
I am very sad, however, not to have had a chance to wear the beautiful princess gowns. In The Big Bang Theory, the girls go off to Disneyland and get full hair and make-up and beautiful high-quality costumes to take home – I’ve never seen this being offered, surely that’s not a real thing? Because if it is, I’m booking my ticket to Paris (or Florida or California).
Oh and thank you in advance for your shared indignation and flabbergastedness that Disney did not want me. Sniff.
SHOCKING! Ridiculous. They obviously don’t know what’s best for them.
Thanks Jane! I knew I could count on you for suitable indignation 😉
Any time dear! My righteous outrage is at your disposal.
Oh, rubbish, and such a nice looking cv too (that was for Christina’s benefit!) Having just been there, if you are in a fluffy suit, you get trundled out every few hours and get mobbed by kids, travel on a gaudy train and probably OD on ‘do you believe in magic’ (or whatever the song is called – I know I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for the last 2 weeks!) Now if you are a princess, then you have your own special room and the general public don’t even see you unless they were crazy enough to queue for tickets at 8am 🙁 However, I’m not sure what happens in the evening show – having a 2 yr old meant Ihad to be in the hotel room with the lights out for her bedtime, long before the show even began! Just tell yourself it wouldn’t have been that much fun anyway…
Thanks Annabel! You’re absolutely right, the fluffy suit and everything that comes with it could have forever ruined the magic for me, and that would have been a tragedy. The heavy costume, the annoying children (and adults), and the poor salary might not have been such a dream come true after all…
Apparently, though, “nobody is royalty, we are all equal”: so nobody gets special treatment, Pirate #13 is as important as Cinderella or Snow White. So now we know!
Whaaat!??? You are practically perfect in every way. Those casting directors clearly have no idea what they are doing and that company is clearly going nowhere.
Thank you Scott! Their loss 😉 Although I think, shocking as it may seem, that despite not having me as a princess, Disney as a company is actually doing quite well…
Fun to read this! 🙂
I auditioned a few months back and my experience feels quite similar to yours.
I also messed up during the dwarf, haha!
Did you audition again?
Haha that damn dwarf… Sorry to hear you didn’t get through, though. I didn’t audition again – to be honest, the PPT presentation on the working conditions put me off the Disney princess dream!
Tell me about it! 😉 Dwarves these days..
It’s okay! I’m going to try again in september (or whenever they’re holding auditions in Amsterdam again) because my mind is still set on that job, haha! The presentation actually made me even more excited, but then again, I wouldn’t mind doing fur character shifts, really. 🙂 Of course being a Princess wil always be my dream and goal!
Good for you! Let me know how you get on in September – I’m sure you’d make a great furry character 😉
Glad to read this as I am auditioning in London in a couple of weeks! The bit I am most worried about is the animation/improv section, do they spring it on you or do they help you? As in how do you act out a dwarf lol
Thanks
Hi Shannon,
In my case, I was completely unprepared and I definitely recommend working through some different characters – a baddie, a dwarf, a princess, etc – so that you already have some idea of what you’re going to do. Ideally practise doing some moves in time to a piece of music, changing character after each count of eight.
Bear in mind that it was four years ago that I auditioned so it may well have changed! But it certainly can’t hurt to choose a dwarf in advance 😉
Good luck!! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Anna
Okay thanks for the help! I’m super nervous and trying out my best grumpy/dopey impressions! Will let you know how it goes, thanks again
Go for it! The ones who went through were really dramatic, big and sharp in their movements, so don’t hold back 🙂