Ten Things You May Not Know About Princess Jasmine

1. The character of Princess Jasmine was based on the character of Princess Badroulbadour, who married Aladdin in “The Story of Aladdin; or, the Wonderful Lamp,” one of the stories from “One Thousand and One Nights.” In the original tale, Badroulbadour was a princess from the Far East, but for Aladdin, Jasmine was transformed into an Arabic princess.

2. Jasmine was animated by Mark Henn, who also animated several other Disney princesses including Ariel, Belle, and Pocahontas. He was also the supervising animator for Mulan.

3. Mulan and Jasmine have something else in common; you may have noticed that their singing voices are somewhat similar. That’s because both parts were performed by Filipina singer and actress Lea Salonga, who provided the singing voices for both characters. Salonga was named a Disney Legend in 2011.

4. Princess Jasmine’s speaking voice was performed by Linda Larkin. Larkin hadn’t intended to try out for the role; she was only accompanying a friend to the audition. However, upon hearing the line “It’s all so magical,” she decided to audition for the role herself.

5. Curiously, she was nearly let go from the role when Jeffrey Katzenberg felt that her voice didn’t sound “regal” enough to play a princess. Producers Ron Clements and John Musker arranged for her to re-record her audition, which swayed Katzenberg into allowing her to play the part. One of the things she had to adjust was the pitch of her voice; originally her voice was considered too high, so she had to continually work to bring the pitch down so Jasmine wouldn’t sound too young! In the end Larkin did a masterful job, and as a result of her efforts she was named a Disney Legend in 2011.

6. So how young was Jasmine supposed to be? Well, it turns out that she is the second youngest of the Disney Princesses, being only 15 years old at the start of the film. But who is the youngest princess? That would be Snow White, who was a youthful 14.

7. Even though she’s the second youngest Disney Princess, Jasmine is the sixth member of the official line-up, and part of the original group of nine.

8. Early design development of Jasmine took place at the working studios inside the Magic of Disney Animation tour at the Disney-MGM Studios. Supervising animator Mark Henn recalls that while working on early concepts for Jasmine ¬– in full view of touring Guests – he saw a young child with long, flowing black hair, which inspired him to give Jasmine her distinctive hair style. Jasmine’s facial features were based on Henn’s sister Beth.

9. Jasmine is quite intelligent; not only can she speak several languages; she can also name every one of the 40 thieves!

10. Jasmine isn’t completely fearless though; she does have one phobia…ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes. That explains why Jasmine was so terrified when Jafar transformed into a giant cobra in the final battle in Aladdin.