Alyssa Milano inspired the look of Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid? You'd better believe it! The actress has opened up about her connection to the 1989 film.
Have you ever thought that Ariel from The Little Mermaid looks
an awful lot like Alyssa Milano? If so, your suspicions are entirely correct!
Long before the actress took on adult subject matter as one of the stars of
ABC's Mistresses, she worked with Disney on a behind-the-scenes look at how the
1989 film was made — where she found out she and Ariel had a lot in common!
When asked if she was the inspiration for The Little Mermaid
on a visit to The Wendy Williams Show, Milo's mother confirmed, "I actually was,
yeah! Which I didn't know when it was going on!"
Elaborating on how she discovered Ariel was drawn in her likeness, Milano
continued, "I didn't know that when it was going on, but they asked me to host
The Making of The Little Mermaid, and it came out there that the drawing and
likeness of the little mermaid was based on pictures of me from when I was
younger."
Thanks to the star's early days in the limelight on Who's the Boss?, artists had
plenty of photos of the young Milano to work from.
Despite having an impressive list of film and television roles
to her name, Alyssa Milano remains quite proud of her Little Mermaid connection.
After Wendy Williams inquired, "Doesn't that make you just want to dye your hair
red and wear a clamshell bra all the time?" Milano replied with laugh, "Yes,
that's how I walk around at home!"
Check out the video of Alyssa Milano in 1989's The Making of The Little Mermaid
here:
Alyssa Milano: Former child actress. Twitter junkie.
Mermaid?
Milano appeared on "The Wendy Williams Show" on Wednesday to promote her new TV
series "Mistresses," and in between questions about her career and her young son
Milo, Milano revealed a little known fact about herself: She was the model for
the character of Ariel in the beloved Disney animated feature "The Little
Mermaid" — even though she didn't know it while the movie was being made.
"I actually was, yeah! Which I didn't know when it was going on!" Milano said
when asked about her influence on the 1989 film. "I didn't know that when it was
going on. But they asked me to host 'The Making of "The Little Mermaid,"' [Watch
the awesome retro video here!] and it came out there that the drawing and
likeness of the little mermaid was based on pictures of me from when I was
younger."
More than one fan has spotted a resemblance between Ariel and Milano over the years, and years after the fact, it was revealed that animator Glen Keane, who brought Ariel to life for the "The Little Mermaid," used photos of Milano from her days on the show "Who's The Boss" as a model for the mermaid's face. Another actress, Sherri Stoner, was brought in to give Disney's artists a reference for the character's movements.
Of course, Milano has kept herself pretty busy since her days
as a child star on "Who's The Boss," and sultry adult roles on "Melrose Place"
and "Charmed." She's appeared in the movies "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend" and
"Hall Pass," had a recurring role on "My Name is Earl," starred in the
short-lived sitcom "Romantically Challenged," and is now heating up the small
screen as Savannah Davis, a wife gone astray, on "Mistresses." But she clearly
takes pride in her small part in the creation of a Disney classic.
And when Williams asked Milano, "Doesn't that make you just want to dye your
hair red and wear a clam-shell bra all the time?" Milano replied with a smile,
"Yes, that's how I walk around at home!"
Hey, she could probably pull it off, even as a 40-year-old mom.