Paige O'Hara
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| Paige O'Hara | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Donna Paige Helmintoller |
| Born | May 10, 1956 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Occupations | Actress/Singer |
| Years active | 1983–present |
Donna Paige O'Hara (born May 10, 1956) is an American Broadway singer, actress, and Disney Legend best known for her voicework as Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
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[edit] Personal life
O'Hara was born Donna Paige Helmintoller in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and attended Nova High School in Davie, Florida. She performed in shows with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre.
O'Hara now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with husband Michael Piontek.
[edit] Stage
O'Hara made her first appearance on the Broadway stage as Ellie May Chipley in the revival of Showboat in 1983 starring Donald O'Connor. She repeated the role for the Houston Grand Opera's 1989 production and continued with them when the show was moved to the Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Continuing her legacy as Ellie, she also sang the part on the 1989 Grammy nominated recording of the musical with Jerry Hadley, Frederica von Stade and Teresa Stratas, conducted by John McGlinn on the Angel EMI label.
Her other American stage credits include the title role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Broadway and national tour) and Ado Annie in a national tour of Oklahoma directed by William Hammerstein.
Internationally, O'Hara has played the role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (Australia).
In April, 2011, O'Hara played the role of Judy Garland in "From Gumm to Garland: JUDY, The Musical" at the Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, Arizona.
[edit] Screen
O'Hara's most notable appearance on screen was as the voice of Belle in the animated Disney film Beauty and the Beast, a role she has reprised for all subsequent spin-offs and sequels of the film, including the Square Enix/Disney Kingdom Hearts video game series. Beauty and the Beast was nominated for numerous Academy Awards (including the Best Picture and three nominations for Best Original Song), and consequently, she also performed live at the Oscars in 1992.
O'Hara also starred as Venus in the BBC's recorded broadcast of the live presentation of Kurt Weill's "One Touch of Venus" and in tribute to her Belle character from Beauty and the Beast, she portrayed Angela, a character in a fictional soap opera, for the Disney live action/traditional 2-D animated movie Enchanted.
For her work as Belle, O'Hara was honored with a Disney Legend Award on August 19, 2011.[1]
[edit] Art
O'Hara built upon her talent in her artwork through training by her stepfather, an architect. When she moved to New York at age 17, she made her living painting and selling watercolors on the streets. O'Hara also signed with Collectors Editions, the publishers of Disney Fine Art, to release a series of paintings entitled "Belles by Belle."
