- “My daddy never did get what he wanted. But he had what he needed. He had love! He never lost sight of what was really important! And neither will I!”
- ―Tiana confronting Dr. Facilier about her father.
Tiana Diane Rogers is the protagonist of Disney's 2009 animated feature film The Princess and the Frog. She is a gifted cook living in New Orleans during the Jazz Age, with dreams of opening a restaurant of her own. In a desperate attempt to achieve her goal, Tiana shares a kiss with a prince that had been magically transformed into a frog by a voodoo witch doctor. In doing so, however, Tiana also falls victim to the curse, setting off an adventure in the bayou to find a cure.
Tiana is loosely based on the unnamed princess from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Frog Prince and Princess Emma from E.D. Baker's novel The Frog Princess. She is the ninth official Disney Princess and also the last and most recent to originate from a traditionally-animated film.
Quick Answers
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Background
Official Description
- Tiana dreams of opening her own restaurant. She works hard to try to make that dream come true. In a twist of fate, she kisses a frog and goes on an adventure through the New Orleans bayou.
Development
Tiana made history as the first African-American princess in the Disney Princess franchise. Early in development, Tiana was originally called Maddy and worked as a chambermaid in the La Bouff household. However, public criticism eventually caused her character's name to be changed to Tiana and her job, a waitress. Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta later stated, "Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney's rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity." This reworking of the story itself was greatly inspired by the life story of New Orleans chef Leah Chase, and she, in turn, would contribute to the "Tiana's Cookbook" that was published when the film came out.
Mark Henn served as the supervising animator for Tiana. Henn was hired by John Lasseter because he had animated nearly every Disney Princess since The Little Mermaid's Ariel. Describing Tiana, Henn said that she is following "a new trend in our princesses," likening her to Ariel from The Little Mermaid. When animating Tiana, Henn was inspired by voice actress Anika Noni Rose, borrowing from her dimples and left-handedness. Henn was also inspired by studio employee Jaimie Milner, a film intern who was working in post-production." The fact that Tiana is African American was "never a big issue" for Henn when it came to animating her, but drawing her as both a human and a frog proved difficult." Tiana appears in the movie in different forms - she's a little girl, she's an adult human, and then she's a frog."
Voice
Ron Clements and John Musker, who once worked as animators on The Fox and the Hound, and known for their works like The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules, decided not to hire "big stars" to voice the film's main characters because "it can help with the identification of that animated character with the voice if you don't get an instant mental picture of the real actor." Several well-known African American actresses and singers had expressed an interest in voicing Tiana, among them, recording artists Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys, as well as actress and fashion model Tyra Banks. After enduring three auditions, the role ultimately went to American actress and singer Anika Noni Rose, with whom Hudson and Knowles co-starred in the musical film Dreamgirls.
A long-time fan of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Rose had always wanted to voice a Disney animated character. When the film was brought to her attention, she was drawn to it more by its "story of the young woman" than by the fact that she would be voicing Disney's first African American princess. Rose told The Root that the film "wasn't really pitched to me that way... I don't think the cultural significance hit me until later". Rose was also fairly confident in the role. "To be perfectly honest, I thought it was for me from the moment I got the audition."
Rose described the recording process as "very solitary work" that required her to do much research. To prepare herself for the role, Rose "called people in New Orleans...listened to their voices to hear what they sounded like...did a lot of reading up on the city, and listened to a lot of music in the jazz era." Rose only met with her co-star Bruno Campos twice to record a few scenes together. At her first session, Rose recorded all her dialogue "from top to bottom" in a session that lasted eight hours.
Personality
- “She's a strong woman who doesn't need anyone to do things for her. She wants to do things for herself.”
- ―Anika Noni Rose
Tiana is an intelligent, resourceful, and highly talented young woman. However, at the start of the film, and mostly throughout, she can be overly uptight and far too absorbed in work ethics to focus on relaxing, family, and friends. Though she notices this and appears to have some regret over her busy schedule, her obsession with bringing her dream of opening her own restaurant into fruition overshadows it all. She also, for the most part, has appeared to accept that over the years, as seen when she and Eudora visited the old sugar mill in the preparation of its purchase.
With a strong sense of honor and integrity, Tiana firmly believes nothing deserves to be obtained in the world unless it's done through hard work, a view she's brought up when dealing with her excessively dreamy and immature best friend, Charlotte La Bouff, as well as the party-loving Naveen. This fact also makes her somewhat inflexible, as she could have asked Big Daddy La Bouff for seed money for her restaurant instead of working extremely hard to slowly gain the capital necessary.
Aside from her workaholic nature, Tiana has another side to her; one that's passionate, imaginative, and ambitious. She enjoys humor, music, quality time with loved ones, and dancing (though not at first). She becomes excitable whenever mentioning her restaurant, lighting up when she does, as Naveen puts it, and although she initially had very little knowledge over romance, she values it highly once she starts to fall for Naveen, to the point where her restaurant was no longer the most important part of her life.
Tiana is also heroic and is shown to be quite capable of dangerous situations and moments of physical conflict. Throughout the course of the film, she continuously rescued Naveen from life-threatening situations, fending off predators within the bayou, and even Dr. Facilier and his hoard of sinister shadow demons. Her heroism is ultimately put into the forefront during the film's climax, where the city of New Orleans is hurdled into a high state of peril, with the only hopes of its survival being Tiana's own will-power and the aforementioned sense of honor.
She's also incredibly strong-willed and doesn't take lightly to being undermined or insulted by anyone. Despite her poor background, she sees something far greater in herself and jumps at every opportunity available to prove so, whether it be to the sleazy Fenner Brothers or the originally arrogant Prince Naveen, who initially looked down upon the woman because of her occupation as a waitress and uptight attitude, only to be proven there's far more to her than meets the eye.
Despite refusing his offer, Tiana is absolutely horrified watching Facilier get dragged to the voodoo world, even putting her hand over her heart in sympathy when spotting his gravestone.
Physical appearance
Tiana is a beautiful 19-year-old African-American woman. She is tall and slender with a sculpted figure, medium-length, wavy, black hair usually tied in a low ponytail, dark red lips, rosy cheeks, Nubian nose, light brown eyes with pink eye shadow, a bright smile, and dimples. For most of the movie, Tiana is transformed into a frog. Compared to Naveen, she's a lighter green, skinnier, light green stomach, a diamond-shaped pattern on her back, and the only physical human features she retains are her voice and brown eyes (with eyeliner).
As a little girl, Tiana wore a green dress with lighter green details and shoes, and her hair was styled into pigtails. She also had prominent eyebrows and was wearing an orange paper crown.
Throughout the movie, Tiana undergoes various outfit changes. The first of which is her work outfits. When working her shifts at Cal's Diner, Tiana wears a teal outfit consisting of a dress with a lighter colored collar, brown shoes, and a white apron, as well as a headband style maid's hat. When working her shifts at Duke's Café, Tiana wears a yellow dress over a white shirt, a white apron, and dark brown flats. She also owns a light brown coat with a matching hat, which she wears on her way to the Café. With this outfit, Tiana wears her hair in a low ponytail wrapped up in a green band.
Originally, at Charlotte's masquerade ball, Tiana wore a Renaissance costume with honey yellow and a light green/brown as its primary colors. Later that same night after her Renaissance costume was ruined when she accidentally crashed into her food table, she dons her iconic blue princess gown loaned to her by Charlotte. The dress also came with a matching tiara as well as a necklace complete with a blue diamond and light blue opera gloves along with a blue ribbon that hangs loosely around her waist. During her confrontation with Dr. Facilier, Tiana was put in a white sleeveless gown with sparkling golden shoulder straps, diamond earrings, a golden necklace, and a white feather resembling the classic 1920s swinger outfits. Along with this came a beige fur shawl.
Tiana's iconic lily pad outfit is a green sparkling strapless sleeveless ball gown. The gown's petticoat is a light-yellow color. Along with the gown, Tiana wears light green opera gloves, green shoes to match the gown, a light blue diamond necklace with matching earrings, and a lily pad tiara to top it all off. With this outfit, Tiana's hair is pinned up in an updo bun. This is the outfit she is marketed in.
Tiana's wedding outfit was a beige dress that reveals her back, with a matching Juliet cap, and transparent gloves as well as a green tiara. Her dress also consists of green linings with a flower on the shoulder. During the finale opening of Tiana's Palace, she wore another green sweater outfit with a golden tiara complete with an emerald on the top.
Abilities
- Culinary Expert: From early in the film, it is revealed that Tiana is a natural expert in the culinary arts. She is able to dice and chop a variety of vegetables at incredible speeds and cook a delicious meal out of very little. She can recognize the ingredients needed for the dish, and Tiana was even able to transform Mama Odie's nauseous soup to perfection. The fact that Tiana baked five hundred beignets for Charlotte's masquerade ball that was the next day means Tiana is a competent enough cook. Tiana's gift has been pointed out on several occasions, by her father, and by Naveen.
- Physical Coordination: From working as a waitress, Tiana has excellent balance and hand/eye coordination. She could balance four trays of food on her head, hands, and her right foot that were tossed one after the other before balancing three trays on her head and hands.
- Ingenuity: Tiana has intelligence, too, because she built a raft when it doesn't appear she was taught how to build one. She was smart enough to flick her tongue out to grab Dr. Facilier's talisman to break it. Tiana is the only princess with a day job, and considering she didn't go to college, she has knowledge of the economy to run her business, even though people underestimated her.
- Adaptability: Tiana showcased her relatively quick adaptability as a frog; she could hop fast enough to get away from Stella considering she became a frog not long before that. She avoided getting eaten by a crane, one of the natural predators of frogs. When a group of alligators tried to eat her and Naveen, Tiana swam away without being caught and, unlike Naveen, found a hiding spot. Furthermore, Tiana had enough physical strength as a frog to escape from a hunter's grasp by bending back his fingers with her feet.
- Communication with animals: In the chapter book continuation of the film The Stolen Jewel, it is revealed that both Tiana and Naveen hold the ability to communicate with animals, having kept that ability from their time as frogs.
Appearances
The Princess and the Frog
At first, the film begins during Tiana's childhood where she is seen with her best friend Charlotte La Bouff listening to the classic tale "The Frog Prince" read by Tiana's mother Eudora while she finishes Charlotte's newest princess gown. Whilst Charlotte adores the tale and openly wishes to find a prince and become a princess one day, Tiana shows that she's somewhat displeased with the story, considerably the kissing finale between the princess and the frog she is completely disgusted by. After the story's completion, Tiana and her mother depart, heading for home where they greet Tiana's father, the hardworking James. Later on, with the help of James, Tiana makes their favorite dinner, gumbo. Tiana gives her father a taste of some of her gumbo, which turns out to be delicious. Under James's suggestion, Tiana tells the neighbors about the gumbo and shares it with them.
Later that night, as Tiana is being put to bed, she and her father hope their food will be the prime attraction when they open their very own restaurant, "Tiana's Place". She explains to her parents that Charlotte's fairytale book says when you wish upon a star it's sure to come true after she sees the evening star in the sky. Eudora tells her to continue wishing. James tells her to continue wishing too, but also explains that wishing on stars can only take her partway to her dream as she also needs to work hard to help make it come true. He also asks to promise him to never lose sight of what is really important, which she nods in acceptance. As her parents say goodnight to her, she looks at the evening star to make her wish of opening the restaurant and sees a frog on her windowsill. Thinking it wants to kiss her after it croaks, she screams, scaring away the frog and running out of her room.
Years later, it is revealed that a now-adult Tiana is still struggling to reach her dream even after her father passed away. Since her childhood, she has become a mature young woman, though she discarded her original childhood imagination of wishing and such, and an overly practical workaholic instead. She works as a waitress at two local diners during the day and night. The desire to open the restaurant prevents Tiana from going out with her friends as she must work extra hard for more pay. Meanwhile, the handsome Prince Naveen, who had been cut off from his family fortune, arrives in New Orleans to find a way to become rich again. To celebrate his arrival, Charlotte plans on throwing a masquerade ball her father Big Daddy invites him to and hires Tiana to make dozens of beignets, paying her with enough money to buy her restaurant. Excited, Tiana and her mother place a bid on an old run down sugar mill that Tiana's father talked about many times before and had planned to use as the restaurant's location. Though the building is extremely worn out and practically falling apart, Tiana couldn't have been more excited with her dream coming closer and closer to coming true.
Later that night at the masquerade ball, Tiana discovers from the Fenner Brothers that she's been outbid and unless she earns enough money in two days by Wednesday, she loses the restaurant (though it is possible the restaurant was being withheld from her due to her race, which is historically accurate given that the movie takes place in the Southern United States, but this is never elaborated on). In a mishap, Tiana ruins her outfit and goes to Charlotte's room with her to change. Charlotte gives her a princess gown and tiara then heads back down to the ball. Saddened, Tiana heads to the balcony and, in desperation, makes a wish upon the evening star in hopes of making things work out for her in the end. After her wish, Tiana meets a talking frog who reveals himself to be Prince Naveen (much to her confusion). Due to being cursed by a voodoo witch doctor, Naveen asks for help from Tiana, who he believes is a princess. Following the tale of "The Frog Prince", Naveen asks Tiana for a kiss in an attempt to break the spell, but Tiana is incredibly hesitant to kiss a frog. Naveen offers her a reward, telling her that he comes from a fabulously wealthy family. Knowing she needs more money to open her restaurant, Tiana reluctantly kisses Naveen. The only thing it does, however, is change Tiana into a frog as well since she isn't actually a princess.
Horrified and enraged by her unexpected transformation, Tiana attacks Naveen, resulting in both of them getting launched out of the room and onto the ball's dance floor. Big Daddy orders his family's dog, Stella, to get the frogs after they land in Charlotte's dress. Tiana and Naveen luckily escape on a cluster of balloons, which eventually float over to the cold, miserable bayou of New Orleans. While floating down, Naveen reveals to Tiana he was transformed into the frog by the Shadow Man. She then tells him that the only way to get what you want is through hard work and Naveen asks why a princess would need to work hard. Tiana then tells Naveen that she's a waitress instead of a princess, which explains to Naveen why the kiss didn't work and accuses her of lying to him while he also reveals that he's completely broke. Suddenly, the balloons pop and the two land in a swamp. In the midst of the chaos, Naveen promises to pay for Tiana's restaurant if she can help him out with a group of vicious alligators that try to eat them. Tiana agrees and they spend the rest of the night in an old hollow tree trunk for shelter away from the alligators. During their journey the next morning, the two meet Louis, a friendly alligator with a gift of playing the trumpet. Naveen and Tiana explain that they are humans turned into frogs via the magic of a voodoo witch doctor. Hearing voodoo, Louis informs them of Mama Odie, a voodoo priest who can help them turn human. Naveen convinces the gator to lead them to Mama Odie so that he can be human, too.
Along the way, they meet Ray the firefly. Upon being told of Tiana and Naveen's dilemma, Ray happily decides to light the way and act as their guide to Mama Odie, with the help of his massive family of fireflies. During their journey, Tiana and Naveen gradually become closer, a progression that has kick-started after saving each other from a trio of bumbling frog hunters. During a rest, Naveen helps Tiana cook for the friends by mincing some mushrooms. With that being the first piece of work Naveen has ever done, he reveals that, despite living the charmed life of a prince, he feels deep down that he knows how to do absolutely nothing besides partying, which he is ashamed of. Tiana, feeling sympathy, compliments Naveen's mincing skills, growing the two even closer. Moments later, Ray introduces his friends to Evangeline, singing a love ballad in her honor. During this, Naveen attempts to waltz with Tiana, but Tiana declines, admitting that she's never learned to dance. Naveen however, quickly decides that, to return the favor to Tiana for teaching him how to mince, he will teach her how to dance. After the romantic waltz, Naveen and Tiana officially begin to fall in love with one another. They nearly kiss after their dance but Tiana pulls away from Naveen because he's supposed to marry Charlotte.
Once Tiana hops away from Naveen, he gets captured by a pack of shadow demons sent by the Shadow Man, who needs Naveen to fulfill his evil scheme to take over New Orleans. Fortunately, he is saved by Mama Odie, who takes the group to her home: a boat in a tree. Tiana tries to explain to Mama that all she and Naveen want is to be human, but Mama Odie knows what they both really want after the adventure they had is each other. However, Tiana fails to realize this and believes Mama Odie's motto of "dig a little deeper" means work extra hard to get her restaurant. Although Naveen completely understands that instead of riches, what his heart truly desires is Tiana. But with Tiana misunderstanding, Mama Odie decides to put the romance aside and give the two frogs the solution to their problem. She then uses her magic brew to locate a nearby princess, which reveals to be Charlotte, who's the princess of the Mardi Gras Parade with Big Daddy as its king. Mama Odie tells Naveen and Tiana that if he were to kiss a princess, they'll both turn human. Unfortunately, Naveen only has until midnight, when Mardi Gras is over, to kiss Charlotte and break the spell.
The group heads off on a riverboat to New Orleans where Naveen decides to reveal his true romantic feelings to Tiana, figuring he'll merely get a job to help raise money for her restaurant. Naveen sets up a date later that night under the stars on the riverboat. The prince is far too sheepish to successfully reveal the truth, but Tiana finds his fumbling to be cute. Just then, the riverboat begins passing the old sugar mill Tiana plans on using for her restaurant. Tiana takes the time to tell Naveen about her dreams to open it and she will lose it forever on the next day if she does not earn the money she needs. Knowing he can't afford to pay for the restaurant without marrying Charlotte and inheriting her fortune, Naveen decides not to tell Tiana how he truly feels for the sake of her dream. The riverboat then prepares to dock, and Naveen heads off to find Louis and Ray. Once he's gone, Tiana sadly speaks to Evangeline about her dilemma, revealing that she, too, is actually in love with Naveen despite the fact that he must marry Charlotte for the money he promised for her restaurant. Meanwhile, right before docking, Naveen is abducted by the shadow demons.
Meanwhile, Tiana, Louis, and Ray are oblivious to Naveen's capture, and after getting off the riverboat, Tiana asks Ray if he's seen Naveen. Instead, Ray accidentally tells Tiana that Naveen actually wants to marry her (since he found out Naveen's feelings for Tiana and knew his plan to propose to her) and plans on getting a job to pay for her restaurant. Overjoyed by both of this, Tiana and Ray head off to the Mardi Gras parade to find Naveen and tell him her feelings. Unfortunately, Tiana, instead, finds "Naveen", who is actually Naveen's former valet Lawrence in disguise, as a human atop a parade float, already starting to marry Charlotte. Heartbroken, Tiana runs off. Ray follows and tries to convince Tiana that they should go back to look more into what they say, but Tiana discards the idea, losing her faith in wishing and dreams once more, as well as snapping at Ray out of heartbreak when he mentions Evangeline, hurting him by saying that she is nothing more than a star and that he needs to open his eyes before he gets hurt too, but he refuses to believe her. Determined to show Tiana the truth, Ray flies back to the parade where he learns that the Naveen they saw and is about to marry Charlotte is Lawrence. It turns out he has been under the disguise via a talisman as part of a plot of the Shadow Man, who plans on having Lawrence marry Charlotte and steal the La Bouff fortune by doing so, thus making the Shadow Man the richest man in New Orleans. The real Naveen, still a frog, is in captivity until Ray frees him. He also takes the talisman that Lawrence was using to disguise himself as Naveen after he took it away from him and threw it to Ray. Without it, Lawrence's cover is to be exposed and leads to his eventual arrest.
At the cemetery, Ray gives the talisman to Tiana and instructs her to keep it away from the Shadow Man at all costs, prompting her to run in fear as the shadow demons come in hot pursuit for the talisman. Tiana tries to escape, but the Shadow Man meets up with her and conjures up a vision of the fancy restaurant she's dreamt of all her life and even turns her human again. The Shadow Man tries to coerce Tiana into striking a deal with him: hand over the talisman in exchange for her restaurant, but she refuses. The Shadow Man then tries to seal the deal by reminding her of everything she had sacrificed, those who have doubted her ability, and her father James and his struggles to open the restaurant, but this only comes as a help to Tiana in realizing that while her father never got what he wanted, he had what he needed; he had love, and he never lost sight of what was really important in life all along. Tiana declares that she won't forget either, just like she promised him back in her childhood, and throws the talisman to the floor, but the Shadow Man's shadow catches it and hands it back to him. He then removes the restaurant manifestation and turns Tiana back into a frog.
While the Shadow Man holds Tiana down, he taunts her for not accepting his deal and now she'll spend the rest of her life being a "slimy little frog." However, she replies with "I got news for you, Shadow Man — it's not slime... it's mucus!" (which is what Naveen told her all along when she first became a frog) before using her prehensile tongue to regain the talisman and succeed in shattering it, thus ending the villainous plot for good. After its destruction, Tiana hops to safety and watches in shock as the Shadow Man gets dragged to his demise by his "friends" (though before that, he mentions still having Naveen locked away, realizing that Ray was telling Tiana the truth). Once the coast is clear, Tiana heads back to the concluded Mardi Gras parade, where she witnesses Lawrence being arrested — learning that he has been the "Naveen" Charlotte had been with the whole time. Not too far away, Tiana finds Naveen, who is in the process of making a deal with Charlotte. If she turns him human through a kiss, he'd marry her so long as she pays for Tiana's restaurant. Tiana intervenes and confesses her feelings for Naveen. Touched by the romantic sight of the two professing their love, Charlotte agrees to kiss Naveen, only for Tiana's dream to come true. But the clock strikes twelve, and Charlotte is no longer a princess, as Mardi Gras is officially over. Nevertheless of the curse supposedly becoming permanent, Tiana and Naveen are content being frogs so long as they stay together.
Suddenly, Louis arrives with Ray in his hands and explains that Ray has been fatally wounded by the Shadow Man during the battle against the voodoo witch doctor's demons. Ray manages to have a conversation with all three of his friends with his dying breath one last time before passing away. Tiana attends his funeral, but joins in the jubilation after Ray becomes a star right beside Evangeline. The next day, Tiana and Naveen marry in the bayou, with Mama Odie taking charge of the ceremony and many animals and fireflies attending. As the two kiss, they turn back into humans, as Tiana is now a princess by marrying Naveen. After having a royal second wedding as humans back in New Orleans, Tiana and Naveen use the money that she saved to open the restaurant all along (with a little intimidation help from Louis, who frightens the snooty brothers into accepting what Tiana had). The restaurant, as hoped, is a big success with people from all around attending, just as Tiana and her father dreamed. She renamed it "Tiana's Palace", and enjoys a dance with Naveen to Louis and his band's music as Ray and Evangeline watch over the couple on what has been a truly magical evening.
Sofia the First
Tiana appears in the episode "Winter's Gift", where Sofia is assisting a young faun named Winter in breaking an icy curse that constantly harms her loved ones. In order to do so, the faun must present a gift to the choleric Glacia the Ice Witch, in hopes that she will break the curse in exchange for the gift provided.
After being informed of the dilemma by Mama Odie, Tiana arrived and told Sofia that she was cooking a special meal as her perfect gift for her family and then sings the song "From the Heart", telling Sofia the perfect gift is one conjured from the heart, giving the young princess the idea on how to break the curse: That the gift should come from Winter's own heart.
Like Princess Aurora before her, she is also only seen wearing a winter cape in the Season 2 Christmas special TV episode.
In "Forever Royal" when Sofia is battling Vor inside her amulet, Tiana appears to Sofia in spirit form along with all the other princesses who have been summoned to help Sofia in her times of need, and they encourage her to be brave and strong for they all believe in her.
Ralph Breaks the Internet
- “That's what happens when a princess sings about her dreams.”
- ―Tiana
In Ralph Breaks the Internet, Tiana is a netizen in Oh My Disney where she and the other Disney Princesses meet their fans. She is first seen on the website's floor greeting visiting net users. Later, Vanellope becomes targeted by First Order Stormtroopers and glitches into the princesses' backstage room to evade them; when she does, Tiana can be seen admiring her dress at her vanity. Upon noticing Vanellope, Tiana and the other princesses leap into action under the belief that Vanellope is a threat; Tiana arms herself with a rolling pin. Vanellope tries to calm them down and explains that she's also a princess, which prompts Pocahontas to ask her what kind of princess she is. Tiana and Aurora (while the former is pulling the latter away from the spinning wheel) ask Vanellope if she has been cursed, which she denies.
Eventually, Vanellope is declared a true princess. Cinderella and Ariel come to admire Vanellope's "gown", and they change into comfortable modern clothes to match. Tiana's hair is loose and wears a chartreuse top with a graphic that reads "NOLA" in green letters which has a crown in the center of the letter "O", yellow pants and brown shoes with yellow shoelaces, and is seen lounging next to Anna while drinking an iced coffee. After Ariel sings about her dream to wear a shirt which confuses Vanellope, Tiana explains what happens when a princess sings about her dreams. When C-3PO enters the room to inform the princesses that another quiz is about to start, Tiana tells them that they should go back to their gowns, or regular outfits for those girls who don't wear a gown as their trademark attire.
In the climax of the film, Tiana and the princesses witness Ralph about to fall to his death and work together to save him. After Ralph is saved and laid to rest on a mattress while unconscious, Tiana brings Naveen (in his frog form) to awaken Ralph with a classic, fairy tale kiss. Once Ralph is awakened, and mistakes Naveen for Frogger, Tiana and the princesses introduce themselves as friends of Vanellope and befriend Ralph as well.
LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest
- “Not a day goes by where I don't miss my daddy with every bit of my heart. If I can help you avoid that pain, I will.”
- ―Tiana
Tiana appears in the crossover special, taking place sometime after the events of The Princess and the Frog. She and four other princesses (Snow White, Moana, Rapunzel and Ariel) are summoned to a mysterious castle, where Ariel's father, King Triton, has been imprisoned by the arrogant hunter Gaston in an effort to steal his trident. Ariel accepts to complete three challenges alone in the castle to save her father, but the other princesses vow to assist her, with Tiana saying that she can't let Ariel feel the pain of losing a father like herself did. The princesses split up into groups, with Tiana teaming up with Snow White and Rapunzel. The trio is sent to the Dark Forest to find the Sundrop Flower. Along the way, the three princesses are chased by wolves but they later manage to befriend them thanks to Snow White's ability to talk to animals. When they finally find the Sundrop Flower, they are attacked by haunted trees, but Snow White uses her singing to summon birds, who attack the trees, allowing the trio to escape. After reuniting with the other princesses, the group faces Gaston and Maleficent (in her dragon form) as the final challenge. Fortunately, the dragon is tamed by Snow White and her left wing is healed by Tiana when she notices it is wounded. Tamed, the dragon turns against Gaston and the princesses escape. Then, they help Ariel reclaim her father's trident and free him. The princesses are dubbed heroines and learn from the Magic Mirror that the castle is theirs to claim.
Other appearances
In the animated short Electric Holiday, Tiana makes an appearance in Minnie Mouse's fantasy. She was a popular model in Paris and was first seen in the makeup room and was later seen on the runway.
In the series finale of At Home With Olaf, a short clip of The Princess and the Frog featuring a younger version of Tiana appears during a montage of heartwarming moments from Disney films playing in Olaf's song "I Am with You".
Tiana, in her frog form, makes a brief cameo in the live-action Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers movie as one of the various toons that were kidnapped and bootlegged by Sweet Pete. In Tiana's case, she appears in her frog form with Tinker Bell's wings. She is seen escaping from a large crate in which she and several other bootlegged toons were trapped in after being freed by Chip and Dale. She's the last one to come out of the crate before Monterey Jack.
While she does not make an appearance, Penny Proud dresses up like Tiana in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder episode, "The End of Innocence". She wears her lily pad ball gown.
In Once Upon a Studio, Tiana is the third Disney character, after Mickey Mouse; Minnie Mouse; and Tinker Bell, to pop out of her picture frame after getting Minnie's signal that all of the employees at Walt Disney Animation Studios have left. She informs Pinocchio, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde of the impending group photo session as the latter two come out of their frame where Louis nearly lands on top of them when he comes out of his frame. Tiana then joins all of the characters in singing "When You Wish Upon a Star", standing next to Naveen as the group photo is successfully taken to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney.
In Wish, Tiana was among the Disney animated character constellations that appear during the end credits.
Live-action appearances
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Tiana, wearing her winter outfit, and joined by her fellow Disney Princesses in Cinderella, Moana, Rapunzel, who brought Flynn with her, and Jasmine, who brought Aladdin with her, along with Anna and Elsa, with Minnie as captain alongside her crew of Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Pluto, Chip 'n' Dale, rode on the Disney Wish float titled "Magic Meets The Sea" in the 2021 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with special guest singer Jordan Fisher as he sings "Together We Set Sail" to the crowd when they reach Herald Square on 34th Street, joined by backup dancers of Cast Members with several more serving as the supervisors for the Theme Park Characters on their special assignment outside the Disney Parks and Resorts and Disney Cruise Line fleet. During the journey from Central Park West to 34th Street, Tiana waved to the crowd and danced to the song as it played over the float's loudspeakers, adding that bit of Disney magic to the parade and putting smiles on the faces of all the adults and children in attendance as the threat of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its mutations still loomed over NYC.
Tiana returns and rides on the "Magic Meets The Sea" float again in the 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, joined by her husband Prince Naveen this time. Joining her from last year were Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Moana, Rapunzel, Flynn, Aladdin, Jasmine, and Cinderella, while this year Tiana was joined by two more of her fellow Disney Princesses in Mulan and Raya, along with Mirabel Madrigal, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Cinderella's husband, Prince Charming. As the float neared the end of the parade route and approached Herald's Square, Tiana, Naveen, the other Princesses with their Princes, along with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Moana, dismounted from the float and walked alongside of it with their supporting Cast Members, both backup performers and supervisors, waving to the crowd on the final leg of the procession until they got to Herald's Square, where they then performed one of their shows from the Disney Wish during its trips, dubbed "Seas The Adventure", which included snippets from "A Whole New World" and "When You Wish Upon a Star", ending with a final flourish of streamers and confetti, leaving smiles on the faces of all the Guests in Herald's Square, and adding that spark of Disney Magic to the parade for a second year in a row that the float attended the parade. After the float reached the end of the parade route, Tiana and the other characters prepared to return home to Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista to resume their duties there during Disney's holiday festivities until Macy's invites them back for another parade, which could be possible should Macy's decide to bring the float back for a third consecutive year and Disney's executives agree to allow the characters to participate in the parade again in 2023, especially as part of the celebrations for The Walt Disney Company's Centennial Anniversary.
Disney and Macy's agreed to allow the "Magic Meets The Sea" float make a third appearance in a row in the 2023 parade as part of the Disney 100 celebrations, and Tiana, with Naveen joining her once more, was among the returning characters riding on the float this year.[4] The float was also repainted to represent the sister ship of the Disney Wish, the Disney Treasure, set to join the fleet in 2024. Peter Pan, Miguel Rivera, Genie, and the Peddler joined Tiana, Naveen, Mickey, Minnie, and the other returning characters this year, including Rapunzel, Moana, Mirabel, Anna, Elsa, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Goofy, Donald, Pluto, Aladdin, and Jasmine. Advancing down the parade route ahead of Ronald McDonald, the NYPD Marching Band, and Chase from the PAW Patrol, with Tiana, Mirabel, Moana, and Anna wearing their winter attire again due to the cold weather, the float arrived at Herald Square just as the NBC broadcast went to a commercial break. While waiting for the broadcast to return from commercials, Tiana, Naveen, and the others waved to the crowd as their supporting Cast Members got everything ready for the performance of "Let's Set Sail", the song that played over the float's loudspeakers last year and was used again this year, so when they were properly introduced by Al Roker and his co-hosts upon returning from commercials, they put on an amazing performance to wow the crowd, giving the parade another pinch of Tinker Bell's Pixie Dust to truly make it magical for the third year in a row.
Disney and Macy's confirmed in October 2024 that Tiana would be returning with Naveen and many other characters for the 2024 parade, but with a new float from Disney Cruise Line dubbed "Magic Meets The Seas" that included all the ships currently in active service, going to join the fleet, or currently under construction, from the Disney Magic to the Disney Destiny. Among the returning characters with Tiana and Naveen were the Fab 5, now the Sensational 6 with Daisy's inclusion this year, Miguel Rivera, Aladdin, Jasmine, Moana, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Mirabel Madrigal, joined this year by her Uncle Bruno. Tiana's fellow Disney Princess, Belle from Beauty and the Beast, was the last new character added this year. Like in the past three years, weather conditions in Manhattan forced the Cast Members supervising the characters taking part in the parade to have Tiana, Belle, Moana, and Mirabel suit up in their winter outfits. Worse, it was raining this year for the parade, but Macy's provided umbrellas for all the Cast Members and characters to try and stay dry during the journey from Central Park to Herald's Square. Once at Herald's Square, Tiana and the other characters put on a performance of the stage show from the Disney Treasure, called "Live The Adventure", for the rain-soaked crowd, showing that, even in bad weather, Disney still adds that bit of Tinker Bell's pixie dust to the parade to make it magical.
After the parade ended, Disney and Macy's were already in talks for the 2025 parade regarding if the "Magic Meets The Seas" returns for a second year, and which characters will be attending next year's parade, though after four years in a row, Tiana is sure to be a shoo-in for being in the 2025 parade alongside Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. Other characters that have varied since 2021, like several of Tiana's fellow Disney Princesses, is currently still in discussion.
Printed media
Something Old, Something New
Centered around Tiana and Naveen's wedding, the entire city of New Orleans was prepared to celebrate the happy royal couple's lovingly, romantic mingling as wife and husband. The King and Queen of Maldonia with Prince Ralphie arrived on a ship and the queen bestowed upon Tiana three royal servants, who would prepare the festivities for her, much to Tiana's dismay. However, in secrecy so to not upset Naveen's parents, Tiana, Eudora, and Charlotte (who was given the role of the maid of honor) began preparing the wedding ceremony themselves. The next day, the princess-to-be finally revealed her true feelings to the servants, telling them she appreciates the help but would rather prepare things personally. The Queen of Maldonia visited Tiana afterwards, and instead of being upset like the girl feared, the queen decided to give her a request for the wedding; wearing a tiara she wore on the day she married the king.
On the night before the big day, Tiana gazed into the evening star in loving memory of her father. The next morning, things had begun and was a dream come true for both Tiana and her prince.
One Magical Feast
In this story, Tiana and Naveen were preparing Tiana's Palace for the upcoming Christmas Eve feast. After handling the groceries and preparing the meals for the guests, Tiana took Naveen out into the bayou, teaching him of Papa Noel, an equivalent of Santa Claus. Afterward, they returned to the restaurant where the party began. At the feast, a mysterious man arrived and was soon revealed to be Papa Noel himself.
A Hidden Gem
Here, Tiana is preparing for her upcoming birthday, and Naveen struggles to find her the perfect gift. During a talk, Tiana mentioned to Charlotte how she and her father would occasionally go into the bayou to find swamp amber, which was said to be the most precious things, in her opinion. More beautiful than any diamonds or pearls. Overhearing this, Naveen and Louis immediately rushed out into the bayou to find some. They visited Mama Odie, hoping she could help them locate some swamp amber, but the woman told them to find it themselves.
Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, Tiana's birthday bash had begun, but Naveen was nowhere in sight. Despite her mother and Charlotte's advice to remain calm, Tiana worried about the prince's safety and ran out to find him upon hearing he was last seen near a mossy tree in the bayou. There, Tiana witnessed Naveen take a dive into the murky waters to find the amber, where he ended up tangled in tree roots. Tiana dove down to save him. Once rescued, Naveen presented Tiana's birthday gift; a swamp amber. The princess was overjoyed and the couple, as well as Louis, returned to Tiana's Palace. After arriving, Mama Odie grabbed hold of the mucky amber and worked her magic on it, transforming it into a shimmering necklace of beauty.
The Grand Opening
This story follows the events of the opening of Tiana's Palace. As Tiana and Naveen marveled the finishing touches on the former sugar mill, Charlotte arrived with a message, telling the royal couple Big Daddy arranged for Jono La Crème, a famous critic, to be a guest of the opening night for the restaurant. However, various problems begin to arise as the night continues forth. For one thing, Louis' trumpet goes missing, which renders the gator a broken wreck, feeling it's impossible to play any music without his particular trumpet. Later on, as the evening began, the lights from the chandelier blew out, leaving the restaurant in darkness.
Charlotte, Tiana's friend Georgette, and Eudora are able to re-lit the building with several candles, whilst Louis played music in order to keep the guests calm. Having become overwhelmed, Tiana begins to lose hope in having a perfect evening until Naveen arrives. He reminds her that all will be well, and considering how far she's come from her poor, yet humble backgrounds, now where the time to celebrate and rejoice, especially for the happiness of her father. Feeling better, Tiana heads back into the scene, preparing gumbo for Jono La Crème. Fortunately, his thoughts on Tiana's Palace are beyond successful, and the next day, Tiana is greeted with a wonderful review courtesy of Jono, sparking the eventual success of Tiana's dream come true.
Video games
The Princess and the Frog
Taking place after the events of the film, Tiana is in the process of opening her restaurant with her closest friends by her side to help and celebrate alongside her. Throughout the game, Tiana interacts with various characters from the film, revealing their current relationships, as well recapping some of the events from the movie, acting as the game's mini-games and playable levels. Throughout the game, it is revealed that Tiana has even made amends with former adversaries such as her former boss, Buford, and the frog hunters, Reggie, Darnell, and Two Fingers.
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures
Tiana appears as a meet-and-greet character in New Orleans Square. She assigns a few tasks to the player, including asking for help with her restaurant.
At one point, Naveen secretly makes Tiana a native Maldonian dish and asks the player to serve it to her. Once the player makes the delivery, Tiana feels the need to add a special ingredient, so the player distracts Naveen while she does. Later on, Tiana's ingredients for her highly-popular gumbo have nearly run out, prompting Tiana to ask the player to find more of its ingredients.
She also participates in the Mickey's Soundsational Parade and Princess Fantasy Faire mini-games.
Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
In the 3DS game, Tiana is one of the many still-popular Disney characters captured and placed inside the world of illusion by an evil witch known as Mizrabel who plans on stealing the essence of these famous Disney characters to become one herself and dominate their world. Tiana, along with Aurora, becomes trapped within the phony kingdom of Prince Eric. Fortunately, Tiana is eventually rescued by Mickey Mouse. Tiana originally believed it was Dr. Facilier who was behind the devious plot until the heroic mouse explains the situation and allows for Tiana to retreat to safety with the other rescued characters. However, before she departs, Tiana asks if Mickey could hurry and help her find her way home so she could help save Naveen, who was said to be in danger the longer she's in the illusion world.
It is revealed that, whilst in the Fortress (the safe haven for the other captive characters) Tiana decided to cook the others meals as they waited for Mickey to complete his mission. In the end, after Mizrabel's defeat, Tiana thanks Mickey for the rescue and heads back to New Orleans, commenting that she needs to help Naveen show the Shadow Man a thing or two.
Disney Mirrorverse
Tiana is a playable Support Guardian in the game with the title "Luminous Alchemist". Within the Mirrorverse, Tiana has been applying Stellar Magic to her recipes to become an alchemist and potionmaker that can buff her allies.
Disney Dreamlight Valley
Tiana was announced to be coming to the game during the November 1, 2023 livestream of upcoming events for the rest of the year and for what's ahead in 2024 as the game leaves early access and becomes free-to-play for all players with the release of Jack Skellington and the "Rift In Time" expansion on December 5, 2023. She is slated to join the game around Summer 2024, officially announced to join the game on August 21, 2024 with a new Star Path and other additions, including the third part of the "Rift In Time" expansion. Her addition includes her restaurant, Tiana's Palace, and her home, so residents of the Valley can now dine at either Chez Remy or Tiana's Palace.
Unlocking Tiana first requires finding a cookbook in the Glade of Trust and showing it to Remy. He recognizes the lone recipe that is legible being for Cajun food, and a memory that includes him, Merlin, Moana, and Mickey has the player talk to them to find the other ingredients for the recipe. The recipe called for shrimp, milk, onions, rice, and Merlin provides a Dreamlight Pepper as the final ingredient to really give the recipe that magical spunk. The ingredients result in making an Enchanted Shrimp Etouffee. As the player shares it with Remy, Merlin, Mickey, and Moana, they all give clues to the chef who made it, and this soon results in the cookbook transforming back into Tiana after the other Villagers mentioned she liked jazz music, loved to cook, was a great singer, and enjoyed the Glade of Trust very much. Merlin figures out that Tiana must have been trapped in the cookbook after using it previously. Upon emerging from the Dream Well, she reveals that she had tried to add a little hot sauce to some jambalaya she was working on, and that when she showed the book to Remy, the book reacted and pulled her in as punishment for messing with the recipes. With Tiana back in the Valley, the player then sees to helping get her settled back in with placing her home and paying Scrooge to have his McDuck Construction Company build it, along with her restaurant, before then working to complete all her Friendship Quests that unlock once the friendship level and other prerequisites are met, including adding in her stall to offer meals daily, similar to Goofy, Mulan, Gaston, or Kristoff's stalls.
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Tiana is a playable character in the Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. Tiana is Back-line Support role hero. She was the final Disney Princess added to the game. She was also part of the 5th Anniversary events in the game during her release and had special Trial Event, which allowed players to unlock her. Tiana supports allies by increasing their damage and shielding them, she can also apply stacks of 'Determination' which blocks critical hits. Tiana can also summon fireflies and Louis to debuff enemies and deal damage to them. One of her skills name is named Almost There.
Tiana has friendship campaign with Cinderella and Dr. Facilier. Despite everything, ironically, it was revealed in one of friendship mission that Tiana and Facilier are meeting every week to a 'friendly' game of cards and talk about New Orleans and how they miss their old homes.
Disney Parks
Tiana is a meetable character at the Disney parks, dressed in her "lilypad/flower" gown from the movie. She made her debut in the temporary 2009 boat show Tiana's Showboat Jubilee in promotion for the film.
Disneyland
In California, Tiana makes meet-and-greet appearances in New Orleans Square.
Tiana also appears in Mickey's Soundsational Parade, within her own float, alongside Louis.
Near the end of Mickey and the Magical Map, Yen Sid's apprentice Mickey Mouse travels to New Orleans for one final adventure with Tiana and many other citizens as they perform "Dig a Little Deeper".
Animatronic versions of Tiana (as a human and frog) can also be seen in the Enchanted Window display along Main Street, U.S.A.
Tiana will appear in the upcoming ride Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
Walt Disney World
In Florida, Tiana makes appearances in Fantasmic! and Festival of Fantasy Parade.
For meet-and-greets, Tiana is currently available primarily at the Magic Kingdom's Princess Fairytale Hall. During winter months, she'll bundle up in a shawl or caplet, or a coat-styled version of her gown, to stay warm.
Tiana plays a major role in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. In Frontierland and Liberty Square, Doctor Facilier returns from his death via Hades and plans to turn Tiana back into a frog permanently as revenge for his demise. He kidnaps her and takes her to his parlor, where the park guests free her and allow her to escape. After Facilier is defeated, Tiana meets up with Mama Odie, Louis, and Merlin aboard the Liberty Square Riverboat to celebrate the guests' success. Tiana also has her own spell card known as "Tiana's Hot Sauce".
At the Disney's Port Orleans Resort, Tiana is the central character because of its ties to New Orleans between her film and the resort. A story was given to the resort after its refurbishment. Disney Princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, and Rapunzel gathered together to grant gifts to Tiana. Some include carpets resembling the Magic Carpet from Jasmine, shower curtains with artwork of "dinglehoppers" and "snarfbalts" from Ariel, mirror frames with wood carvings of woodland creatures from Snow White and much more.
Daily, Tiana appears as one of Goofy's invited guests in Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire at the Magic Kingdom, dressed in a 1920s flapper dress. During her segment, she teaches Goofy how to dance to the rhythm of jazz.
Tiana plays a major role in the castle spectacular, Happily Ever After. She is the first Disney character to appear, and starts off the show by singing "Down in New Orleans" on the castle balcony. She appears a few times afterward, including the stain-glass finale; her image can be spotted at the highest point of the castle.
With the recent reopening of 1900 Park Fare at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Tiana is among the characters that now appear there for the character meals at breakfast and dinner alongside Cinderella, Aladdin, and Mirabel Madrigal.
Tokyo Disney Resort
Although Tiana does not do meet-and-greet sessions in the resort, she appears alongside Naveen in the Tokyo DisneySea version of Fantasmic! as animated characters during the princess segment.
Disneyland Paris
In Disneyland Paris, Tiana is found at the Princess Pavilion in Fantasyland. She holds a mask while enter The Starlit Princess Waltz at 25th Anniversary. Princesses hold fans and switch them and dance with Naveen and princes.
Hong Kong Disneyland
She appears in the show Mickey and the Wondrous Book, performed in Storybook Theater at Hong Kong Disneyland on November 17, 2015. Here, she performs renditions of "Almost There" and "Dig a Little Deeper". On November 20, 2020, she appeared with all the other princesses (in her regular dress) at the opening ceremony of the Castle of Magical Dreams. As well, she has made occasional appearances as a meetable character after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shanghai Disneyland
In Shanghai, Tiana's likeness is featured on the The Princess and the Frog mosaic mural in Enchanted Storybook Castle, as well as one of the castle's walls carving displays. She also appears during the finale of Ignite the Dream. As well, she has made meetable appearances since 2021.
Disney Cruise Line
In Believe, Tiana, Naveen, Charlotte, and several New Orleans residents assist Mama Odie in her job to help a stiff father believe in magic. In the show, Tiana performs "Dig a Little Deeper" and "Gonna Take You There".
Tiana also has a restaurant in her honor; appropriately named Tiana's Place aboard the Disney Wonder. When she makes appearances, she dons her outfit featured in "Almost There" and engages in meet-and-greets with guests.
Disney Princess
Tiana was officially welcomed into the Disney Princess Royal Court on March 14, 2010, to coincide with the Blu-ray and DVD release of The Princess and the Frog. The coronation event took place in The New York Palace, in New York City. Joining the festivities were the original eight Disney Princesses, as well as Prince Naveen.
A similar event in the Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World also took place, welcoming Tiana into the massive group of Disney characters in front of Cinderella Castle.
Redesign
The only major change Tiana received in the Disney Princess redesign is that there are two more wavy strands of hair by her face. Her dress has not changed except that glittery designs of reeds have been added.
Palace Pets
Tiana's Palace Pets are Lily, Bayou, Birdadette, and Olive.
Differences from the source material
Although Tiana is an original Disney character inspired by real-life chef Leah Chase, her story is partly based on E. D. Baker's 2002 novel The Frog Princess, and the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Frog Prince".
The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm
- The unnamed princess is royal by birth and has a vain, selfish personality. Tiana, by contrast, is a working-class waitress who is intelligent, resourceful, and career-driven.
- The princess inadvertently breaks the spell by throwing the frog against her bedroom wall. In later adaptations, it was changed to a kiss.
- The princess loves to play with a golden ball and one day loses it in a well. The frog offers to retrieve it if she will be his friend. The film's equivalent to this is Tiana losing her bid for a space to open her own restaurant and Prince Naveen promising to finance her if she kisses him to turn him human again.
The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker
- Princess Emeralda (Emma for short) was born a princess of the fictional kingdom of Greater Greensward.
- Unlike the hard-working Tiana, Emma is clumsy, socially awkward, and dissatisfied with her life as a princess and upcoming arranged marriage.
- Emma turns into a frog after kissing the cursed Prince Eadric because she is unknowingly wearing a magical curse-reversing bracelet that her aunt, the Green Witch Grassina, had given her to protect from evil spells. In order to regain human form, the two must kiss again while wearing the bracelet.
Relationships
Gallery
Trivia
- Tiana's name means "princess" in Greek.
- Tiana is Disney's first black Princess. She is also one of six Disney princesses to be a woman of color; the others being Jasmine (Arabic), Pocahontas (Native American), Mulan (Chinese), Moana (Polynesian) and Raya (Southeast Asian).
- Tiana is (to date) the only Disney Princess to have her father dead and her mother alive; it is typically the other way around.
- Tiana is the first Disney Princess to defeat her film's villain, Dr. Facilier, entirely on her own; though Fa Mulan did defeat her film's villain, Shan Yu, she did it with a little help from her dragon sidekick Mushu, unlike Tiana.
- During her quest to own her business, it is a notable trend that the male characters in the movie constantly undermine and demean Tiana to become a successful female entrepreneur.
- Tiana, as the protagonist, is present and relevant for almost the entire film, but her screen time as a human was limited to about 19 minutes.
- Tiana is the second Princess who cursed as an animal.
- Jasmine is the first who cursed as a rat and a snake from TV series of the movie and Rapunzel who turned into a bird in Tangled: The Series.
- Tiana is left-handed (like her voice actress is). However, despite being left-handed, Tiana is showing signing a paper with her right hand in her fantasy during the "Almost There" number, but this is likely just a goof.
- Tiana's story is immensely inspired by the life of Leah Chase. Chase was a highly-respected, African American chef in New Orleans, who was known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine. Chase even contributed recipes to "Tiana's Cookbook" that was released after the film.
- Tiana is one of five Disney Princesses who do not have a sequel to their film. The other four are Snow White, Aurora, Merida, and Raya.
- Tiana is the Disney Princess seen wearing the most outfits. In total, she wore 11 on different occasions in her debut film (10 if you don't count the dress she wore as a child).
- Several other African American celebrities wanted the role of Tiana before Anika Noni Rose was cast, including model and television personality Tyra Banks, singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, and recording artist Jennifer Hudson (Hudson would later pose as Tiana in the Disney Dream Portrait Series).
- Beyoncé was also under consideration for Tiana; notably, she, Anika and Jennifer all starred together in the 2006 film adaptation of the musical Dreamgirls.
- In the first act of the film, Tiana's clothes are mostly in dull subdued colors, symbolizing her overly serious workaholic personality. After she's turned into a frog, she slowly learns to lighten up and live life to the fullest. After she returns to her human form, Tiana's clothes become noticeably brighter, mirroring her change of heart.
- For much of the film, Naveen calls Tiana "Princess" and later "Waitress", symbolizing his objectification of women as a whole. He doesn't call her by her real name until after the song 'Ma Belle Evangeline', when he starts to fall in love with her.
- She is the first Disney princess to be proposed to on screen in the film, unlike the other princesses, as they only kiss their love interests and then get married.
- Rapunzel and Eugene are the second Disney couple to get a proposal since Eugene proposes to Rapunzel several times throughout Tangled: The Series until they finally get engaged in the series finale.
- Anna and Kristoff are the third couple when Kristoff proposes to Anna in the sequel Frozen II.
- Cinderella and Prince Charming have a proposal scene in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time after Prince Charming rescues Cinderella aboard a ship and finally breaks the spell placed upon him, remembering she is the girl he danced with at the ball.
- Mulan and Shang get engaged in the sequel Mulan II, where Shang proposes to Mulan in her family gardens shortly after his arrival.
- Tiana didn't go to college, but she is the only Disney Princess with an actual job that makes money. What's more, the fact that she doesn't trust banks, which explains why she never attempted to get the loan from the bank to open her restaurant and keeps her money in jars, seems ironic considering the Great Depression occurred only a few years later.
- Tiana is the first princess to wear a wedding ring after marrying Naveen, unlike the other Disney princesses who are never shown wearing a wedding ring after marrying their princes.
- Rapunzel is the second princess to wear a wedding ring after she marries Eugene in Tangled Ever After.
- Anna is technically the third princess to wear a ring after she and Kristoff get engaged in Frozen II until she later becomes queen.
- Tiana and Naveen kiss each other five times in the film, more than any other couple in a Disney princess movie.
- The streetcar Tiana takes to work, during an early scene, is labeled with the number "A113". A113 was the room for the animation department at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts; the room now houses graphic design classes). During the 1970s, directors John Musker and Ron Clements, in addition to Disney/Pixar animation executive John Lasseter and Pixar director Brad Bird, studied animation in room A113. "A113" labels are hidden in Disney and Pixar films.
- According to Disneystrology, her birthday would be on December 25, Christmas Day.
- On the Disney Princess line-up, Tiana is franchised with her green bayou wedding gown, but without the veil.
- Tiana, along with Elsa, Daisy Duck, and Meg, is one of the few Disney heroines to sport eye shadow.
- Tiana is the first African American character and princess to make appearances at Disney theme parks.
- Tiana is currently the last Princess shown in traditional, hand-drawn animation.
- Tiana is the first Disney Princess to be introduced in the 21st century.
- Since launching her restaurant Tiana's Palace, she is the only Disney royal with a legitimate business prior to her marriage to Naveen.
- Prior to the release of Ralph Breaks the Internet, there was some controversy regarding Tiana's redesign, specifically her lightened skin tone and sharper features. In response, Tiana's scenes in the film were reanimated so that she more closely resembled her original depiction.[5]
- Tiana makes a mistake in saying, "There is no way I am kissing a frog and eating a bug on the same day," because she says that on the day after she kissed Naveen. However, if she kissed Naveen at the party after midnight, then her statement about both events happening on the same day would be correct.
- The blue dress Charlotte lends Tiana at the masquerade ball bears a striking resemblance to the ball gown worn by the titular character in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella.
- Almost everything Tiana sings is in the key of C major. Everyday Princess and Special Spice are exceptions because they're sung in F major and E flat major.
- Tiana is the only Disney Princess whose name is not mentioned by Sofia. Instead, Tiana says her own name herself when she introduces herself to Sofia in "Winter's Gift".
- On a Port Orleans runner, it would feature Br'er Rabbit and Mr. Bluebird from Song of the South, and Tiana, Prince Naveen, and Ray from The Princess and the Frog, meaning that they live in the same universe.
- In 2024, it was revealed that Tiana's last name is Rogers, making her the second Disney Princess to have their surname revealed, after Fa Mulan.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/DisneyAnimation/status/1337190903660756994
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Breaks 87 Years of a Weird Disney Princess Canon
- ↑ "The Woman Behind Disney's Landmark Princess". Oprah (March 24, 2010).
- ↑ [1]"
- ↑ "Princess Tiana voice actress Anika Noni Rose addresses Disney reanimating character after backlash" (September 25, 2018).
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