Anika Noni Rose

Actress Anika Noni-Rose visits the Duracell Smart Power Lab in Times Square on December 10, 2009 in New York City. (Getty Images) more pics » Anika Noni Rose is the voice of Tiana in the Disney animated movie The Princess and the Frog , which opens in wide release in theaters today. Princess Tiana is the first African American Disney princess, and the family flick is being screened for children from the Boys & Girls Club at Walmart stores in multiple states, according to CNN. Anika Noni Rose (Getty) The film is loosely based on the ED Baker novel The Frog Princess , which ... Read Full Story

Anika Noni Rose is thrilled to provide a voice to Princess Tiana, Disney's first black princess, in the acclaimed new animated flick The Princess and the Frog . It sounds as though the Dreamgirls actress will have a couple of big fans in Angelina Jolie and her 4 1/2-year-old daughter Zahara . Speaking to OK! last year, mom-of-six Angelina noted, "There still isn't a Disney princess that's African and it's very difficult because our daughter's getting into princesses right now and it upsets me." Anika says she's happy that Zahara will now be able to "know herself as a princess." “It’s wonderful," the 37-year-old ... Read Full Story

Disney's new animated feature 'The Princess and the Frog' was tops at the box office over the weekend. The new film, which opened nationwide Dec. 11, brought in $25 million at the domestic box office, making it the highest-grossing start ever for an animated movie in December. According to studio estimates, its worldwide total is currently $32 million. FOLLOW The Newswire On TWITTER YOU LIKE CELEBRITY PHOTOS? Check Out 'Hot Shots' A new take on the Grimm Brothers' classic fairy tale about a prince turned into a frog, with the princess becoming the amphibian., 'Princess' features the voices of Tony Award winning actress Anika ... Read Full Story

Anika Noni Rose shot to international acclaim in Dreamgirls , and she returns to the silver screen as the voice and inspiration for Disney’s first black princess in The Princess and the Frog , which is in theaters now. Angelina Jolie has spoken about how she’s ecstatic that her four-year-old daughter Zahara will have a role model thanks to the barrier being broken. What’s her response? “It’s wonderful,” Anika , 37, tells me at NYC’s Le Parker Meridien Hotel. “I think every little girl should be able to feel themselves the princess. I think every little girl is worthy of having a princely young ... Read Full Story

Different ‘Princess,’ same dilemma In the year of America’s first black president, it makes sense that Disney would introduce its first black princess. On the surface, this feels revolutionary. Her name isn’t Ariel or Belle. It’s Tiana. And she and all the black characters in “The Princess and the Frog’’ have been drawn, by hand, with an appreciable degree of love and care – wide noses and full lips realistically scaled for each bright, brown face. Even the somewhat stereotypical voodoo man, a light-skinned toothpick with purple pupils and a gap in his teeth you could sail a boat through, looks like one of ... Read Full Story