Halle
Bailey
in


The
Little
Mermaid

Halle,
who
was
part
of
Disney’s
world
as
Princess
Ariel
in

2023’s
live-action


The
Little
Mermaid,
felt
a
deep
connection
to
the
mermaid’s
story.

“Her
sense
of
longing,
her
searching
for
herself,
was
something
that
I
could
resonate
with,”
she
told



Variety

in
August
2022. “She
knew
where
she
wanted
to
go,
and
she
wasn’t
going
to
let
anybody
stop
her.”

Amid
the
onslaught
of
criticism,
Halle
emphasized
the
importance
of
diverse
representation,
especially
in
children’s
media.

“What
that
would
have
done
for
me,
how
that
would
have
changed
my
confidence,
my
belief
in
myself,
everything,”
she
added. “Things
that
seem
so
small
to
everyone
else,
it’s
so
big
to
us.”

She
took
the
role


very

seriously,
going
to
the
gym
at
5
a.m.
every
day
and
spending
hours
practicing
stunts.

“I’m
trying
to
hold
myself
up
with
my
core
while
singing
and
while
acting
and
trying
to
look
like
I’m
not
shaking
because
it’s
like
a
workout
I’m
doing,
like
a
plank,”
she
told



USA
Today

in
May
2023. “So
it
was
all
of
the
things,
trying
to
weave
them
together
and
look
like, ‘This
is
natural,
this
is
a
normal
day,
I
swim
in
the
ocean
every
day.'”