Paige O'Hara
Donna Paige Helmintoller was born on May 10, 1956 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and attended Nova High School in Davie, Florida and Parkway Middle School of The Arts which is also in Florida. She performed in shows with the Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre. O'Hara began acting at the age of four, attending acting classes in her home state of Florida. It wasn't until she was 12-years-old that she developed an interest in singing and enrolled in a performing arts high school. O'Hara cites American actress and singer Judy Garland as one of her idols.
A longtime fan of Walt Disney Pictures, O'Hara auditioned for Beauty and the Beast at the age of 30 after reading about the film in The New York Times. 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. As of 2011, O'Hara was replaced as the voice of Belle due to her voice changing significantly over the course of twenty years. However, she still paints Belle for Disney Fine Art and continues to do promotional appearances for Disney. O'Hara now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband Michael Piontek.