Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Aurora
Sleeping Beauty character
Aurora as she appears in Sleeping Beauty (1959), wearing the blue version of her color-changing ballgown.
First appearance	Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Created by	Marc Davis Hal Ambro Les Clark Iwao Takamoto Walt Disney
Based on	Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault
Voiced by	Mary Costa (1959 film) Erin Torpey (speaking voice; Disney Princess Enchanted Tales) Cassidy Ladden (singing voice; Disney Princess Enchanted Tales) Christie Houser (singing voice) Jennifer Hale (2001–2010) Kate Higgins (2010–present) Janet McTeer (narrator; Maleficent) Aline Mowat (narrator; Maleficent: Mistress of Evil)
Portrayed by	Elle Fanning (Maleficent film series) Eleanor Worthington Cox (8-years-old) (Maleficent) Vivienne Jolie-Pitt (5-years-old) (Maleficent)
In-universe information
Nickname	Sleeping Beauty Briar Rose (alias)
Title	Princess, Queen (Maleficent)
Affiliation	Disney Princesses
Family	King Stefan (father) Queen Leah (mother)
Spouse	Prince Phillip
Children	Princess Audrey (Descendants)
Relatives	Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather (adoptive aunts/fairy godmothers) King Hubert (father-in-law) Maleficent (surrogate mother; Maleficent film series)
Nationality	European, most likely French

Aurora, also known as Sleeping Beauty or Briar Rose,^[1][2][3] is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Productions' animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959). Originally voiced by singer Mary Costa, Aurora is the only child of King Stefan and Queen Leah. An evil fairy named Maleficent seeks revenge for not being invited to Aurora's christening and curses the newborn princess, foretelling that she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die before sunset on her sixteenth birthday. Merryweather, one of the three good fairies, weakened the curse so Aurora would only sleep. Determined to prevent this, three good fairies raise Aurora as a peasant in order to protect her, patiently awaiting her sixteenth birthday—the day the spell can only be broken by a kiss from her true love, Prince Phillip.

Aurora is based on the princess in Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty", as well as the titular heroine of the Brothers Grimm's version of the story, "Little Briar Rose". Some elements, such as her name, are derived from the ballet The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. For several years, Walt Disney had struggled to find a suitable actress to voice the princess and nearly abandoned the film entirely until Costa was discovered by composer Walter Schumann. However, Costa's southern accent nearly cost her the role until she proved that she could sustain a British accent for the duration of the film. In order to accommodate the film's unprecedentedly detailed backgrounds, Aurora's refined design demanded more effort than had ever been spent on an animated character before, with the animators drawing inspiration from Art Nouveau. Animated by Marc Davis, Aurora's slender physique was inspired by actress Audrey Hepburn. With only 18 lines of dialogue and equally few minutes of screen time, the character speaks less than any speaking main character in a feature-length Disney animated film.

When Sleeping Beauty was first released in 1959, the film was both a critical and commercial failure, discouraging the studio from adapting fairy tales into animated films for three decades. Aurora herself received negative reviews from both film and feminist critics for her passivity and similarities to Snow White, and would remain Disney's last princess until The Little Mermaid's Ariel debuted 30 years later in 1989. However, Costa's vocal performance was praised, which inspired her to pursue a full-time career as an opera singer to great success. Chronologically, Aurora is the third Disney Princess. Actress Elle Fanning portrayed a live-action version of Aurora in the film Maleficent (2014), a retelling of the 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the title character. Fanning returned to portray Aurora in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), which is set five years later.

The Sleeping Beauty Castle is an attraction at Disneyland. Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (French for "The Castle of the Beauty in the Sleeping Forest", but known more roughly in English as "Sleeping Beauty Castle") was built at Disneyland Paris. The castle was replaced by the Castle of Magical Dreams in Hong Kong Disneyland; however, the new castle still pays tribute to Aurora and the other Disney Princesses. Along with Cinderella Castle, the Castle is a main symbol of The Walt Disney Company.