Jodi Benson was born on October 10, 1961 in Rockford, Illinois as Jodi Marie Marzorati. She has received worldwide recognition & critical acclaim as the voice of Ariel in Arielle, die Meerjungfrau (1989), Tour Guide Barbie in Toy Story 2 (1999), Weebo in Flubber (1997) as well as Thumbelina in Däumeline (1994). Other projects include Arielle, die Meerjungfrau - Wie alles begann (2008), Arielle, die Meerjungfrau 2 - Sehnsucht nach dem Meer (2000), Susi und Strolch 2: Kleine Strolche - Großes Abenteuer! (2001), 101 Dalmatiner 2 - Auf kleinen Pfoten zum großen Star! (2002), Joseph - König der Träume (2000), Balto II - Auf der Spur der Wölfe (2001), Balto III - Sein größtes Abenteuer (2004) & Verwünscht (2007).
She starred in Crazy For You as Polly Baker, receiving a Tony & Helen Hayes award nomination for best actress in a musical. Other Broadway credits include Smile, Welcome to the Club & Marilyn. Internationally, she has had the honor of sharing the stage w/ her husband Ray Benson at the European premiere of Ira Gershwin's My One & Only, starring as Miss Edythe Herbert. In Los Angeles, she starred in the critically-acclaimed Reprise/UCLA production of Babes in Arms, South Pacific, Flora the Red Menace, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady & Chess, for which she won the Best Actress Drama League Award.
She can be heard in over a dozen recordings & has a 6-part DVD series titled Baby Faith. Her animated works include Camp Lazlo (2005), Arielle, die Meerjungfrau (1992), Batman of the Future (1999), Die gruseligen Abenteuer von Billy und Mandy (2003), Expedition der Stachelbeeren (1998), Hercules: Zero to Hero (1999), P.J. Sparkles (1992) as well as many others. On the concert stage, she has performed as a concert soloist w/ symphonies all over the world such as the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The National Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, Dallas Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic to name a few. She has starred in the Kennedy Center Honors for Ginger Rogers, The 25th Anniversary of Walt Disney, Central Park Disney Spectacular & Disney's 100 Years of Magic. She's honored to be the resident guest soloist for the Walt Disney Company/Disney Cruise Line & ambassador for feature animation. She gives thanks & praise to the Lord for her family, friends, her loving husband Ray as well as her precious children: son McKinley Benson & daughter Delaney.
