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D23 Announces New Disney Legends

The D23 Expo is always a highly-anticipated event for Disney, Marvel, or Pixar fans. This year’s D23 Expo is beginning on Friday, September 9, and it has just been revealed that some very special celebrities will be honored with Disney Legend Awards in an “epic opening ceremony” for the weekend-long event!

The Disney Legends Award is a highly prestigious honor for any performers who have worked with Disney. The actresses who provide voiceover work for Disney princesses often receive the honor (Jodi Benson, Anika Noni Rose, Lea Salonga, and Paige O’Hara are some examples), but live-action performers like Dick Van Dyke are also Disney Legends — and so was the late Betty White.

josh-gad
Josh Gad is the actor who plays Olaf the snowman in ‘Frozen’, ‘Frozen II’, and ‘Olaf Presents’. Josh Gad is known for his love of the Disney Parks; the actor has shown up on Disney trips and vacations at Walt Disney World Resort multiple times. Credit: uk.movies.yahoo.com

This year, the actors and celebrities being transformed into Disney Legends are Anthony Anderson, Kristen Bell, Chadwick Boseman, Rob’t Coltrin, Patrick Dempsey, Robert Price “Bob” Foster, Jonathan Groff, Don Hahn, Josh Gad, Doris Hardoon, Idina Menzel, Chris Montan, Ellen Pompeo, and Tracee Ellis Ross!

Disney Legends Awards have been a Disney staple for 35 years, and the award ceremony will be part of the opening festivities for this year’s 2022 D23 Expo. Fans of the Frozen films will be particularly happy, because four voiceover actors and singers from the Frozen films are becoming Disney Legends this year: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, and Jonathan Groff!

idina-menzel
Idina Menzel Photo Credit: Max Vadukul / Billboard.com

Fans of the late Chadwick Boseman will also be touched to see that the Black Panther actor is becoming a Disney Legend posthumously. Boseman was also recently posthumously nominated for an Emmy Award.

Daniel Kaluuya
T’Challa the Black Panther (played by the late Chadwick Boseman) and W’Kabi (played by Daniel Kaluuya) in Black Panther. Credit: Variety

Emmy Award-winner Tamron Hall will be hosting the Disney Legends Awards ceremony, which is apparently one of D23 Expo guests’ favorite parts of the event. Are you excited to attend the D23 Expo in September and see these celebrities become Disney Legends? Have you ever seen one of these actors or celebrities attending an event at Disneyland Resort or Walt Disney World Resort?

Sharon

Sharon is a writer and animal lover from New England. Sharon's two main focuses in her work are Disney's correlations with pop culture and the significance of Disney princesses (which was the basis for her college thesis). When she's not writing about Disney, Sharon spends her time singing, dancing, and cavorting with woodland creatures!

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