Prince Eric Once Almost Gave Up Acting for a Different Profession!

With The Little Mermaid live-action remake coming to theaters soon, it’s no surprise that Disney fans are incredibly excited to see the classic Disney movie come to life through the performances of Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula the evil sea witch, Javier Bardem as King Triton, and Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina. Jacob Tremblay voices Flounder, Daveed Diggs voices Sebastian, and Awkwafina voices Scuttle.

It’s a star-studded cast and highly anticipated film that promises fans an incredible performance and rendition of this fan-favorite movie, and if early reviewers are to be believed, we can expect all this and more!

Read More: “Couldn’t Think of Anyone Better”: Critics Praise “HYPNOTIZING” Performance from Halle Bailey in ‘Little Mermaid’

Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric

Jonah Hauer-King began The Little Mermaid’s long-winded audition process in April 2019. The culmination of that process was a costumed chemistry test with his scene partner, Halle Bailey; Hauer-King beat out his competition, former One Direction boyband member and popstar Harry Styles for the role.

In an interview with The Cut, Hauer-King delves deep into his exploration of Prince Eric as a character. He explains that in the 1989 movie,  Prince Eric was an “archetypal prince … but we didn’t really get to know him very well.”

Hauer-King elaborates that the live-action Eric is more “restless and inquisitive about where he is in the world,” similar to Princess Ariel, sharing that it gives that pairing more purpose. “He’s quite isolated and sensitive,” he adds.

The interview revealed a little-known fact about the actor, though: acting wasn’t his first love. When he started out, it was all about music for him. Back in his teenage years, the “human heartthrob”—as described by Ursula, the iconic villain of the movie—was playing small gigs with his indie-rock band. It was simply happenstance that he picked up an amateur acting gig at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; Hauer-King met an agent, and as they say, the rest is history.

The Little Mermaid / Credit: Disney

Then, once again, Hauer-King put acting on hold for a second time in his life to pursue a degree at Cambridge University in theology and religious studies. A few acting gigs began filtering in, which Hauer-King balanced with his studies, and each of those steps led him to where he is today, playing the loveable Prince Eric in one of Disney’s biggest live-action remakes to date.

And we’re unequivocally glad it turned out the way it did!