If you're on Disney TikTok, chances are you've stumbled across this performer's work.
Sharp-tongued comebacks delivered with perfect comedic timing. A raised eyebrow that could kill. The kind of charisma that made a decades-old villain feel suddenly, impossibly relevant.
Sabrina Von B. spent eight years as Disneyland's Evil Queen, and in that time, she didn't just play a character—she fundamentally redefined what it meant to be a Disney villain in the social media age. The proof is everywhere: millions of views, countless reaction videos, and a fanbase that would literally travel across continents just to meet her.
@sabrinavonb no makeup, all natural, holyyy airballll 🤭 #holyairball #lareina #itwasme
Now 27 and no longer with Disney, Von B. is finally talking about the role that made her a household name (even if most people didn't know her actual name until recently). In a candid conversation with PEOPLE, she opened up about the realities of becoming internet-famous while contractually obligated to stay anonymous, and what it really takes to make Disney magic eight hours a day in the California heat.
Before She Went Viral, The Evil Queen Was Nobody's Favorite
Here's the thing about the Evil Queen from Snow White: before Von B.'s videos started circulating, she wasn't exactly a marquee attraction. Sure, Disney die-hards appreciated the character, but she wasn't generating the kind of excitement you'd see around Mickey, Cinderella, or even other villains like Maleficent. The Evil Queen was just… there.
Von B. changed all that. Her interpretation—equal parts cutting and comedic, turned a relatively obscure character into must-see entertainment. Guests started showing up with their phones already recording, hoping to capture their own viral moment. The Evil Queen who insisted her beauty was “all natural.” The one who corrected visitors calling her “La Bruja” with a haughty “La Reina.” Suddenly, everyone wanted to meet her.
“It was a dream getting to do my own spin on a character that really wasn't popular or viral or well-known before videos of me really started going around,” Von B. told PEOPLE. “I read a lot of comments about people saying they would've never loved this character, but now it is their favorite character.”
The Price of Anonymity in the Age of Viral Fame
Von B. was just 18 when she started the role. By the time videos of her performances started racking up millions of views, she found herself in an impossible position: she was famous, but she couldn't actually be famous. Disney's strict policies about maintaining “character magic” meant performers couldn't publicly acknowledge their identities. So even as comment sections filled with speculation about who she was, Von B. had to stay silent.
“With Disney, it is a bit scary because they want to protect the magic, and in the comments, people were trying to get my identity,” she explained. “It is scary because Disney wants to protect the magic, and I'll say that I protected the magic all the way until the end, and I never came out publicly and said like, ‘This is me,' or anything until they ultimately let me go.”
Only after her departure did Von B. finally confirm what fans had suspected all along. Her reveal video on TikTok? Over 6.5 million views.
What You Don't See: The Physical Reality Behind the Performance
Most guests interacting with Von B.'s Evil Queen probably weren't thinking about the physical toll of the role. But Von B. was thinking about it constantly.
“You have to wear a costume, and a lot of the time in California, it gets really hot,” she told PEOPLE. “Preparing mentally, hydrating for the job, making sure your skin is up to par, making sure you sleep, eating enough the night before to have energy to do such a demanding role. Flipping that cape day in and day out was not easy.”
Her pre-show routine was almost ritualistic: “Lift the eyebrows, cackle, put on the makeup, do some exercises to get the body and face ready, and then put on the costume. That's when the real transformation starts. I would walk up to the set, take a few seconds behind the door, let my face drop into the Evil Queen and just open the door and not look back. The character takes over.”
That commitment to full embodiment is what made her performances work. Von B. wasn't just delivering lines—she was testing material, building an arsenal of responses, constantly refining what landed with guests. “Sometimes I would surprise myself with witty comebacks that I would come up with, and then I would try it on guests,” she shared. “I would be like, ‘Oh, I can keep that in my arsenal.'”
Over her eight years, Von B. also portrayed Maleficent, Agatha Harkness, and Lady Tremaine. But the Evil Queen remained her signature role—the one that generated the most content, the most memories, the most magic.
How Virality Happened (Twice)
Von B.'s rise to internet fame wasn't instantaneous. The first wave hit in 2019, when a YouTuber posted footage of an interaction with her. The video spread, introducing her Evil Queen to audiences who'd never set foot in Disneyland. Then in 2021, those earlier videos resurfaced, creating a second surge of visibility.
“I really open that door on stage, and I don't look back, and the Queen takes over,” she told PEOPLE. And audiences could tell. The authenticity of her performance—combined with genuine wit and impeccable timing—made for endlessly rewatchable content.
But virality brought complications. While Von B. couldn't publicly claim her performances, she was keenly aware of their impact. “That really was an honor to be able to bring a Disney villain to life, and also not be evil, but put a more comical spin on it and create joy for people and make people smile, all while being a villain, was very rewarding.”
The Moments That Mattered Most
Ask Von B. about her favorite memories from the role, and she doesn't talk about view counts or viral moments. She talks about people.
A woman who saved money to travel from Japan to Disney World specifically to meet her. A mother and daughter who returned every year, allowing Von B. to watch the child grow from an infant to an 8-year-old wearing her own Evil Queen dress.
“Over the span of my eight years, I got to see this mother and daughter almost every year,” Von B. recalled. “I got to watch the little girl grow from literally a baby in her mom's arms to an 8-year-old little girl in a little Evil Queen dress.”
“I don't take it lightly that these experiences that I created for people are stories and things that they will take with them, for years to come,” she told PEOPLE. “And hopefully make them like villains more and get on the side of villains and not just be scared of them.”
What Playing a Confident Villain Taught a Shy Person
Here's something that might surprise fans: Von B. is nothing like the Evil Queen in real life.
“Being so viral has helped me as a person just to be confident. As a person, I am not really like the Queen at all. I am definitely not half as confident as her,” she admitted. “I'm more on the shy end, surprisingly, but getting to just create that character who is so confident, and all the characters I got to play are very confident…it's so lovely to be such a confident character for little girls and little boys to look up to.”
The experience changed her. “That spark that the Queen has in her, it lives in me,” she said.
What's Next
Von B. is moving on to “bigger and better things,” with projects launching in the coming months and aspirations for Broadway or a national tour. After years of performing under the constraints of Disney's anonymity requirements, she's learning to exist as herself in the public eye.
“Now I'm learning how to live outside of the mouse, and I am super excited for what is next in my career,” she told PEOPLE. “And I'm so happy that people wanna see not just the Queen, but they want to see from me as well, which I'm very lucky to have that platform now from those videos. I'm very fortunate and grateful to have that.”
For eight years, Sabrina Von B. gave millions of people their favorite villain. Now she gets to be herself—and that might be the most rewarding transformation of all.
