Tiana is a main character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 49th animated feature film The Princess and the Frog (2009). Created by directors Ron Clements and John Musker and animated by Mark Henn, Tiana is voiced by Anika Noni Rose as an adult, while Elizabeth M. Dampier voices the character as a child.
Tiana is loosely based on two princesses: Princess Emma, the heroine of E. D. Baker's novel The Frog Princess, and the princess from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Frog Prince", which inspired Baker's novel.
A hardworking waitress who dreams of opening her own restaurant, Tiana finds her progress stalled when she transforms into a frog after desperately kissing a prince who has been turned into one by an evil witch doctor. The ninth Disney Princess, Tiana is the first to be of African-American heritage.
Tiana has been mostly positively received, with critics praising her personality and values. However, the depiction of Tiana and her community has been criticized for lacking "emphasis on racial issues".[1] The decision to depict the two main characters, Tiana and Naveen, as frogs for the majority of the movie has also caused controversy, with some saying that it downplays the characters' identities.[2]
