Jodi Marie Marzorati was born on the 10th October 1961, in Rockford, Illinois USA, and is a stage, movie and voice actress as well as a singer. As Jodi Benson, she is most famous for being the trademark voice of several Disney’s characters, such as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” franchise, Thumbelina in “Thumbelina” (1994), Helen of Troy in the “Hercules” TV series, as well as Tour Guide Barbie in “Toy Story 2” (1999) and “Toy Story 3” (2010).
Have you ever wondered how much wealth this Grammy Award-winning actress has accumulated so far? How rich Jodi Benson is? According to sources, it is estimated that the total size of Jodi Benson’s net worth, as of early 2017, is over $5 million, acquired through her career in the movie-making industry which has been active since 1984.
Jodi Benson Net Worth $5 million
After high school, Jodi enrolled at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where she studied law at first. However, later she turned herself towards musical the theater program, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As an actress she debuted on the stage in 1983, starring in Kenny Ortega‘s Broadway play “Marilyn: An American Fable”, then in 1984, Jodi voice acted in the English language adaptation of the Japanese Sci-Fi animated adventure “Kaze no tani no Naushika” (“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”). These engagements provided the basis for Jodi Benson’s net worth.
During the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s, she continued to regularly appear on the stage in various Broadway productions, and in 1992 Jodi was honored with a Tony Award nomination for her performance in “Crazy For You” musical. Apart from these, she also appeared in several other notable Broadway musicals, such as “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” as well as “Smile” and “Welcome to the Club”. It is certain that all these performances have helped Jodi Benson to dramatically increase her fame and popularity as well as the total size of her wealth.
However, the real breakthrough in Jodi Benson’s professional acting career occurred in 1989, when she was cast for the voice of mermaid princess Ariel in Disney’s animated family movie – “The Little Mermaid”. She reprised her “voice role” in other motion pictures of The Little Mermaid franchise such as the eponymous TV series and several spin-offs, including “The Little Mermaid 2: Return of the Sea” and “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning”. Ever since, Jodi has been one of the trademark voices of Disney, and later Pixar, and has voiced several other famous Disney’s characters, such as Thumbelina in “Thumbelina” (1994), Weebo in “Flubber” (1997) as well as Barbie in the second and third sequels in “The Toy Story” movie franchise, and Sam in “Enchanted” (2007). It is certain that these are Jodi’s most notable and memorable roles so far which have helped her to increase her net worth by a large margin.
Apart from all those already mentioned above, Jodi Benson has also voice acted in several video games, such as “Batman Beyond”, “Kingdom Hearts” and its sequel “Kingdom Hearts II” as well as “Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey” and “Disney Magical World 2”. For her extraordinary contribution and dedication to The Walt Disney Company, in 2011 Jodi Benson was rewarded with the Disney Legends Award. Doubtlessly, all these achievements have impacted Jodi Benson’s net worth in a positive manner.
As a singer, Benson was featured on several Disney album releases as well as with various symphony orchestras, with which she has toured the globe, including The Philly Pops with Peter Nero, The National Symphony Orchestra with Marvin Hamlisch as well as The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and The Boston Pops.
When it comes to her personal life, Jodi Benson has been married since 1984 to a musician, Asleep at the Wheel’s frontman Ray Benson, with whom she has a son and a daughter.
