Becoming a Disney Legend is one of the highest honors you can achieve in the Walt Disney Company.
D23 2019 Disney Legends Award
Each time the D23 Expo is held, a Legends Ceremony is typically held which often starts off the Expo. During that ceremony, celebrities, Imagineers, and others who have contributed to the Walt Disney Company in special ways are honored with the title of Disney Legend. In the past, some pretty big names have been added to the list, and now we’ve got a look at this year’s inductees!
D23 has announced the FULL list of individuals who will become Disney Legends this year! Check out the list below:
- Anthony Anderson (black-ish)
- Kristen Bell (Frozen)
- Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther)
- Rob’t Coltrin (Imagineer)
- Patrick Dempsey (Enchanted)
- Robert Price “Bob” Foster (Last worked as Vice President, Real Estate for Walt Disney Productions)
Chadwick Boseman ©The Associated Press
- Josh Gad (Frozen)
- Jonathan Groff (Frozen)
- Don Hahn (Animation)
- Doris Hardoon (Imagineering)
- Idina Menzel (Frozen)
- Chris Montan (Has worked as an executive music producer for the Walt Disney Company)
- Ellen Pompeo (Grey’s Anatomy)
- Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish)
Josh Gad at California Adventure ©Josh Gad | Instagram
As we mentioned, becoming a Disney Legend is a special honor. Disney Legends are selected by a specific selection committee. The committee looks to honor animators, Imagineers, songwriters, actors, and business leaders that have all left an impact on the company.
©D23
The legends award is actually a hand of Mickey Mouse holding up a star. The award has some very specific symbolism built into it. The spiral stands for imagination, while the hand stands for the skill, discipline, and craftsmanship these individuals possess, and finally, the wand and star represent the magic of an idea and skill becoming a new dream!
©Disney
The list of Disney legends already inducted includes Robert Downey Jr., Christina Aguilera, Wing Chao, Jon Favreau, James Earl Jones, Bette Midler, Kenny Ortega, Barnette Ricci, Robin Roberts, Diane Sawyer, Ming-Na Wen, Hans Zimmer, and Betty White, just to name a few.
2019 Disney Legend Award Recipient, Christina Aguilera ©Disney
The legends being inducted in 2022 will be part of a special opening ceremony at the D23 Expo on Friday, September 9th, at 10:30AM in Hall D23. The ceremony will also kick off the Disney100 celebration (a celebration of the Disney company’s 100th anniversary) and will feature Bob Chapek as a presenter. The opening event will be streamed as part of the D23 Expo [LIVE].
Disney has said that during the opening ceremony there will be “musical performances, special guests, and surprises for the audience, including a special performance by cast members from Disney On Broadway’s productions of Aladdin and The Lion King, and The North American Tour of Frozen.”
D23 Expo is Almost Here
Keep in mind that the D23 Expo is sold out at this time, but select panels (like this opening ceremony) will be available to view from home as part of the livestream. Full livestream details are still pending. We’ll keep an eye out for more updates in the coming weeks.
©Disney
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Josh Gad? Gross! They are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for inductees.
It’s a shame that they didn’t name as legends people like Oscar Martinez, longest working employee, or Tony Baxter or Ron Clements and John Musker or Andreas Deja’s.
I view the term “legend” as someone who had decades of impact on the company. Based upon this list, it seems too easy to become a Disney legend. When I think of a Disney legend, I think of people like Julie Andrews or Marty Skylar. Starring in a sitcom for a few years, while commendable, isn’t legend level.