Disney has revealed the list of this year‘s newest Disney Legends, who are people in the entertainment industry that have made a significant impact on The Walt Disney Company.
2024 Disney Legends
Colleen Atwood (costume designer): For Disney, Atwood has developed costumes for some of Disney’s biggest live-action projects including Alice Through The Looking Glass, Dumbo, and most recently The Little Mermaid.
Angela Bassett (actress): For Disney Bassett voiced Mildred in the 2007 Disney animated feature film Meet the Robinsons, Groove in Whispers: An Elephant’s Tale, and Dorothea Williams in Disney/Pixar’s 2020 film Soul. In the MCU, she played Queen Ramonda of Wakanda in two 2018 films: Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame, then reprised this role in the 2021 Disney+ series What If…? and the 2022 film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She also served as the narrator for the Disney+ documentary series The Imagineering Story.
Martha Blanding (Parks & Resorts): A 50 year Disneyland cast member, who started May 1971, as a Disneyland park Tour Guide
Current role: Senior Manager, Disneyland Resort Merchandise Special Events. She was one of the first Black women in resort history to be a full-time VIP Tour Guide, as well as the first Black female buyer and first Black female manager.
James L. Brooks (TV and film director, producer and writer): Brooks is probably most known for his films such as Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News, but he’s being awarded for his work in bringing The Simpsons to life. Ever since the Disney-Fox merger, everyone’s favorite yellow family has become an integral part of the brand, with several fun and funny shorts debuting on Disney+ featuring some iconic characters from Marvel, Star Wars and more.
James Cameron (film director, producer and writer): On top of creating several of the best movies of all time, James Cameron has been an advocate for environmental conservation. Most notably, he teamed up with Walt Disney Imagineering in 2011, James helped to steer the creation of an Avatar-inspired area of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The result, Pandora – The World of Avatar, is an area that immerses guests in an interactive environment that brings the world of the film series to life, and features the popular attractions Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey. On top of prepping the highly anticipated third Avatar film, Cameron is currently working on a few documentaries in partnership with another Disney brand, National Geographic.
Jamie Lee Curtis (actress): The daughter of Hollywood power couple Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis excelled as a performer early on, winning people over with her exuberant personality. While she originally got her start in the film industry as a “Scream Queen”, over the years she’s soared as a genre actor. For Disney, not only did she play the no-nonsense mom Tess Coleman in the 2003 remake of the classic body-swap comedy Freaky Friday (2003), but she also played the legendary Madame Leota in Haunted Mansion, inspired by the classic Disneyland theme park attraction. Last year she also won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Miley Cyrus (singer and actress): Miley started her acting career at the age of 8, and by the age of 13, she auditioned for the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana. Her world changed forever when she got the role. Since the series premiered in March 2006, she has not stopped shining. Most recently, at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, Miley was honored with her first-ever wins for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. At just 31 years old, Miley is now the youngest honoree ever to be named a Disney Legend.
Steve Ditko (artist and illustrator): One of the greatest artist-writer talents in comic book history, Steve’s imagination and creative vision changed the comics industry and super hero storytelling forever.From Spider-Man to Doctor Strange and even Squirrel Girl, the man has left an everlasting impression on the imaginations of millions around the world.
Harrison Ford (actor): Harrison Ford has portrayed some of the most iconic action heroes to ever burn up the big screen. After appearing in a small but impressive role in American Graffiti (1973), directed by fellow Disney Legend George Lucas, Harrison proved to be perfect for the role of Han Solo, cynical smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). He would go on to portray Han in all three episodes of the original Star Wars trilogy. Harrison also stars as the titular character in the blockbuster Indiana Jones films. More recently, Harrison returned to a couple of his most celebrated roles. For the fourth time in the film series, he portrayed Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and once again donned Indy’s fedora in the fifth Indiana Jones installment, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Harrison will also appear as President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in the Marvel Studios live-action adventure Captain America: Brave New World, to be released in 2025.
Mark Henn (animator): Mark Henn joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1980, where he became an assistant animator on The Fox and the Hound. His first major assignment was animating Disney’s most beloved character, Mickey Mouse, in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, marking Mickey’s first big-screen appearance in 30 years. Throughout his tenure at Disney, Mark has worked on some of the most popular and most decorated animated films of all time, including The Lion King and Frozen. From Mickey to a little mermaid and Mini Maui, the enchantment of Disney animation is personal for this animator.
Frank Oz (multi-hyphenate): Creator. Director. Producer. Performer. Writer. Actor. Icon. Superlatives all that describe the one and only Frank Oz. As a respected director, Frank has helmed more than a dozen films, including co-directing The Dark Crystal with Disney Legend Jim Henson, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Shop of Horrors, Death at a Funeral (2007) and more. He also originated and performed the characters of Grover, Bert, and Cookie Monster for Sesame Street. Oz also originated and performed the character of Yoda for George Lucas’ Star Wars galaxy, first in The Empire Strikes Back, followed by Return of the Jedi all the way until 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. And he hasn’t stopped voice acting either. He’ll next appear in Inside Out 2 later this year.
Kelly Ripa (TV personality): Kelly Ripa is one of the most powerful voices in media, with a diverse body of work both on and off camera. With a career at ABC spanning over 30 years, Kelly has welcomed viewers with her sharp wit every morning as co-host and executive producer of the nationally syndicated show Live. BShe recently launched the second season of her own podcast titled Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa. Kelly lives in New York City with Mark, and together the couple have three children.
Joe Rohde (executive): Retiring in 2021 as a portfolio creative executive with 40 years at Walt Disney Imagineering, Joe Rohde was the overall creative executive and supervising designer for Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Rohde was instrumental in creating the Disney Conservation Fund, which has disbursed over $120 million in grants to projects worldwide. He now uses his art to raise funds for both international conservation and local community projects. In 2022 he received the Disney Conservation Fund’s first Conservation Legacy Award and has appeared on numerous documentaries about Imagineering.
John Williams (composer): In a career spanning more than six decades, this most prolific of movie composers has created the music for more than 100 films including all nine Star Wars saga films and all five Indiana Jones films. John has received five Academy Awards and 54 Oscar nominations—most recently for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny —making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most-nominated person in the history of the Oscars, a number second only to Walt Disney. He has also received seven British Academy Awards (BAFTA), 26 Grammys, four Golden Globes, and five Emmys, as well as the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.
READ: Parts Of D23 Reportedly Heading To Disney+
Disney Legend honorees receive a two-foot-tall bronze Disney Legends sculpture that signifies the imagination, creativity, and magic they have brought to the company. Disney Legends Award recipients will also participate in a handprint ceremony at the end of the event, and their bronzed prints will be displayed in the Disney Legends Plaza at the company’s Burbank headquarters.
Including this year’s honorees, a total of 318 Disney Legends have been named. Past Disney Legends include Tim Allen, Dame Julie Andrews, Howard Ashman, Kristen Bell, Robert Downey Jr., Annette Funicello, Whoopi Goldberg, Sir Elton John, Dame Angela Lansbury, George Lucas, Steve Martin, Alan Menken, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker, Ellen Pompeo, Robin Roberts, Marty Sklar, Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Walters, Ming-Na Wen, Betty White, and Robin Williams, among many others.
