Anne Hathaway, Hilary Duff, Audrey Hepburn and More Stars Who Have Played Famous Film Princesses

Credit: Everett Collection (3); Getty Images (2)

Anne Hathaway, Hilary Duff, Audrey Hepburn and More Stars Who Have Played Famous Film Princesses

Anne Hathaway, Amy Adams and Audrey Hepburn may not be royalty in real-life, but you’d never know it based on some of their most famous film roles. All three ladies made waves as fictional versions of famous royal figures throughout history: Hathaway proved herself plenty regal with princess roles such as Ella in Ella Enchanted and Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries; while Adams fought for love with Prince Edward (James Marsden) in Enchanted. As for the Breakfast at Tiffany’s beauty, she showed off the less glamorous side of royal life as Europe’s own Princess Anne in Roman Holiday. Hathaway's turn as Princess Mia was so popular that the original film spawned a sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, in 2004. Since then, fans have clamored for a third movie, and the Oscar winner has said there's a script. Even if it never debuts, the Les Misérables star still appreciates the work she got to do on the first two. [jwplayer F9fy9xZZ-zhNYySv2] “Getting to make it and be on set every day, I got to hug Julie Andrews every day,” she told Jess Cagle in January 2019. “That part was also very, very, very magical. Then it came out and it was received. That part even, by the way, was magical." Other actresses made art imitate life when they played real-life royals. From Naomi Watts, who channeled the late Princess Diana in 2013’s Diana, to Nicole Kidman, who all but became the movie star-turned-royal Grace Kelly in 2014’s Grace of Monaco, plenty of Hollywood’s leading ladies have reigned on high as actual members of monarchies. A-listers including Lily Collins and Emma Watson also lived the princess fantasy in their respective royal films, stepping into the shoes of famous Disney stars such as Snow White (Mirror Mirror) and Belle (Beauty and the Beast), while more still served as heroic leaders of fictional space republics (the late Carrie Fisher). Though Fisher later joked about how much she hated the wigs she wore as Leia, she expressed her admiration for the character, who has been an inspiration to kids everywhere since her 1977 debut. "I like how she handles things. I like how she treats people," the Shockaholic author said during a November 2016 interview with NPR. "She tells the truth. She gets what she wants done. ... I've sort of melded with her over time." Keep scrolling to see which stars have tried on the tiara throughout their film careers: [podcast_block]

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Letitia Wright

Wright played Shuri, the younger sister of T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) — and the princess of Wakanda — in 2018's Black Panther. She's set to reprise the role in the 2022 sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

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Camila Cabello

The former Fifth Harmony member played the titular role in the 2021 adaptation of Cinderella that also starred Billy Porter.

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Naomi Scott

In 2019's Aladdin, Scott gave Princess Jasmine a bit more agency than she had in the original Disney film. She also got her own solo song titled "Speechless."

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Audrey Hepburn

One of Hepburn’s most iconic roles was that of European Princess Anne in 1953’s Roman Holiday, which portrayed her escaping her regimented life inside the palace walls with an unplanned gallivant through Rome with an American journalist.

Credit: Courtesy of Disney

Selena Gomez

The “It Ain’t Me” singer stepped into Cinderella’s famous shoes in 2008's Another Cinderella Story.

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Vanessa Hudgens

The Disney alum pulled double duty for 2018’s Netflix original, The Princess Switch, playing both Chicago-based baker Stacy DeNovo and Lady Margaret Delacourt, who just so happens to be her doppleganger.

Credit: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Kristen Stewart

The Twilight star gave costar/evil queen Charlize Theron a run for her money as Snow White in 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman.

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Lily Collins

Collins was the fairest princess of all with her jet black hair and snow white skin in 2012’s Mirror Mirror. (Just don’t tell her onscreen evil stepmother, Julia Roberts!)

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Emma Watson

Watson set the bar for live-action Disney princesses in 2017 when she played the beautiful and book-smart Belle.

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Amy Adams

Adams played Giselle in 2007's Enchanted. The Disney film — which combined animation with live-action sequences — also starred Patrick Dempsey and Susan Sarandon. The actress reprised her role in the highly anticipated sequel Disenchanted in November 2022.

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Demi Lovato

Lovato starred alongside Gomez in 2009's Princess Protection Program, and the combo proved to be pure movie magic: Nearly 8.5 million viewers tuned in to see the Disney Channel original movie's premiere.

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Carrie Fisher

The late actress, who died in December 2016 at age 60, first took on the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars in 1977. She continued to reprise the part until her last days with performances in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and, more recently, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. 

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Kristen Stewart

After playing Snow White in 2012, the Personal Shopper star tried her hand at real-life royalty as Princess Diana in 2021's Spencer.

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Brandy Norwood

In 1997, the R&B superstar played the title role in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. The all-star cast included Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, Bernadette Peters as Cinderella's stepmother, Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Constantina and Victor Garber as King Maximillian. The singer is set to reprise her role as the iconic princess in a new Descendants movie for Disney+.

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Anne Hathaway

Hathaway was transformed into a princess as Mia Thermopolis, heir to the Genovian throne, in 2001's The Princess Diaries, which was based on the best-selling book by Meg Cabot. She and Julie Andrews, who played dowager Clarisse Renaldi, returned for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement in 2004. In November 2022, the Hollywood Reporter confirmed a third movie of the beloved series was in the works.

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Julia Stiles

Hot on the heels of Save the Last Dance and The Bourne Identity, Stiles played Paige Morgan in 2004's The Prince and Me. The movie includes footage from 1955's To Catch a Thief, which starred Grace Kelly.

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Natalie Portman

In 1999, the future Oscar winner played Princess Padme Amidala in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Portman's character also appeared in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

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Anne Hathaway

The Colossal star got the chance to use her royal skills from The Princess Diaries in 2004’s Ella Enchanted, another modern day take on Cinderella.

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Robin Wright

Based on the 1973 novel of the same name, the 1987 film adaptation starred Wright as Buttercup, Princess of Florin, in The Princess Bride. It quickly became a cult classic, earning the No. 88 spot on the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100 Passions" list, which ranks the greatest movie romances of all time. 

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Drew Barrymore

Inspired by Cinderella, 1998’s Ever After saw Barrymore playing the lead role of Danielle de Barbarac, the kind daughter of a wealthy windower who is enslaved as a servant by her wicked stepmother. 

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Lily James 

For the 2015 live-action Disney remake of Cinderella, the Downton Abbey star slipped into the famous glass slippers. 

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Naomi Watts 

Watts played the late Princess Diana in a 2013 biopic, Diana, and the resemblance to Prince William and Prince Harry’s mother was uncanny. 

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Nicole Kidman 

Watts’ BFF Kidman has also portrayed real-life royalty, taking on the role of Hollywood legend-turned-princess Grace Kelly in 2014’s Grace of Monaco. 

Credit: Disney

Elle Fanning 

Sure, Maleficent was all about the red-lipped villain played by Angelina Jolie, but the kind-hearted Princess Aurora, portrayed by Fanning, was not to be overlooked! The Tiffany & Co. spokeswoman reprised her role in 2019's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

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Liv Tyler 

Who says princesses can’t have superpowers? Tyler’s elf princess Arwen captured the heart of Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn in all three Lord of the Rings films.

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Hilary Duff 

OK, so maybe she was more of a high school senior than a member of the nobility in the 2004 remake of the Disney classic, A Cinderella Story, but Duff managed to both wear a ball gown and win the heart of princely Chad Michael Murray, so she totally counts.

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Raven-Symone 

Princess Mia wasn’t the only royal in town in the Princess Diaries sequel: This Disney star also played a royal named Asana in 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2.