Once Upon A Time’s Mekia Cox On Playing First Black Disney Princess

This article originally appeared on EW. 

Once Upon a Time is undergoing a major overhaul heading into season 7, which means new characters, new locales, and even a new curse. To keep track of all the big changes, EW will bring you interviews with the cast — new and old — along with executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis over the next two weeks until the ABC fairy-tale drama’s return.

Mekia Cox ’s dream has literally come true.

The Once Upon a Time newcomer actually worked at the Magic Kingdom as a kid, but was unable to move up to the rank of princess because, well, there wasn’t one she could portray. But thanks to the debut of Tiana in 2009’s The Princess and the Frog, Cox now gets to bring the first black Disney princess to life on OUAT.

The bubbly Tiana will play a vital role in the Enchanted Forest — check back for more on that soon! — but in Hyperion Heights, her counterpart Sabine is living with Jacinda (Dania Ramirez) as she aims to achieve her dream of being a chef. (EW was on set for a, let’s say, sweet scene involving her character’s animated history.) Below, Cox teases her new character.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your first day like on set?
MEKIA COX: So they had been working at least a week, maybe two weeks, before I actually came in. My very first day was a big day: It was the ball. There was just a lot going on, there were a ton of extras, 100 extras, and it was in front of a green screen. It was my first time doing that, and it was fun. It was pretty amazing.

A little backstory on me: My very first professional job was at the age of 7, and I grew up in Orlando, Florida, and I danced as a kid of the Kingdom at the Magic Kingdom in Disney. So getting to be able to play the first black Disney princess is a big deal for me. I remember wanting to be a Disney princess when I was that age. And I remember, actually, when you turned 16, you were allowed to be a princess in the parades. And I was, “Yeah, when I turn 16, I’m going to do that!” And I was like, “Who am I going to be? I can’t play anyone.” And so when the movie came out in 2009, I was like, “Oh, some little girl has the opportunity to do that now.” So jumping into that character that first day was a big deal for me. Of course, you’re trying to play it cool. [Laughs]

What was it like for you to put on the dress for the first time?
I walked in the first day that I had a fitting, I went, “Oh, my gosh, that dress is gorgeous. I bet whoever gets to wear that is going to be happy.” And they were like, “It’s you.”

Had you watched the show before you were cast or watch any of it since then?
Yeah, I definitely went back and watched. I had seen bits and pieces. When you’re on TV, you don’t get to watch as much TV as you’d like to.

Tell us about Tiana as a character.
So there’s Sabine, and Sabine is Princess Tiana in the real world. I’m pretty close to this character — like they write in a way that I talk, so I literally have to look over the scripts once and it’s in my brain. And then Tiana, it was about 10 years ago, and she is this character who is — basically her backstory is happening in episode 5, and so …

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