Stephanie Beatriz truly was waiting on a miracle while recording her vocals for Disney’s Encanto.
In a new interview with Variety, the actress — who portrays protagonist Mirabel Madrigal in the film — revealed that she was actually in labor while laying down her character’s hopeful ballad “Waiting on a Miracle.”
“I didn’t want to tell anybody at Disney because I didn’t want anyone to freak out,” she said, “but I was already having some contractions when we were scheduled to record that day. I was like, ‘Well, fingers crossed I finish the song before [the baby] comes!'”
As it turns out, Beatriz gave birth the very next day to daughter Rosaline. And she’s since reveled in the connection she has to her Encanto character. “Most of [my roles], I disappear into the character,” she said. “And in a weird way it’s the same with this because it’s the most ‘like me’ role I’ve ever played, yet I’ve disappeared. It’s not my face, it’s an animated person.”
Encanto director Byron Howard recalled in the same interview that the Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum initially auditioned to play a different member of the magical Family Madrigal, but it quickly became clear that she was the “missing piece” as the movie’s emotional keystone.
The entire Encanto soundtrack, meanwhile, has turned out to be a massive hit following the film’s November premiere, with fan-favorite highlight “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” becoming the biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit from Disney since Aladdin‘s “A Whole New World” back in 1993.
The song is currently sitting at No. 2 after spending five consecutive weeks atop the chart throughout February and March. Meanwhile, the soundtrack has spent nine weeks and running at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.