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Arielle Jacobs' is currently playing Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin on Broadway, after originating the role in the Australian Production in August 2016. Her Broadway debut was playing Nina Rosario in the closing cast of In The Heights, opposite creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Other musical productions include Wicked on Broadway, as well as Rent, Disney's High School Musical, Shakespeare's Two Gentleman of Verona, and Into the Woods where she performed opposite Tituss Burgess.
TW: rape, sexual assault.
Nate: Ariel Jacobs.
Arielle Jacobs: Hi!
Nate: How are you? Okay. So, so great. Thanks for doing this. Who is your favorite superhero and why?
Arielle Jacobs: I have a lot of favorite superheroes. I really like The Flash. I love The Flash because he's super fast, but he's also super humble and family means everything to him. And I really like also Spiderman because of the same reason.
Arielle Jacobs: I like the ones who are relatable. Once you feel like, like, they're just like humans who have these powers, but they don't feel like powerful, like-
Nate: I love it. And they're both super smart. I love it.
Arielle Jacobs: Yeah.
Nate: Okay, cool. That's a great answer. All right. What is one quirky thing that you can do? Sing, rap, beatbox, do impressions, voices, face gymnastics?
Arielle Jacobs: Face gymnastics? A quirky thing I can do. I don't know the answer to this. I dance a lot around my house.
Nate: You do?
Arielle Jacobs: Yeah.
Nate: Can you do any impressions?
Arielle Jacobs: Oh the other day I made a Mickey Mouse one by accident. And I didn't know, if I could do it on the spot though.
Nate: Okay. All right, to be continued. That's fantastic. Okay. Great. If you could have one super hero power, what would it be?
Arielle Jacobs: If I could have a superhero power, I think it would be to be able to snap my fingers. And what is it called? Like Tran- tele- transport, like show up in another location on the spot.
Nate: Yes, that's great.
Nate: So I can travel wherever I want in an instant,
Arielle Jacobs: I can just be in Thailand right now.
Arielle Jacobs: I'm in Thailand, teleportation - that's what I want..
Nate: Thank you, peanuts. That's great. That's good. That's a question later. All right. What is your superhero power?
Arielle Jacobs: Good question. My superhero power now I think is to generally be positive and look on the bright side of things and when things feel like they're depressing or when I feel like I'm stuck, my superhero power is to focus on what am I learning in this experience? And what can I control and take action on? And if I can do that, I'll feel like I won't be so depressed.
Nate: Yeah. Love it. That's great. Okay. How about, do you know any real life superheroes in your life besides your parents?
Arielle Jacobs: There, yeah, there's several. Oh, you know, who was one? Amanda Nguyen. Do you know? I don't know if I'm saying her last name right. But I'm, I love her Amanda. Yeah, Nguyen- it's N G U Y E N. So she's the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever. She was also the youngest astronaut ever. And she started this thing called Rise, where she gets community- first of all she's young, she's like in her twenties or something, and she's gone into the UN and she's changed laws about helping victims of- of sexual abuse. And she gets governments to- so what happened to her, it was in Harvard, I think she was at Harvard, and she got raped at a party or something.
Arielle Jacobs: And then later she found out that she couldn't go after her accuser, because there was a stupid rule that said you can go after your accuser within a year, but all the evidence that they've collected from the scene- if you went in for your tests and your swabs and stuff, all the evidence is deleted after six months.
Nate: What?
Arielle Jacobs: So she was like, this is ridiculous. Why are you throwing away the evidence? But I'm still allowed to go after this person for longer than that, but you've tossed the evidence. How is that going to help me? So now she changed the laws to make sure that they keep the evidence longer and she's also helping communities create rallies and change laws within their states and counties to make sure that they can stay protected as well.
Nate: Wow!
Arielle Jacobs: She's teaching people how to change the laws in their own town.
Arielle Jacobs: That's
Nate: incredible.
Arielle Jacobs: She's incredible!
Nate: Okay. How about someone that you actually know?
Arielle Jacobs: Someone I actually know who's a superhero?
Nate: Yeah, in your life.
Arielle Jacobs: My grandpa. Why? My grandpa was a World War Two- no, he was a veteran. My, my grandpa was a veteran. He was a Filipino scout for the U.S. In the Philippines. He, so he was working to help the United States in the war in the Philippines, and then his family got transferred to Japan. And so they were in Japan.
Arielle Jacobs: And he wanted to come to the United States. It was always his dream to be an American citizen- to raise his family in America. And basically because he fought for the U.S. In the Philippines during the war, they made a promise to all the Philippine Scouts. If you fight for us, you can become a U.S. Citizen.
Arielle Jacobs: Well, after that happened, after they won the war, they kind of backtracked and nobody got their citizenship. But my grandpa kept working for the U.S. Government for the U.S. Post Office in Japan and kept writing letters and basically demanding- and requesting- but demanding that they follow through.
Arielle Jacobs: And 17 years later, he got the U.S. Government, through all of his letters, to change the laws. And he brought my family from the Philippines to California as the first family to immigrate in under this new immigration quota that was written because of his letters.
Nate: Oh my gosh. That's super cool. I love that. That's awesome.
Arielle Jacobs: He's still alive!
Nate: That's amazing. Wow. That's great. That's great. Okay. In three sentences, what is your passion?
Arielle Jacobs: My passion is to, okay. This is a very good question because I've asked myself this since I was a little girl. What- they always say, find your, why find the thing that motivates you.
Arielle Jacobs: I think ever since I was little, I've always felt like, yes, I love singing, I love acting, I love performing, but one of the things that I feel like deep down, that I love is being able to- so when I was little, I always thought that the most important thing is to help people see their worth no matter what.
Arielle Jacobs: So I always felt like I was worthy and I'm very blessed because I feel like even as a little kid, I know that I'm good enough, I'm strong enough, I'm smart enough to go after my dreams. And I believe in myself so much that I keep going and I have faith that I can make things happen and I can make changes and I can, you know, make moves and do what I want to be happy.
Arielle Jacobs: And I think that a lot of people struggle with feeling like they're- they don't have the worth, the self-worth to go after the things that would make them happy and to go after their dreams in changing the world, if they have dreams about what they want to create, what they want to do. So, I think my, why has been that. But I forgot the original question.
Arielle Jacobs: Why did I go into the why?
Nate: So what is your passion?
Arielle Jacobs: Oh, that's my pa- yes! My passion has always been to help people realize their self worth so that they go after the things that they want to do to be happy.
Nate: You're a good one. You are a good one. All right, ready?
Arielle Jacobs: I also love singing and acting and telling stories and all that.
Nate: Well you can do both- and you do both. With your gifts, you are really lighting people up and helping them with their- their journeys. So I think that's, you're doing it. Yeah. Good good. Kudos to you. All right here we are, ready? Lightning round. We already know the first one. Would you rather fly or teleport?
Arielle Jacobs: Teleport.
Nate: Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Arielle Jacobs: Introvert.
Nate: Would you rather choose Wolverine or Cyclops?
Arielle Jacobs: For what?
Nate: Well, Jean Gray. She's, you know, she's caught between the two, the bad boy, Wolverine, and the good guy leader, Cyclops, don't think too hard about this.
Arielle Jacobs: Cyclops.
Nate: Ooh, great. Sweet or salty?
Arielle Jacobs: Sweet.
Nate: Batman or Iron Man?
Arielle Jacobs: Iron Man.
Nate: YouTube or Netflix? Oh, you're going to pay for that.
Arielle Jacobs: I know! Netflix.
Nate: Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel?
Arielle Jacobs: Wonder Woman.
Nate: Super strength or super smart?
Arielle Jacobs: Super smart.
Nate: Awesome. Okay. And if there's one singer actor, or person in your profession, who do you- oh, that person. Like your favorite- pick one. I'm sure you have many.
Nate: Eva Green.
Arielle Jacobs: Yeah.
Nate: Nice. I don't know who that is.
Arielle Jacobs: What's her story that we really like? Babe?
Arielle Jacobs: (Unintelligible). Penny Dreadful.
Nate: Oh!
Arielle Jacobs: Have you seen it?
Nate: Yes!
Arielle Jacobs: Crazy!
Nate: Cool. That's great. So great. Well, that's the interview. That's everything. Thanks so much.