Sofia the First (character)

Princess Sofia the First is the main protagonist of the Disney 2012 television special Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess as well as the 2013 spin-off TV series. She is voiced by Ariel Winter (Modern Family, Phineas and Ferb, and Jake and the Never Land Pirates).

Sofia is a little girl with a commoner's background until her mother marries the King of the Kingdom and she suddenly becomes royalty. Sofia learns that looking like a princess isn’t all that hard, but behaving like one must come from the heart.

Background
Sofia is a sweet and adorable young girl of humble origins who lives with her mother Miranda. Her biological father is absent for reasons unknown. She becomes royalty after her mother's remarriage to King Roland II. Being new to the entire princess legacy, Sofia attends the Royal Prep Academy where the fairies of Princess Aurora, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, teach her about what being a princess is all about.

Physical Appearance
Sofia is a young girl with wavy auburn hair. She has fair skin with rosy cheeks and large blue eyes. Sofia's prominent princess gown has a lilac color and comes with a crystal tiara inset with diamonds and pearls, which also decorate her dress. Around her neck, she wears the royal family's amulet called the Amulet of Avalor, which gives her powers for deeds of pure good, the only one she currently has being the power of talking to animals, though the amulet also curses her when she performs bad behavior.

Personality
While cute and beautiful, Sofia is rather clumsy but has a pure heart. Since she was originally a mere commoner, she retains a very carefree persona, and was once seen to enjoy sliding down the rails of the staircase. Her outcast-esque behavior often puts her at wits with her stepsister Amber, who was apparently jealous of Sofia due to her social talents. Often times the firm Hildegarde is a little thrown off by her vivacious persona. She can be quite gullible when around Cedric the Sorcerer.

Powers & Abilities
Although a young girl, Sofia has displayed various skills, abilities, as well as magical potential.
 * The Amulet of Avalor: This magical amulet, gifted to her by her stepfather grants Sofia the power to talk to animals (for which the amulet blessed her when she helped a baby bird back into its nest). Without the amulet, however, Sofia loses the ability to understand her animal friends.
 * Flying Horseriding: In "Just One of the Princes", Sofia tried out for the Royal Prep Flying Derby team, with Minimus as her steed. After hard work and training, she managed to win her spot on the team, and became a skilled flying horse-rider.
 * Magic: In "Cedric's Apprentice", Sofia began lessons in magic and sorcery, first having trouble with a spell to turn things into rubies. But with her temporary sorcery-teacher, Cedric the Sorcerer, she soon masters the ability to cast spells although it requires a wand. This comes in handy later when she frees the headmistresses from their bubble. However, after her first try at spell-casting when she put everyone attending her first ball to sleep, she remains cautious about bold magical attempts, even in measuring magical plant food.
 * Swordsmanship: In "Baileywick's Day Off", during a game or pirates, Sofia displayed competent skills with a sword (albeit a toy one) to keep her brother James on his toes and even disarm him. Given Royal Prep offers fencing lessons, Sofia probably learned there or she received a tutor. Wand work also requires similar arm movements, which could also add to explanation of her skill.
 * Various Buttercup Girl Scout skills: As a Buttercup Scout, Sofia has learned many outdoor skills, such as wood-gathering, identifying various herbs, survival skills, etc.
 * Leadership: Sofia displayed potential and competency as a leader, when she led her fellow Buttercups in making a sled so they could hurry an ill Baileywick to get treatment at the castle.
 * Sofia's Heart: Many times, Sofia has shown compassion, kindness, and resolve, all of which helped her overcome the challenges she's faced as a princess, as well as helping others. She never gives up and always finds a way to succeed, and the goodness of her heart has helped others in ways that only kindness and patience can.

My Disney Experience Official Description
Sofia the First is finding out what being royal's all about. She's excited to become the best princess she can be!

Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess
In the film that acted as the pilot for Sofia, the young girl's story was told beginning where she became a princess. The film also shows her first days in the palace, meeting famous Disney Princesses such as Cinderella. A notable event to occurred was Sofia's amulet, the Amulet of Avalor. The amulet contains powerful magic that allows Sofia to speak to animals and the power to bring fellow Disney Princesses to her aid. The amulet was also on the wish list for the villainous sorcerer Cedric, who secretly plotted to rule the kingdom using the magic of the amulet.

Sofia the First
She is the titular character in this series.

In the series, Sofia is often thrown into the fray of what is to be expected of her whilst being a princess and what she wants to do being a free spirit.

Theme Park Character
Sofia made her theme park character debut during the taping of the Walt Disney World segments of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade special at the Magic Kingdom on December 1, 2012. The fully-costumed character is part of the Disney Junior Live theme park meet and greets at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. Her first appearance away from the theme parks was at the 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll along with Jake.

Disney Junior Live!
New segments in the Disney Junior Live! show featuring both Sofia and Doc McStuffins replaced Handy Manny and Little Einsteins in February 2013 at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida and Disney California Adventure in Anaheim.

Trivia

 * Despite being a princess and being directly affiliated with Disney Princesses in her show, Sofia will not join the official line-up, possibly because she is too young and is probably closer in age to characters like Melody and Alice, instead of Aurora and Jasmine.
 * On a press tour, executive producer Jamie Mitchell said, "She is Latina" after one reporter asked about Sofia's mother's darker skin. This makes Sofia Disney's first Latina princess to appear in an animation project. But recent articles on Sofia's heritage says that she is "not" Latina, but a Hispanic of mixed heritage, with her mother hailing from the Kingdom of Galdiz (loosely based on Spain) and her biological father hailing from a kingdom based on Scandinavia.
 * Similar to Cinderella, she has a rags-to-riches story, and has a stepsister who once was antagonistic, but became softer in the climax. Unlike Cinderella, Sofia's stepsister is born a princess.
 * Also unlike Cinderella, Sofia moved into her stepfamily's home instead of the other way around.
 * Similar to Jasmine and Rapunzel, Sofia resides with the antagonist.
 * Similar to Snow White and Aurora, she has animal friends.
 * Her hard work of learning to be a princess is similar to Tiana's hard work, and Cinderella when she's trying to do her best while being herself.
 * Her spunkiness and curiosity is similarly compared to Ariel.
 * Her decision to race in the flying horse-race that has always been done by princes and never by princesses is similar to Mulan when she joined the Imperial Army of China, where it is a crime for a woman to pretend to be a man, let alone even join the army due to the social structure of Ancient China favoring men over women.
 * She is similar to Princess Sofia from Mattel's Barbie as the Island Princess. Both share the same name and are around the same age. Also, both are sweet and joyful and love animals. The only difference is that Sofia the First isn't born a royal, and isn't a blonde.
 * Sofia is the first princess official and non-official to have a stepfather rather than the typical stepmother. Plus her stepparent isn't wicked. Neither are her stepsiblings, though Amber is briefly jealous.
 * She is similar to Eilonwy in the fact they both have magical objects. Eilonwy has her golden bobble and Sofia has the Amulet of Avalor.
 * Sofia is one of the few protagonists who isn't aware of the antagonist.
 * Also, Sofia is the first princess to have to deal with more than one main antagonist.