Child star Anneliese van der Pol called Disney out in a recent interview where the actress dished on how That’s So Raven came to be — and how its star Raven Symoné almost didn’t become the lead at all.
Speaking to Even Stevens actress Christy Carlson Romano on her podcast Vulnerable, van der Pol recalled what it was like auditioning for the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel show when it was still being developed.
“At the time, Raven wasn’t the lead. She was the sidekick,” van der Pol said. “They were looking for a lead and I came in to audition for the lead. I think the character’s name was Molly.”
She explained that she ultimately didn’t get the part, but when filming began, production realized they needed to change course.
“When they filmed, they realized that Raven was the funniest one and had a following. So they bumped her up to first position and then they started auditioning people again,” she explained.
Van der Pol later joined the show as Raven’s best friend and sidekick Chelsea, while Orlando Brown played their friend Eddie.
Symoné, who was 17 years old at the time, had already acted in The Cosby Show, Kim Possible, Dr. Dolittle 2, and more. Her big break was on The Cosby Show where she began acting at the young age of 3, but she had already had a few credited roles under her belt even by then.
“I think that was kind of, like, racism at a low level — I guess if that’s even a possibility. They couldn’t really see a Black girl leading a show. They saw her as a sidekick,” van der Pol said.
That’s So Raven aired on Disney Channel for 100 episodes from 2003 to 2007. It went on to win two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children’s Program and earned two nominations for Symoné. The hit sitcom spawned video games and soundtracks, and kicked off Symoné’s musical career.
Romano added her own experience with the network, telling van der Pol, “With Disney, it’s not personal, it’s business.”
“That’s what I was going to say, it is business, but children are involved,” van der Pol said.
Symoné talked about growing up in the industry in a 2006 interview with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the show’s fourth season, where she said landing her role in That’s So Raven changed her life.
“I’ve been rejected far more than I’ve been accepted, let’s put it that way,” she said at the time as she recalled life after Dr. Dolittle 2, when her family was beginning to feel like they were wasting their time having fruitless meetings with casting agents.
“Then I got Absolutely Psychic (the original title for Raven) and everything changed. But my parents raised me to believe that if I didn’t get a job, it was because it wasn’t the right part for me, not because I was inadequate,” she said.
By the fourth season of the show, Symoné was not only the lead star, but also an acting producer.