Brooklyn Nine-Nine star on why Encanto role left her in tears

Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Stephanie Beatriz says getting to play the lead in Encanto, Disney's latest feature film, was "every single dream that she had as a kid come true".

So much so, in fact, that she was reduced to tears when she saw figurine versions of her character, Mirabel Madrigal, for the very first time.

"Disney had us open some of the toys and stuff and they cut together this really cute, fun video of myself and John [Leguizamo, who voices Mirabel's mysterious uncle Bruno] – Lin-Manuel [Miranda] was there, too – and they barely used any of my footage," Beatriz laughed in a new interview with Digital Spy.

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"I was fully sobbing, like, just bawling. They couldn't use any of it. But it was a real reaction because it was like, 'Press the button and my voice comes out of the frigging doll.' It's insane.

"It's wild. It's all those times of me, you know, imagining myself as these heroines and singing the songs to myself in my mirror in the bathroom at home, and now it's really real," the Rosa Diaz actor continued. "I got to really sing Disney songs in a Disney movie that I'm in!"

Set in an enchanted town in the Colombian mountains, Encanto follows Mirabel, the only member of the Madrigal family who wasn't blessed with a unique magical power when she was a child.

While her sister Isabela (Orange Is the New Black's Diane Guerrero) can make flowers bloom with a wave of her hand, and her mother Julieta (Angie Cepeda) can heal people with her home-cooking, Mirabel begrudges the fact that she can't benefit their growing, thriving community in any significant way.

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That is, until the sacred candle that watches over the locals – and bestows the Madrigals with their gifts – threatens to burn out, and Mirabel sets herself the task of saving Encanto and keeping the family together.

"I saw sketches of what Mirabel was going to look like, and that alone was really special," Beatriz said, recalling how much she got to see of the musical's protagonist before she started recording.

"As somebody who grew up wearing glasses with curly textured hair, it was really special to know that the Disney heroine in this film was going to look a lot like I did when I was 14 years old."

Encanto will be released in UK cinemas on Wednesday, November 24 and on Disney+ from December 24.