Whitney Avalon

Whitney Avalon (born Whitney Sara Cohen, 1981) is an American actress, singer, writer, and YouTube creator based in Los Angeles, best known for creating and starring in the Princess Rap Battle video series and for co-writing songs for Disney's Emmy-winning animated series Phineas and Ferb.^{1 • 2}

Early life and screen work

Avalon studied Theater Arts at Brandeis University, graduating in 2003, and began pursuing screen acting while still a student. Her film debut came with small parts in The Gray Man (2002) and Mona Lisa Smile (2003).¹ Her resume lists a B.A. in Theater Arts from Brandeis, summa cum laude, along with Los Angeles training at the Groundlings and with Stuart K. Robinson and Warner Loughlin.⁴

Her television credits span network, cable, and streaming comedy and drama: a recurring role on Days of Our Lives as Nurse Courtney, co-star parts on The Big Bang Theory, Jane the Virgin, Speechless, Girl Meets World, Perception, and Happily Divorced, a guest role on Outlaw, and a 2024 guest appearance as Jen on the NBC sitcom St. Denis Medical.^{4 • 6} Film work includes a supporting role opposite Whoopi Goldberg in Nine Eleven (2017) and the lead in WTF 2020s opposite Thomas Lennon, which played multiple Academy Award-qualifying film festivals.⁴

Princess Rap Battle

Origin of the series. Avalon began making original shorts and songs on YouTube in 2010 while continuing commercial, television, and film work.^{1 • 5} In 2014 she conceived the Princess Rap Battle series, in which she and a second performer rap in character as famous princesses and other figures from fiction and pop culture. The first video featured Avalon as Snow White opposite Katja Glieson as Elsa from Frozen (2013).¹ Avalon has said the idea grew from years of being called Snow White because of her light skin and dark hair; she paired the oldest Disney princess with the newest at the time, and the video went viral, passing 130 million views by 2017.⁵

Guest stars and production. The series has featured performers including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Eliza Dushku, Laura Marano, Molly C. Quinn, and Yvonne Strahovski.^{5 • 4} The March 2015 Cinderella vs. Belle battle, with Gellar as Cinderella and Avalon as Belle, was the fourth installment and drew coverage from TIME.⁷ Avalon produces the series with filmmaker Steve Gossett, whom she met at the Los Angeles short-film festival Channel 101. Each video is a substantial production: the Katniss vs. Hermione battle followed eight weeks of research across the Harry Potter and The Hunger Games books and films, shoots run two full days with custom sets, and post-production takes three to four weeks depending on visual effects.⁵ Avalon also creates the series logo, thumbnails, and promotional photos.⁵

The series has run for more than a decade, with 13 episodes listed from 2014 to 2026 on IMDb, where Avalon's characters include Snow White, Leia, Mary Poppins, Belle, Maleficent, Katniss, Anna, Dorothy, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariel.⁸ Later entries include Ariel vs. Moana (2026).⁹

Web series and theater

Attention from Princess Rap Battle led to a role as Mary Shelley in the comedy web series Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party, which debuted in 2016 from Shipwrecked Comedy.^{1 • 8} Other web work includes series-regular roles in IKEA Heights (Channel 101), Comic-Con the Musical (Nerdist), and BREAK: The Musical, a 2016 YouTube series in which she starred with Ian Harding.^{4 • 10}

On stage, Avalon is an Actors' Equity performer whose theater credits include the world premieres of Pope Joan (title role, Stella Adler Theatre, 2009), Carnevil at Sacred Fools Theater Company, and Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Musical (as Mary Shelley and Agatha Christie), plus A New Brain at Celebration Theatre in 2023, Jesus Christ Superstar at North Shore Music Theatre, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth.^{4 • 10}

Music and songwriting

Avalon co-wrote songs for Disney's Emmy-winning Phineas and Ferb and is an RIAA-certified Gold music artist.² Her original comedy music, including the Princess Rap Battle songs, has been viewed billions of times across platforms.^{2 • 10} She releases singles such as Tragedy (2026) and Ariel vs. Moana (Princess Rap Battle) on Apple Music, and runs a Patreon offering sheet music, karaoke tracks, behind-the-scenes videos, and bonus song covers.^{3 • 9}

Recognition

Her resume lists Cosmopolitan's Internet's Most Fascinating People list, Variety's Comedy Impact Report, and Buffer Festival's first-ever double award win, for Excellence in Comedy and Excellence in Music.⁴ Press coverage of the rap battles has included MTV News, E!, People, Nerdist, and Cosmopolitan.⁴

References

1. Whitney Avalon, Apple TV (GB)
2. WHITNEY AVALON – About
3. Whitney Avalon, Apple Snapshot
4. Whitney Avalon – Acting resume
5. The Making of Princess Rap Battles, Adobe Blog (2017)
6. Whitney Avalon, Metacritic
7. Watch This Princess Rap Battle Between Cinderella and Belle, TIME (2015)
8. Whitney Avalon, IMDb
9. Whitney Avalon on Patreon
10. Whitney Avalon, BroadwayWorld

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Comedy, drama, and general-genre web series

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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