Tinker Bell (also known as Tinkerbell in common usage, or Tink for short), is a fictional character from J. M. Barrie's 1904 play and 1911 novel Peter and Wendy. She has also appeared in multiple film and television adaptations of the story, in particular the 1953 animated Walt Disney picture Peter Pan. At first only a supporting character described by her creator as "a common fairy", her animated incarnation has since become a widely recognized unofficial mascot of The Walt Disney Company, and the centerpiece of its Disney Fairies media franchise including the direct-to-DVD film Tinker Bell.

Tinker Bell was originally part of the Disney Princess franchise, from which she was later extracted and converted into the central character of the new Disney Fairies franchise in 2005. In addition to an extensive line of merchandise, 2008's Tinker Bell film is the first of four upcoming direct-to-DVD features set in the secret world of Pixie Hollow. At Disneyland a Pixie Hollow meet-and-greet area opened on October 28, 2008 near the Matterhorn and where guests are able to interact with Tinker Bell and her companions.

Tinker Bell was described by Barrie as a fairy who mended pots and kettles, like an actual tinker. Her dialogue consists of the sounds of a tinkling bell, which is understandable only to those familiar with the language of the fairies. Though sometimes ill-tempered and vindictive (getting the Lost Boys to shoot arrows at Wendy), at other times she is helpful and kind to Peter. The extremes in her personality are explained in-story by the fact that a fairy's size prevents her from holding more than one feeling at a time, so when she is angry she has no counterbalancing compassion. Like other fairies in Barrie's works, she can make it possible for others to fly by sprinkling them with fairy dust (sometimes called "pixie dust" by Disney, and presented as "starstuff" in Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's novel series), in conjunction with thinking happy thoughts.

Film adaptations provided the first vocal effects for the character, whether through sound — such as musical expressions or the sound of a tinkling bell — or human speech. In her most widely known appearance in the 1953 animated Peter Pan film, the character was animated and had no dialogue. She was played by Virginia Browne Faire in Herbert Brenon's 1924 version of Peter Pan, Julia Roberts in 1991's Hook, and by Ludivine Sagnier in P.J. Hogan's 2003 adaptation, which originally planned to use a computer-generated version of the character, but instead used Sagnier in combinations with digital models and effects to take advantage of the actress's expressions. Tinker Bell was voiced by Debi Derryberry in the 1990 Fox animated program Peter Pan and the Pirates, in the 1989 anime series Peter Pan no Boken she was voiced by Sumi Shimamoto, and in the digitally animated 2008 DVD feature Tinker Bell she was voiced by Mae Whitman.

In addition to Arthur Rackham's original illustrations, Tinker Bell has also been depicted by fantasy artists Brian Froud and Myrea Pettit. A bronze sculpture of Tinker Bell by London artist Diarmuid Byron O'Connor was commissioned by Great Ormond Street Hospital — to whom Barrie bequeathed the copyright to the character — to be added to his original four-foot statue of Peter Pan, wresting a thimble from Peter's hand. The figure has a nine-and-a-half-inch wingspan and is seven inches tall, and was unveiled on September 29, 2005 by Sophie, Countess of Wessex.


Official Website for Disney Character:
http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/characters/tinker/tinker.html