Scott Weinger gives Aladdin a likeable, direct speaking voice, even when the script keeps asking him to explain himself. We value the performance, though it cannot give a thinly written romance the urgency it needs.
Fi1m perspective
In Aladdin (1992), Scott Weinger has to make a likeable hero out of someone the script keeps asking to explain himself. Alongside Linda Larkin as Jasmine, he gives the speaking role a directness that helps us past some laboured dialogue. We warmed to the pair because their straightforward delivery lets us enjoy the characters despite all that self-explanation. The writing is less relaxed, repeatedly stressing what each needs to learn. We understand their wishes, but feel too little urgency about the romance.
Robin Williams’s Genie supplies the comedy that makes the film worth returning to, while the songs bring warmth that the spoken exchanges sometimes lack. Weinger has the less conspicuous job, and his straightforward delivery suits a film already busy with elastic animation. There is no need for Aladdin to compete with the Genie for every laugh. The reservation is that being agreeable only takes a romantic lead so far: the conversations with Jasmine need more ease than the screenplay allows.
His affable boyfriend Steve Hale in Full House, played from 1991 to 1995, offered another durable role, reprised in Fuller House (2016–2020). He also continued as Aladdin’s speaking voice through sequels, an animated series and video games. But from 2003, television writing and producing became a substantial part of the work. Galavant (2015), where he wrote and produced, was one of several collaborations with Dan Fogelman. Those credits matter when considering a career that cannot be understood through the acting alone.
His writing and producing work includes the drama Paradise (2025), where he is a writer and co-executive producer. We find its mystery engaging and its feelings mostly convincing, with Sterling K. Brown making the improbable turns worth following. The second season’s loose plotting and flashbacks demand patience, though neither those faults nor the programme’s strengths can fairly be assigned to Weinger alone. For Weinger the actor, start with Aladdin, expecting a likeable lead rather than the chief reason for watching.
Biography
Scott Weinger is an American actor and screenwriter. He provided the speaking voice of Aladdin in Disney's 1992 animated feature film and its direct-to-video sequels The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). He also played Steve Hale on the sitcom Full House (1991–1995) and reprised the role in Fuller House (2016–2020).
Weinger graduated from Harvard University in 1998. He began writing for television in 2003 and has worked as a writer and producer on series including The Neighbors, Galavant and Black-ish. He is a writer and co-executive producer on the Hulu series Paradise (2025–), for which he has received Emmy nominations.
