Auli'i Cravalho

Auliʻi Cravalho is a Hawaiian singer and actress best known for her relatable lead roles in movie musicals. Her voice acting debut was a career-making one, playing the title role in the 2016 Disney animated musical feature Moana. She delivered the Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated song "How Far I'll Go." After acting in a series of teen movies and doing further voice work for Disney, including playing Hailey on TV's Hailey's on It! (2023), she co-starred alongside Reneé Rapp in the film adaptation of Broadway's Mean Girls. Born in 2000 in Kohala, Hawaii, Cravalho landed the title role of Moana, a teenaged Polynesian princess, at the age of only 14. Essentially plucked from obscurity, the high school sophomore and glee club member won casting directors over with her poise, confidence, and strong voice. The film was released in November 2016 to much critical acclaim. Featured in the film was the Lin-Manuel Miranda song "How Far I'll Go," which Cravalho sang and which took home the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media. In 2017, Cravalho and Miranda performed the song together at the Academy Awards ceremony, where it had been nominated for Best Original Song. Also that year, she released a single version of "How Far I'll Go" backed by the B-side "You're Welcome." In the meantime, the Moana soundtrack went as high as number two on the Billboard 200. On the heels of her breakout success, Cravalho starred in the 2018 NBC TV drama Rise and reprised her role as Moana for Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet. In 2019, she took on the role of Ariel in ABC's musical The Little Mermaid Live, which she followed with string of teen films, including All Together (2020), Crush (2022), and the supernatural comedy Darby and the Dead (2022). She was the voice of Moana again for the 2023 TV special LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest. That year, she also provided the voice of Hailey for the short-lived Disney animated series Hailey's on It! In January 2024, Cravalho starred alongside Reneé Rapp and Angourie Rice in a screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Mean Girls (based on the 2004 Tina Fey film). As Janis, she was featured heavily on the soundtrack album, which landed on the Billboard 200 at number 124. ~ Timothy Monger & Marcy Donelson, Rovi