Auli'i Cravalho (born November 22, 2000) is an American actress and singer. She made her voice acting debut as the title character in the 2016 Disney film Moana.



Early life

Cravalho was born in Kohala, Hawaii. She is of Chinese, Irish, Native Hawaiian, Portuguese, and Puerto Rican descent; her surname is most likely a derivative of the common Portuguese surname Carvalho. At the time she made her breakthrough, she was living in Mililani, Hawaii with her mother, and was in her freshman year of high school at Kamehameha Schools' Kapālama campus.


Career

Cravalho has stated that she was initially not going to audition for Moana because "there were already so many great submissions over YouTube". However, an agent from Oahu encouraged her to audition for the role. The Walt Disney Company has stated that Cravalho was the last person to audition out of hundreds of actresses.


Filmography

Moana (2016) – Moana Waialiki (voice)