Auli'i Cravalho

Biography

Auliʻi Cravalho (pronounced ow-LEE-ee krə-VAL-yoh) is an American TV & movie actress, singer, and voice actress. Auli'i has lent her voice to the titular character in the animated adventure movie Moana(2016)

Auli'i has appeared in "Rise" as Lilette Suarez, The Little Mermaid Live! (2019) as Ariel, Acting for a Cause(2020) as Lady Catherine (and other characters).

She has recently appeared in the TV drama series "The Power" as Jos Cleary-Lopez and the movie "Sorta Like a Rock Star"

[Cute Auli'i Cravalho 

Childhood

Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho was born on 22nd November 2000 in Kohala, Hawaii, the United States to Cathleen Puanani Cravalho (mother) and Dwayne Cravalho (father). She mostly grew up in Mililani, Hawaii.

Her name means dainty, exquisite, and perfect in Hawaiian.

Mother- Cathleen Puanani Cravalho

Auli'i's mother Cathleen Puanani is of Native Hawaiian descent. Her maiden name is Puanani Freitas. She works as an Administrative Assistant.

[Auli'i Cravalho with her mother Cathleen Puanani Cravalho]

In an interview with Harpers Bazaar [2], Auli'i said this about her mother

"The person who loves me unconditionally and inspires me every day to do my best is my mom."

Father- Dwayne Cravalho

Auli'i's father Mr. Dwayne Cravalho is of mixed Puerto Rican, Portuguese, Chinese, and Irish descent.

Education

• High school: Auli'i studied at the Kamehameha School in Kapālama, Hawaii. Auli'i was living with her mother Cathleen in Mililani, Hawaii when she got the role of Moana in Moana(2016), she was a part of the school glee club where she used to sing soprano.

English & Biology are her favorite subjects in school. She wants to either take Law or something with Biology after her High school. 

She would study and work on her homework while traveling in cars, planes and during her free time in the hotels and sets.

Interesting Facts & Trivia

• Ancestry: Auli'i Cravalho is of multiracial background, she is of  Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Irish, Portuguese descent.
• She has been dancing Huls since the age of Five.
• She is the youngest ever actress to give her voice to a Disney princess character. Auli'i was just 14 when she lent her voice for the role.
• She is the first Polynesian to play a Disney Princess character.
• She doesn't like shopping, she is not crazy for Cars, she prefers that her Mom takes her where she needs to go.
• True Hawaiian: She likes surfing, swimming, plays water polo, and paddling the canoe.
• Auli'i appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show along with the 'Tiny Singer' Claire Ryann and sang songs from Moana.
• When she goes to Los Angeles she wants to see the Hollywood sign and visit Disney Land.
• She has a female pet Cat named Chin Chin. Chin-Chin has double chin (thus the name)
  • 
• Love for Hawaii: She likes Hawaii for the people and the spirit of Hawaii they show.
• Best Original Song: Auli'i's song "How Far I’ll Go" from Moana has received nominations at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes
• A Funny incident: Someone once asked Auli'i if there is Internet/ Wi-Fi in Hawaii. She didn't expect people to be that ignorant about Hawaii, the 50th American state.

Bisexuality- coming out

Auli'i made a public comment on her bisexuality on social media (Twitter/ Tiktok) in April 2020.

[Auli'i Cravalho coming out as bisexual]

A fan asked her "Do you like girls" on twitter, Auli'i gave the fan a link to her TikTok page where she lip-synced the part of Eminem's song "Those Kinda Nights" where the lyrics clearly talk of bisexuality.

Seriously though, jokes aside, how you doin'? You straight?
She said, "No, I'm bi"
She said, "Are you drunk?", I said, "No, I'm high"
I'm checkin' out the chick, she said, "So am I"

Philanthropy

• ActingForACause: Auli'i along with Justice smith performed play reading for the cause of helping corona impacted students in March 2020

Activism

• George Floyd Protests: She supported the May-June 2020 'Black Lives Matter' protests of the United States that were organized against the police brutality against Black people. 

Questions and answers

• What is Auli'i's favorite Disney princess character?
  • Mulan is her favorite Disney princess character. (she likes that Mulan honored her family, broke the norms and sang)
• What is her advice to Teen boys and girls?
  • "go on that journey to find yourself... it's completely normal and completely necessary... taking that time to find yourself is incredibly important" [2]
• Who is her inspiration?
  • Her mother Puanani Cravalho [2]
• How long has she been singing?
  • "straight out of the womb" jokes Auli'i, she credits her mother for not giving her a pacifier and letting her scream as a baby and develop good lungs for singing. [2]
• Who are her favorite singers?
  • Hozier (Andrew John Hozier-Byrne), Matt Corby (Australian singer and songwriter), Nat King Cole. [2]
• What is her dream role?
  • A role having self-discovery as the theme or having a strong kick-*ss character

Career

Moana(2016)

Auli'i's debut into the entertainment industry happened through the Disney animated movie Moana(2016)

Audition: Auliʻi loved the idea of (voice) acting in a movie. but was initially discouraged after seeing hundreds of great audition submissions already on youtube. She thought her chances were very slim and didn't bother to submit.

However, she and friends made a fun mash-up of all the songs they loved with beatboxing and harmonies for a charity event. But as the luck would have it, an Oahu talent agent (Rachel Sutton, also the casting director for Moana) saw her at the charity competition and recommended that she audition for the role of Moana. [2]

They asked her to sing whatever she wanted, she chose to sing "I See the Light" from the movie "Tangled" and a few Hawaiian songs. She shared that she loved Hulu dancing and water sports, basically, that she was well connected with her roots. [2]

[Auli'i audition for Moana]

Selection: (Rachel Sutton working for) The Walt Disney later revealed that Auli'i's was the last audition for the role, She was a freshman at her high school (Kamehameha School) at the time. She was selected for the role of Moana because of her fearlessness, playfulness, wit, Polynesian background and her singing talent.

She met 'The Rock', her fellow voice artist only after the production work was finished. He gave her a valuable suggestion- "Be yourself"

In November 2017, she voiced the character of Moana in the first-ever Disney movie dubbed in the Hawaiian language. The movie was released in June 2018.

[Auli'i Cravalho with Moana poster]

Rise(2018)

Auli'i made her TV debut with the NBS drama "Rise".  Her selection was finalized for the role in February 2017, NBC confirmed the show in May 2017. The first season of the series started in March of 2018, the show was canceled after the end of the first season in May 2018 due to low TRP ratings.

Auliʻi played the role of Lilette Suarez, a high school student who has a troubled relationship with her mother Vanessa Suarez(played by Shirley Rumierk). She is a part of the drama club at her school and acts in the role of Wendla in a play.

"Rise" was a musical drama series created by Jason Katims. Josh Radnor(as Lou Mazzuchelli), Marley Shelton(as Gail Mazzuchelli), Damon J. Gillespie(as Robbie Thorne), Joe Tippett(Sam Strickland), Ted Sutherland(Simon Saunders), Amy Forsyth(Gwen Strickland) appeared in the main roles.

The Little Mermaid Live! (2019)

Auliʻi appeared as Ariel in the ABC live-action concert rendition of the musical fantasy drama "The Little Mermaid". Auli'i played the lead role while Shaggy (as Sebastian), Graham Phillips(as Prince Eric), Amber Riley, John Stamos(Chef Louis), Queen Latifah(Ursula) appeared in the main roles.

John Musker and Ron Clements had co-written and directed the original movie. Hamish Hamilton directed the TV movie while Brian Strickland contributed to writing.

Soundtracks

She has performed in movies, TV series, TV shows as well as award events. 

[How Far I'll Go - Moana(2016) - Auli'i Cravalho]

Filmography

Movies List

TV/ Web series List

Stage

Short Movies

Video Games

Awards

[Auli'i Cravalho]

Quotes

• From baby time to now, I wanted to be a Disney princess and then I wanted to be a singer or an actress.
• I'm happy where I'm at, where I've been, and with everything I've gone through.
• I know being happy will only take me further in life, and I'd love to share this passion I have with others.
• I credit my singing to my mom because she didn’t give me a binky when I was a baby. I cried and screamed for the first six months - my mom would say four years of my life - and I developed wonderful lungs.
• My mom keeps me grounded and all that. She makes me do chores.
• I hope that all of you are inspired to maybe not journey across the ocean like Moana does, but to journey to find yourself.
• I'm not a perfect person. And my mom lets me know it
• [on her first tryst with acting] I wasn't used to that whole 'lights, camera, action' thing- I thought it was only for Beyoncé [2]
•  

News & Updates

[Auli'i Cravalho on the Seventeen magazine cover]

• 2018: She was covered in the Parade magazine article titled "Four Questions For Auli'i Cravalho" (page 2, March 11) by Walter Scott
• 2017: Appeared on the cover page of Modern Luxury Hawaii magazine in March/April of 2020
• 2016: USA Today covered her in the November 22nd edition (Volume 35, Issue 49, page 1D,2D) the articles spanning two pages were written by Bryan Alexander. She was also featured on the cover page of the magazine.
• She has appeared on the cover page of the Seventeen magazine (Prom special)

References

1. Auli'i Cravalho wiki
2. Harpers Bazaar- Moana interview
3.