‘Your parents give you so much’: Auli’i Cravalho reveals her family were living off food stamps before ‘Moana’
Auli’i Cravalho plays one of the best Disney princesses, Moana, and it turns out she has a backstory just as inspiring as any Disney princess. She’s opened up about it while on the promo trail for Moana 2, a movie that’s already broken the Thanksgiving box office record.
Like many stars of stage and screen, Cravalho didn’t come from riches. She’s from a fairly modest background, and now the young actress has revealed her family was living off food stamps when Moana came along. Cravalho knew that her mom, Puanani, made big sacrifices for her throughout her childhood. “We lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Mililani when I was cast,” she told People magazine. “I slept in the bedroom, my mom slept on the couch. She gave me everything.”
Cravalho’s parents are divorced, but both her parents supported her throughout childhood and pointed her in the right direction once she found fame. “Your parents give you so much,” she told the outlet. “Kids feel a little indebted, I’m going to be honest! But we feel so grateful for our parents’ sacrifices.” They kept her down-to-earth as red carpets beckoned. “My parents were like, ‘Listen, if [Moana] doesn’t go anywhere, you need to finish high school. You need to do the dishes. You need to fix your bed. Don’t let it get to your head.’”
It’s safe to say that Moana did go places, though. It grossed $687 million, received positive reviews from critics, and made its titular heroine an iconic character. After such success, Cravalho could pick and choose what she did next, and she’s since starred in the TV show The Power and the musical version of Mean Girls, among other things. She’s had a remarkable journey, especially considering that she didn’t originally send in an audition tape for the role of Moana. “There were already so many great submissions that I didn’t think I needed to try out,” she told People magazine in 2016. Instead, she and her friends sought roles by entering a video contest for a local charity, and this caught the eye of a talent agent who thought the young Cravalho, with her powerful voice, would be perfect for Moana. She was the last person seen on the very last day of casting—and of course, the rest is history.
Cravalho remains super close with her mom, and she gave a heartwarming tidbit to People: she’d bought her mother a new home with the proceeds from the Moana franchise. “I bought my mommy a house. She’s happily retired,” Cravalho said.
She might be able to buy more houses at the rate she’s going. Next up, Cravalho will be producing the live-action version of Moana, which will star Dwayne Johnson as Maui and newcomer Catherine Laga’aia as Moana. After that, the sky is truly the limit.
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