Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho (; born November 22, 2000) is an American actress and singer who made her acting debut as the voice of the titular character in the 2016 Disney 3D computer-animated musical feature film '' Moana''. She went on to star in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

drama series '' Rise'' (2018), the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

drama film '' All Together Now'' (2020) and the Hulu romantic comedy '' Crush'' (2022).

Early life

Cravalho was born in

Kohala, Hawaii The districts of the Big Island. From Northernmost, clockwise; North Kohala (highlighted), Hilo,_ Hilo,_South_Hilo,_Hawaii">Hilo,_Puna,_Hawaii">Puna,_Hilo,_South_Hilo,_Hawaii">Hilo,_Puna,_Hawaii">Puna,_Kaū,_South_Kona_District,_Hawaii.html"__"ti ...

, to Cathleen Puanani Cravalho and Dwayne Cravalho. She is of Native Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Portuguese, Chinese, and Irish descent. At the time she made her breakthrough, she was living in

Mililani, Hawaii Mililani () is a city located near the center of the island of Oahu in Honolulu County, Hawaiʻi, United States. It consists of two census-designated places, Mililani Town, with a population of 28,121 at the 2020 census, and Mililani Mauka, wi ...

, with her mother and was in her freshman year of high school, singing soprano in the

glee club A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...

at Kamehameha Schools'

Kapālama Kapālama, now often called Pālama, is a neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. It is often combined with the adjacent Kalihi and referred to as a single entity, Kalihi–Pālama. History The name comes from ''ka pā lama'' in the Hawaiian language ...

campus.

Career

Cravalho has stated that she was initially not going to audition for '' Moana'' because "there were already so many great submissions that I didn't think I needed to try out". However, an

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

talent agent discovered her through a charity video contest and brought her to Los Angeles to audition for the role. Casting director Rachel Sutton has stated that Cravalho was the last person to audition out of hundreds of actresses. In February 2017, it was announced that she had been cast in the pilot for the

drama '' Rise'', which was ordered to series on May 4, 2017. The series premiered on March 13, 2018, but NBC cancelled the series on May 15, 2018, due to low ratings. In May 2017, she sang the national anthem at the

National Memorial Day Concert ''The National Memorial Day Concert'' is a free annual concert performed on the west lawn of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., in commemoration of Memorial Day from 1989-2019 and in 2022. In 2020 and 2021, the concert was ...

. In November 2017, Cravalho announced she was going to reprise her role as Moana in the first Hawaiian-language dubbed Disney film. The dubbed ''Moana'' premiered on June 10, 2018. On November 5, 2019, Cravalho portrayed

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

in ABC's '' The Little Mermaid Live!,'' a live-action concert rendition of ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a ...

''. In 2020, she starred in '' All Together Now'', directed by Brett Haley for

. In 2020, Cravalho participated in '' Acting for a Cause'', a live classic play and screenplay reading series created, directed and produced by Brando Crawford. Cravalho played Gwendolen Fairfax in ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'', Laertes in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', Lady Catherine in '' Pride and Prejudice'', and Jeannie Bueller in ''

Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer ...

''. The reading raised funds for non-profit charities including Mount Sinai Medical Center. Cravalho was cast as the title character, Hailey, in the animated comedy-adventure series ''Hailey's On It!'', which is slated to premiere in 2023.

Personal life

In April 2020, Cravalho publicly came out as bisexual. In June 2021, Cravalho announced that she had been accepted into

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and subsequently revealed that she planned to major in environmental science at the school.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cravalho, Aulii 2000 births Living people Actresses from Hawaii American child actresses American child singers American people of Native Hawaiian descent Hawaii people of Portuguese descent American film actresses American television actresses American video game actresses American voice actresses Annie Award winners Audiobook narrators Bisexual actresses Columbia University alumni Hispanic and Latino American actresses Hispanic and Latino American women singers Kamehameha Schools alumni LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people LGBT Native Hawaiians LGBT people from Hawaii LGBT American people of Asian descent Native Hawaiian actresses Native Hawaiian musicians People from Hawaii (island) Walt Disney Records artists 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century LGBT people American bisexual actors