Back in 2015, it was announced that a 14-year-old high school freshman by the name of Auli’i Cravalho would be playing the next Disney Princess in the studio’s Moana. The Hawaiian native was chosen out of hundreds of actresses who auditioned for the role of the House of Mouse’s first Polynesian princess. As both the live-action Moana movie and the Moana animated sequel are well in the works, I need to talk about how excited I have been for Cravalho’s career through a few of her roles since Moana.
Now, the path from animated Disney Princess to Hollywood star isn’t necessarily something that we’ve seen much of over the years. Many of the actresses behind our favorite Disney royals aren’t necessarily movie stars too, but I think Auli’i Cravalho has been breaking that mold in a really unique way in the past few years. Here’s four roles that have made me appreciate and get excited for the young actress’ career.
Auli’i Gently Tackles Grief In 2020 Coming-Of-Age Film, All Together Now
The first time that I realized Auli’i Cravalho was so much more than Moana was when I watched Netflix’s All Together Now, which is available to stream with a Netflix subscription. The 2020 movie wasn’t necessarily a huge hit when it came out, and I gave it three out of five stars in my All Together Now review. But, as I wrote at the time, my biggest takeaway from watching the coming-of-age movie was how charming of a presence the actress is in it.
All Together Now follows Cravalho as a high school senior named Amber, who is secretly living in the school bus her mother drives alongside her after they are left homeless. Amber is still dealing with the fallout of her father’s death throughout All Together Now as her singing talents are discovered by her friend Ty. Sure, Cravalho gets the chance to use her vocal talents in the movie, but it also shows her range as an actress beyond one of a sparkly Disney star.
She Embraces Her Bisexual Identity With 2022 Rom-Com Crush
A couple of years later, Auli’i Cravalho showed yet another facet of herself when she starred in Hulu’s Crush alongside Rowan Blanchard and Isabella Ferreira. The movie came a couple years after the actor took to TikTok to nonchalantly come out as bisexual, and perfectly introduced herself to the world as a bi queen!
In the romantic comedy, she plays Aj, the co-captain of a high school track team who is assigned to train a newcomer to the team, Paige, played by Rowan Blanchard. Paige has been crushing on Gabriella since she was a kid, and only joins the track team to get closer to her. But as she really gets to know Aj, the pair start to form a bond that’s much stronger than Paige’s heart-eyes for Gabriella. In a world where there’s not enough LGBTQ+ rom-coms focused on three POC women in high school, Crush is not only a win for representation, it’s a super fun and entertaining watch. And once again, Cravalho brought all the charm.
The Actress Explores An Empowering Sci-Fi Concept With 2023’s The Power
Auli’i Cravalho pivoted again in 2023 by starring as a superpowered teen in Amazon Prime’s The Power alongside Toni Colette and John Leguizamo. The science fiction series is based on the novel of the same name by Naomi Alderman. It’s a New York Times bestseller about an alternate reality where teen girls develop the power to electrocute others. The phenomenon leads many of the teens to start their own revolution, which of course leaves the rest of the world threatened and scared.
In the series adaptation, she plays the daughter of Colette’s mayor of Seattle (and Leguizamo), Jos, who struggles to harness her new ability. The series itself was an interesting allegory for how young women are treated in a patriarchal society. Cravalho held her own next to some heavy-weight actors as her parents, along with tackling a whole other genre, once again. You can stream the first season with an Amazon Prime subscription.
Auli’i Stole The Show In The 2024 Mean Girls Remake By Bringing All The Charm
That brings us to earlier this year, when Auli’i Cravalho starred in the Mean Girls remake alongside Angourie Rice, Renée Rapp, Tina Fey and all kinds of other young stars. Now, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Mean Girls musical overall, if I’m being honest. As someone who grew up with the 2004 original, it felt too close to what's already been made and the songs really just didn’t hit for me. However, Auli’i Cravalho’s take on Janis was one of the elements of the movie that really worked for me.
Lizzy Caplan will always be Janis in my mind, but out of all the actors who took on new roles in the new Mean Girls, Auli’i really stole the show the most in my opinion and was one I didn’t mind seeing replace Caplan for a couple of hours. She’s particularly brilliant in the number “I’d Rather Be Me,” which takes place in an important time in Mean Girls when the high school has nearly fallen apart. You can check it out with a Paramount+ subscription.
I’m Excited For Auli’i Cravalho’s Career As She Returns For Moana 2
Did I mention Auli’i is just 23? In just a few years the actress has really bloomed with all sorts of roles that have us thinking of her as much more than Disney’s Polynesian Princess. While representation is certainly gaining more momentum now more than ever, the actress feels like an outlier in her community who has really been able to do all sorts of different things, and not be defined by her ethnicity in her roles as well.
Between her queer identity, and interest in tapping into all sorts of genre or musical stylings, I feel like she’s getting to show herself as an artist. I really hope that she’ll continue to show her range further and get even more opportunities after having a heck of a first chapter in Hollywood! Who knows how far she’ll go!
Cravalho’s next role will bring her back to her Disney roots as she reprises her first role in Moana 2, heading to theaters this November 27.
