With Moana and Cabaret's Sally Bowles, Auliʻi Cravalho Gets to Do It All

With Moana and Cabaret's Sally Bowles, Auliʻi Cravalho Gets to Do It All


In the 2016 animated film Moana, its titular character (voiced by Auliʻi Cravalho) is caught between her love of home and her wanderlust for the ocean. Determined to make her own way in the world, she laments, “If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me, one day I’ll know. If I go, there’s just no telling how far I’ll go.” The strong-willed heroine was on the precipice of something big. Cravalho, barely 16 at the time the Disney film hit theaters, was on a similar path. There was no telling how far the Hawaii native would go, but the consensus was the breakout star had all the wind behind her for a big future in Hollywood.

Following her acting debut in Moana, Cravalho went on to star in the ABC musical drama Rise, played Ariel in the live-action concert rendition of The Little Mermaid, starred in the Netflix drama All Together Now, joined the all-star cast of this year’s film adaptation of the stage musical Mean Girls, and is now playing the iconic Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway. With each new role, the 24-year-old continues to show the depth of her skills as a performer. Now, almost eight years to the day, she’s back on screen voicing the character who started it all.