‘Moana’ Star Auliʻi Cravalho Bought Her Mom a House After the Movie’s Massive Success

When Moana was released back in 2016, it became a massive success. While subsequent reports revealed that Disney made a gamble with this movie, it turned out to be a major success for the company, as well as the box office. While it took some time, the sequel to the successful movie has finally arrived and fans around the world are now able to see it.

The original movie earned $687.2 million when it was originally released, which made it an absolute success (the budget was most likely around $150 million, which is the standard budget for such animated features).

The film’s female lead, Auliʻi Cravalho, who provided the voice for the titular heroine, recently reflected on how the movie’s original success influenced her life and how it actually helped both her and her family lead a better life. What happened? Well, keep reading to find out!

As you can imagine, the success of a movie you’re in can significantly alter your life. So can failure, of course, but this is a success story so we’re not going to go there. Be that as it may, when a movie you star in – even if it is only a voice role – earns $687.2 million, you are certainly going to enjoy some of that profit as well, and even a small amount of $687.2 million is a pretty large sum of money, as you can guess.

When American actress Auliʻi Cravalho was cast as the voice of Moana back in 2016, no one knew about her as it was her first role.

But, when the movie became a hit, she also became globally known and she is now back for the sequel, and will also executive produce the live-action remake in 2026.

As you can imagine, the role of Moana changed her life in a major way. More roles started coming in and she even managed to make a successful transition from voice acting to live-action roles, which is certainly great.

But setting aside the perspective and business side of this story, it also changed her life significantly, as well as the life of her family:

“I really get to have that full decade look back at just how much growth I’ve gone through. We lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Mililani when I was cast. I slept in the bedroom, my mom slept on the couch. She gave me everything. I bought my mommy a house. She’s happily retired.”

Source: PEOPLE

This is just one part of her interview with PEOPLE magazine that shows just how much this role influenced her life and career, i.e., how it changed her life in the most positive way possible. The actress also added:

“Your parents give you so much. Kids feel a little indebted, I’m going to be honest! But we feel so grateful for our parents’ sacrifices. 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.’”

Ultimately, she praised her mother for keeping her life under control and for enabling her to lead a balanced life even when she was suddenly struck with stardom:

“[She could] be a little s—. I’d be a little gremlin. I’m going to be honest, I didn’t have anything left… Sometimes people talk about being a Disney kid, and I think so much of it is giving all of your energy to a project and then having nothing in reserve for yourself. [She] nipped that in the bud real quick.

She was the one to discipline. She was the one to really support me right then and there… That was some tough parenting in allowing me to grow as a human, but also looking me in the eye and saying, ‘You need to be kind and you need to be kind to me.’ It was at those moments that I realized, ‘Okay, I can’t give all of myself.’

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