Auli’i Cravalho, the voice of Disney’s popular animated Moana movie, talked to The View about her career, which includes starring in Moana 2, and how as a “queer” actress, she battles “antisemitism, fascism, and misogyny.”
Ahead of the Nov. 27 release of the wildly anticipated sequel to the Disney hit Moana, the leading star of the movie shared how she is finding meaning in making her Broadway debut in Cabaret.
“I didn’t see a lot of shows in Hawaii. My first show was Cats,” the Disney star said on Monday, adding that “it was always a dream of mine to play pretend for a living, and Cabaret is such an incredible show.”
The Moana star then responded to discussion that The View co-hosts had shared in a previous segment regarding the results of the 2024 election and why people voted for President-elect Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I know that as a country, it’s very difficult for people to believe that racism and misogyny are alive and well,” co-host Sunny Hostin said earlier in the show before Cravalho’s interview. “I think that we don’t want to think that about ourselves, our neighbors, our friends, but it’s my lived experience that tells me that it does still exist.”
“If you think the vast majority of this country voted because of racism and misogyny, you’re missing it,” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin argued with Hostin.
“I heard your segment before this,” the Moana actress said. “And I feel like it is a really important thing to talk about — is that Cabaret touches on antisemitism, fascism, and misogyny. I think what’s really important is that theater rips us open and reveals a mirror. I’m grateful to be in a show that does that.”
The 23-year-old Hawaiian actress plays Sally Bowles in Cabaret, which tells the story of a British flapper who moonlights as a cabaret singer in Weimar Republic-era Berlin during the twilight of the Jazz Age.
The View co-host Ana Navarro asked Cravalho how she’s “approaching the Broadway role specifically with those themes” of antisemitism, fascism, and misogyny.
“Well, for me, I almost feel like I don’t have a choice. I’m the first young woman of Asian-American Pacific Island descent. I’m the youngest Sally Bowles on Broadway so far,” she responded.
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“I’m also queer,” Cravalho continued, “And all of these identities of myself get put into Sally, and I think it makes that story so much more rich, you know? I think also our show is very immersive.”
The Moana actress had announced in April 2020 that she was “bisexual.” She has also been politically active in being a member of the Artists4Ceasefire, which is a group that wrote an open letter to President Joe Biden calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.