‘She gave me everything’: Formerly impoverished ‘Moana’ star gives her mom the greatest gift ever after making box office history

In a story that has all the workings of a Disney fairytale, Moana’s success.

Cravalho — who its first outing and its newly released sequel — reflected on the fruits of her success in a recent interview, saying her involvement in the film allowed her to give back to her mother, Puanani. The actress, who was raised on food stamps on the Big Island and Oahu, Hawaii, recalled “living in a one-bedroom apartment” at the time of her casting in Moana, which would go on to become a record-breaking franchise for Disney. 

“I slept in the bedroom, my mom slept on the couch,” Cravalho recalled, “she gave me everything.” Naturally, a leading role in one of Disney’s biggest blockbusters changed Cravalho’s life overnight, though perhaps the biggest milestone, according to the actress, was purchasing Puanani a new home. “I bought my mommy a house,” she told People, adding that her mother is now “happily retired.” The purchase was especially meaningful for Cravalho, who gushed about how her “parents give you so much.”

“Kids feel a little indebted, but we feel so grateful for our parents’ sacrifices,” she added. While Cravalho has had years to coast on the success of Moana, she said Puanani always reminded her to remain grounded, unlike her sea-bound princess counterpart. “My parents were like, ‘Listen, if [Moana] doesn’t go anywhere, you need to finish high school,’” the actress recalled, adding that her mother and father still told her “to do the dishes” and “fix your bed” even as  Moana was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. 

“‘Don’t let it get to your head,’” her parents would tell her. It’s a humble and irable approach to navigating your child’s success, especially since — if in the same position — my mom would probably push in front of me on the Disney red carpet and try to befriend Dwayne Johnson, before going home for a glass of wine in the new house I bought her. Oh, she’d probably still tell me to do the dishes, too. Buying her mom a house felt like something of a full-circle moment for Cravalho, with the ten-year gap between the two Moana movies offering a “full decade [to] look back at just how much growth I’ve gone through,” she said. 

Perhaps a second house could be on the horizon (or “on the edge of the water”), since Moana 2 this week sees Moana journey the seas yet again after receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinder ancestors. 

The clear moneymaker that it is, Moana is also set to get the live-action treatment (this is Disney, after all), with a third installment of the franchise slated for 2026. Here’s hoping the live-action version offers less nightmarish CGI fusions of sea creatures than 2023’s The Little Mermaid, because that rendition of Sebastian still haunts my dreams. Anyway, I’m off to keep hustling and hopefully land a leading role in a Disney movie… if only to fulfill my mom’s dream of meeting The Rock.