When I was first starting out in the music industry, I was always coupled in the same sentence with Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera - and I was probably the worst of them. I think a lot of people back then thought, 'Mandy Moore... she'll probably go back to where she came from in a year.'
Growing up, I was obsessed with Disney movies like 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Aladdin' and 'Beauty And The Beast.' I was always singing the songs from these movies, so to find myself in the studio with Alan Menken was an amazing experience. In fact, it was a dream come true.
I don't think I had the aspiration to be a star growing up. I loved Madonna and Bette Midler, and I had my karaoke machine and would sing their songs.
When I started out in the industry I was 14 and a beanpole, but over the last few years I've grown. For the most part I feel pretty OK with how I look. I know I'm different from the typical Hollywood ideal of what is beautiful. But quite frankly I don't think that's attainable, and I'm happy to represent something different.
Rapunzel is a bit more relatable than the other princesses, especially because she doesn't even know that she's a princess until the very end of the movie. I like to think of her as the bohemian Disney princess. She's barefoot and living in a tower. She paints and reads... She's a Renaissance woman.
I'm minimalistic when it comes to makeup, so I'm a sucker for anything that's multi-tasking. Aquaphor is my go-to product. It's great for adding gloss to eyes and cheekbones, and amazing for soothing dry cuticles, too.
I went to Catholic high school for half a year and religion wasn't the cool thing to talk about even at a catholic high school. It never came up.
I'm very blessed that I get to dabble in both music and movies, and as long as people are willing to accept me in both roles, I'll be there.
I grew up doing musical theatre in Orlando, Florida. When I was 14, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time - a deliveryman heard me singing and offered to deliver my demo tape to Sony Music. I was just really lucky.
It's important to get well-rounded right off the bat. A lot of experienced dancers can get pigeonholed into one thing. I've been hired for a lot of different gigs simply because I can do a lot of different things with different levels of dancers. And it's sad to me that some dancers don't do more.
I travel the world visiting global health programs as an ambassador for the global health organization, PSI, and sometimes the disconnect I see is truly striking: people can get cold Coca Cola, but far too infrequently malaria drugs; most own mobile phones, but don't have equal access to pre-natal care.
You can't get anymore classic than being a part of a Disney animated film. To me, that's something I can have in my back pocket for the rest of my life. I'll be able to show it to my kids. I'll be walking around Disneyland, and it'll be bizarre to shake hands with Rapunzel.
Tackling malaria in a country like the Central African Republic is a huge uphill battle, and my experiences there have been a healthy dose of reality, fueling my own sense of urgency to do my part in reducing the preventable suffering of the incredible women I met.
In 2009, I traveled to South Sudan with my organization PSI. While there, I visited a local school and met with a group of children who had formed a water club. The group learned about how to treat their drinking water and use proper hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before eating or after going to the bathroom.
We live in a world where it's difficult to be a woman who is strong and confident, so I like to surround myself with friends that embody that same principle and idea.
By preventing pneumonia and other diseases, we are giving men, women and children the chance to live healthy productive lives and participate in the global economy. In doing so, we are not only enhancing their futures - we are enhancing our own.
Growing up in the public eye was really tough. When you're 14 and your body is changing, your life is changing, and people are watching every step you make, it's really hard to deal with. But I was pretty lucky, people didn't watch me that closely.
Hope is the most exciting thing there is in life.
I want to go to college to study journalism. I want to speak French fluently, to travel. My mom was a journalist and it's in my blood.
Developing a relationship with someone you admire, who can encourage you to reach your full potential, is something that everyone can benefit from.
