Biography - Mandy Moore

A successful pop singer and a rising movie star, the young Mandy Moore belongs to the recent crop of teenybopper MTV queens. Though her music career hasn’t been nearly as lucrative as contemporaries Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Jessica Simpson, Moore is famous for a sweetness and humility sometimes lacking in her fellow pop stars, and her career as an actress has earned her some significant critical praise.

Born in Nashua, New Hampshire on April 10, 1984, Moore was raised in Orlando, Florida with her parents and her two brothers. She began singing at a very young age, and gained local attention in her pre-teen years for singing the National Anthem at various sporting events. Moore was discovered by Epic Records when she was only 14, and within a year had her debut album “So Real” on store shelves and was touring with the Backstreet Boys.

That year, 1999, saw Moore quickly rise to fame, as her album reached platinum sales and she became an MTV regular with frequent guest appearances and enormous air time for her singles. Moore has since released five more albums, mostly compilation or best-of albums. A vocal supporter of gay rights, her cover of “I Feel the Earth More” was featured on “Love Rocks”, an album consisting of songs from fellow gay rights-supporting musicians. Though Moore has never had a smash album or top 10 single, her prolific career has nonetheless seen her sell over six million albums worldwide. Not bad for a barely 22-year-old.

The hard-working Moore has also been busy building an impressive list of film credits. After a hilarious small part in the Anne Hathaway vehicle “The Princess Diaries”, 2002 saw Mandy take on her first starring role in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation “A Walk to Remember”. Playing a preacher’s daughter who falls in love with a rebellious young man (played by teen hunk Shane West), Moore impressed critics and audiences with the sappy melodrama, proving she was more than just another throwaway pop princess. The film grossed 41 million dollars in the U.S., an impressive sum for a low-budget teen drama. 2003 and 2004 saw the release of “How to Deal” and “Chasing Liberty”, respectively, and neither matched the success of her first starring role. Perhaps her most well-known role to date, however, is her supporting part in the 2004 religious satire “Saved!”, in which Moore plays a teenage Christian zealot. Her hilarious performance has earned her unexpected respect from a slightly older crowd of moviegoers, and the film itself has become a minor cult classic.

The stunning, multi-talented actress has three films coming out in 2006, and can currently be seen in the “American Idol” spoof film “American Dreamz” opposite Hugh Grant and Dennis Quaid. She will also be releasing a new solo album this fall, titled “Slummin’ in Paradise”.