Mandy Moore is an American singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer. She was raised in Florida. Moore became famous as a teenager in the late 1990s, after the release of her teen-oriented pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore.
Moore has since branched out into a film career, starring in 2002's A Walk to Remember and later appearing in the lead roles of other movies also aimed at teenage audiences. Two of Moore's later films, American Dreamz and Saved!, were satires. Her private life, including her relationships with tennis player Andy Roddick as well as with actors Wilmer Valderrama and Zach Braff has been much discussed in the media. Her new album Amanda Leigh, will be released May 26, 2009.
Moore was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, the daughter of Stacy, a former news reporter who once worked for the Orlando Sentinel, and Don Moore, a pilot for American Airlines. Moore's father is of Irish and Cherokee descent and her mother is of English and Jewish ancestry. Moore has two brothers, Scott and Kyle; she grew up in Longwood, Florida, outside of Orlando, moving there shortly after her birth because of her father's job as an airline pilot. She was raised in the Catholic religion (although she is no longer a practicing Catholic) and attended Bishop Moore High School, a Catholic school in Orlando, as well as Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs.
Moore's interest in singing grew after seeing the musical Oklahoma!; she was also encouraged to perform by her maternal grandmother, who was her inspiration. Some of Moore's first public exposure occurred when she sang the national anthem at several Florida sporting events. She subsequently came to the attention of the head of A&R at Epic Records after his friend, a FedEx employee, overheard her as she sang at a recording studio.
Music career
Moore toured with the Backstreet Boys throughout 1999. Her debut album, So Real, was released in December 1999 and reached #31 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart. At the time of the album's release, reviewers considered Moore the latest in a series of heavily-marketed female teen singers described as "pop princesses", akin to Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, and Christina Aguilera. Entertainment Weekly's review noted that Moore's songs, revolving around "not-yet-experienced love", were performed with "suffocating professionalism", and that the album's ballads were "nauseating". Moore reached mainstream radio later and at a younger age than Simpson, Aguilera and Spears had, and was initially not as successful as they were, although So Real was certified platinum in the U.S. in early 2000 and sold nearly one million copies. Moore's debut teen-oriented pop hit single "Candy", which Yahoo! Movies described as "strangely provocative" peaked just outside the top forty on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold. The single was more successful in Europe, especially in the UK, where it reached number 6. Allmusic noted the single was "mediocre" and "typical", containing lyrics that described love "in terms of sugar treats".
Moore released I Wanna Be with You in May 2000. The album, which was mostly completed with synthesizers, bass, guitar, and drums comprised new songs alongside tracks and remixes from So Real. Several reviewers criticized it on the basis that it was a remix album and not a true follow-up, with Allmusic writing that its style was "trashier, flashier, gaudier, and altogether more disposable" than its predecessor. It peaked at #21 on the Billboard 200, was certified gold in the U.S. sold nearly 1,000,000 copies. The title track "I Wanna Be with You" was the album's only single and reached #24 on the Hot 100, Moore's highest peak to date. It was also featured on the soundtrack of the film Center Stage (2000).
In June 2001 Moore released her second full length (third overall) cd, the self-titled album Mandy Moore. She promoted the album with her first headlining concert, "Mandy Moore Live@ShoutBack". The album contained uptempo tracks and influences from Eastern music and was described as a "lush, layered production" by Allmusic. It received mixed reviews from critics The album debuted at number thirty-five on the Billboard 200, was later certified gold in the U.S. sold 443,000 copies. Lead single "In My Pocket", which Entertainment Weekly said contained "pumping, Indian influenced Euro disco", The album's follow-up single, "Crush". The early 2002 release of the final single, "Cry", tied in with the film A Walk to Remember, Moore's debut as a lead actress.
In 2006, Moore commented on her early albums with ill feelings, noting that although she believed that her first album was appropriate for her age she felt it "sucked" and that her first albums were "just awful". Moore also said that she "would give a refund to everyone who bought my first two albums" if she could; during a radio interview in April 2006, the show's co-host (who had seen her comments) asked her for a refund on the first album, a request that Moore fulfilled.
In October 2003, Moore released her fourth album Coverage, which Allmusic characterized as a "leap to musical maturity" and which Entertainment Weekly called an "effort to shed her bubblegum-blond image". The album peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard 200 (her highest ranking to date); but "Have a Little Faith in Me" and "Senses Working Overtime", its only two singles, did not perform well on the charts. Moore's cover of "I Feel the Earth Move" appeared on Love Rocks, a compilation CD of songs from gay rights supporters.
Due to low sales for Coverage, Sony's Epic Records dropped Moore. The company released the hits compilation album The Best of Mandy Moore, which reached number 148 on the Billboard 200 in November 2004 as a final obligation to Moore's contract. Another compilation, Candy, followed in 2005. During this time period, the only music Moore had recorded was a song demo, "Hey!", written by James Renald, and a cover version of Lori McKenna's "Beautiful Man".
In early 2006, Moore stated that she missed her music career and that singing is what she was the "most passionate about". Moore had signed to Sire Records after her contract with Epic Records ended, but left the company in May 2006. She signed with a new EMI Music-owned record company, The Firm, in July that year, describing her new contract as "especially exciting", and adding that she left Sire Records because she did not want to "follow the mainstream", but rather have "complete control and freedom" over her work. Moore's new album, Wild Hope, was released on June 19, 2007, and includes collaborations with artists Chantal Kreviazuk, Rachael Yamagata, Lori McKenna and The Weepies. Moore stayed alone in a house in Woodstock in Upstate New York while recording the album in late 2006. She performed new material from Wild Hope at the Sundance Film Festival; her first single, "Extraordinary", premiered on her MySpace profile on January 29, 2007. Moore performed the song at the Brick Awards on April 12, 2007 and launched a tour in the summer of 2007.
The album was released in the USA in June 2007 to generally positive reviews. It fared moderately well on the charts, debuting at number thirty on the Billboard 200 (Moore's third highest charting album in the U.S.), and at number 84 in Canada. In August 2007, Moore toured with Paula Cole, and Rachael Yamagata, playing at mid-size venues in the United States and Canada. Wild Hope was placed at number 10 on Entertainment Weekly's "The Must List" and also named Reader's Choice for that August 10 issue, two months after its release. Moore surprised many with a free concert in Boston on July 18, 2007.
On February 23, 2008, Moore released Wild Hope in Australia, and subsequently toured with Ben Lee and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Western Australia, supporting Kelly Clarkson on her tour. In October 2008, Moore posted on her website blog live videos of three new songs she's been working on, along with singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist Mike Viola. It was at first expected to a be a duo album between the two, but then in January 2009, it was revealed it would be a solo album with a collaboration with him, slated for release in April 2009.
It was announced in February 2009 that the new album was to be released in May 2009, and named Amanda Leigh on a new label called Storefront Recordings. This new label was founded by Moore's long time manager John Leshay.
Acting career
During the summer of 2000, Moore hosted a half-hour MTV talk show, The Mandy Moore Show, which was renamed Mandy a year later. Moore was also a Neutrogena spokesperson, appearing in commercials and print ads for the product. She has modelled for Penshoppe in the Philippines, Coach handbags in Japan, and was a spokesperson for the School and Youth Programs of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
In 2001, Moore appeared in a small part as the mean and popular cheerleader Lana Thomas opposite actresses Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews in the film The Princess Diaries. During the film, Moore's character performs "Stupid Cupid," a song from the film's soundtrack. In 2002, Moore had her first starring role in a major feature film in A Walk to Remember, which co-starred Shane West. Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, the film revolved around the developing romance between a Protestant minister's daughter (Moore) and an unruly teenager (West). The film was moderately successful, bringing in $41 million in the United States, and establishing Moore's status as a lead actress. Although the film received mainly negative reviews, Moore received several positive notices for her performance, with critic Roger Ebert calling her "quietly convincing". At that summer's MTV Movie Awards, Moore won an award for "Breakthrough Female Performance" for the role. The same year, she voiced the Final Fantasy VII character Aerith Gainsborough in the Square-Disney crossover video game Kingdom Hearts, was featured in the music video for Elton John's "Original Sin," and was ranked number sixty-seven in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World".
In 2003, Moore starred in the romantic comedy film How to Deal, which failed to draw in teenage crowds in the U.S. and grossed a total of $14–million domestically. Her next film was 2004's Chasing Liberty, a romantic comedy that grossed approximately $12 million. Both films received negative reviews; Ebert once again singled Moore's performances out, noting in his review of How to Deal that Moore has "an unaffected natural charm" and "almost makes the movie worth seeing", and adding in his Chasing Liberty review that she has "undeniable screen presence and inspires instant affection". Other critics described her as an "actress of limited range", though one review of Chasing Liberty noted that she is the "most painless of former pop princesses". Later in 2004, Moore appeared in a lead role in the religion satire Saved!, in which she played Hilary Faye, a proper and popular girl at a Christian school. The film was positively reviewed, though it did not receive a wide release. Moore received praise for her performance, with one critic calling her a "demented delight" and another naming it her best performance to date.
In 2005, Moore lent her voice to the film Racing Stripes and appeared on the television series Entourage; she was also originally scheduled to star in the films Cursed, Havoc, and The Upside of Anger, all of which were eventually released in 2005 without Moore's involvement.
In 2006, Moore guest-starred in two episodes of Scrubs. The same year, she lent her voice to The Simpsons, playing Tabitha Vixx in the episode Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play which aired in May. Moore also appeared in the parody American Dreamz, which was released in April 2006. In the film, she played a deranged contestant on a television series modeled after American Idol. Director Paul Weitz stated that he had Moore in mind for the role before she was cast, explaining that "there's something inherently sweet about Mandy; it makes it all the more interesting to see her in a villainess role". Moore has said that she enjoys playing mean-spirited characters but fears being typecast as a villain. American Dreamz opened at number nine at the U.S. box office, eventually totaling barely $7 million, and received mixed reviews; critic Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, however, wrote that Moore and co-star Hugh Grant have a "wicked barbed chemistry" in their roles, while Variety's Robert Koehler said Moore's role was a "pitch-perfect study of a woman for whom a reality show is reality". Later that year, in what ComingSoon.net's review described as a "surprisingly good performance", Moore voiced Nita, the heroine of the Disney animated sequel Brother Bear 2, which was released directly-to-DVD on August 29. She was also originally cast to appear in that year's ensemble film Bobby, but was replaced by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Moore, citing her conservative upbringing, has expressed dissatisfaction with her appearance on a May 2006 cover of Cosmopolitan; the magazine's headline is "orgasms unlimited", which refers to an article unrelated to her. Ironically in her next movie, Because I Said So, co-starring Gabriel Macht, Lauren Graham and Diane Keaton, Moore's character describes in detail the feeling of an orgasm to her mother, Keaton's character. It was released on February 2, 2007 and received mixed reviews. In License to Wed, Moore portrays a young bride-to-be who has to complete a three-week prenup course before her wedding. Co-starring John Krasinski as her fiance and Robin Williams as a minister, the film was released on July 3, 2007 to mostly negative reviews.
Moore's movies have grossed a total of $220,701,061 domestically.
Fashion career
Moore branched into the fashion world in 2005 with her own fashion line named Mblem., a brand of contemporary knitwear and cashmere. The line was sold in over 500 specialty boutiques including Ron Herman and Lisa Kline and in some department stores such as Macy's West, Bloomingdales and Nordstrom. One of her aims was to provide clothing for taller girls (Moore herself is 5'10). In February 2009, Moore announced that the line would be shutting down, but that she hoped to reenter the fashion world again under different circumstances in the future.
Birth name: Amanda Leigh Moore
Born: April 10, 1984
Birth place: Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.
Origin: Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Genres: Pop, pop rock, dance-pop, teen pop, folk-pop
Occupations: Singer-songwriter, actress, model, fashion designer
Years active: since 1999 (music), since 2000 (acting)
Labels: Epic, Sire, The Firm, EMI, Storefront Recordings
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