1993–1999: Career beginnings Moore became interested in singing and acting at a young age, and called her British maternal grandmother, Eileen Friedman, a professional ballerina in
London, one of her inspirations. Moore began acting in lead roles in a number of local productions and performing the national anthem at a number of events in Orlando. She was twelve years old when she went to the
Stagedoor Manor performing arts camp. Cade sent him a copy of Moore's unfinished demo, and Moore signed on with the label.
1999–2000: So Real, MTV stardom, and I Wanna Be with You After signing with
Epic Records, Moore began working on her debut album. While recording the album, Moore had to leave Bishop Moore Catholic High School when she was in the ninth grade and continued receiving her education from tutors. Later in 1999, Moore toured with the
Backstreet Boys. The single was a commercial success in a number of countries, and has been compared to the singles of fellow teen pop singers
Jessica Simpson,
Christina Aguilera, and
Britney Spears. It debuted at number 88 on the
Billboard Hot 100, before peaking at number 41 on the chart. The single later received a
Gold certification from the
RIAA, for sales exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. The single was the most successful in Australia, where it peaked at number 2 on the
ARIA Charts and received a
Platinum certification. Moore began to host and VJ at MTV, contributing to numerous shows including
Total Request Live,
Say What? Karaoke, and her own talk show which was originally called
The Mandy Moore Show before being retitled as
Mandy. Moore's debut studio album,
So Real, was released on December 7, 1999, by
550 Music through
Epic Records. The album received a limited release in a few countries. It received generally mixed reviews from critics when it was released, and Moore continued to be compared to other teen pop singers.
Allmusic said about the album, "Fifteen-year-old Mandy Moore's debut album sounded like it was inspired almost entirely by listening to recent hit albums by 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears."
Entertainment Weekly had a similar opinion about the album, and gave it a C− in their review. The album debuted at number 77 on the
Billboard 200 chart. It continued to climb the chart until it peaked at number 31. It received a
Platinum certification from the
RIAA, for sales exceeding one million copies in the U.S. alone. The album's second single, "
Walk Me Home", did not have the same success of its predecessor, failing to appear on any major charts. Before promotion for
So Real had ended, Moore began working on more music. The single "
I Wanna Be with You", was released on April 3, 2000. "I Wanna Be with You" spent 16 weeks on the chart and reached its peak of 24 during its ninth week on the chart. The single became Moore's second Top 20 hit in Australia, where it peaked at number 13. It was a minor success on the German
Media Control Charts, where it peaked at number 70. The single received mixed reviews.
Billboard praised the song and said, "Top 40 programmers and listeners alike will love Moore more with this track", and Allmusic called the song a highlight track from the album. Marketed as "a new version of Mandy's debut", the album was a compilation of new songs, remixes, and songs from Moore's debut album
So Real. Internationally, where the
So Real album was not released,
I Wanna Be with You served as Moore's debut album, with multiple alternative track listings. The album received generally mixed reviews and was criticized for not being a true follow-up. Allmusic called the album "trashier, flashier, gaudier, and altogether more disposable" than its predecessor
So Real. It received a
Gold certification from the RIAA, for sales exceeding 500,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Moore won the
Kids' Choice Awards for
Favorite Rising Star for the album in 2000. "
Walk Me Home" was re-released in the United States as the second single from
I Wanna Be with You and was slightly more successful than its original release, peaking at number 38 on the
Billboard Pop Songs chart. The single peaked at number 18 on the
Official New Zealand Music Chart.
2001–2002: Mandy Moore and early acting roles In 2001, Moore began working on her second studio album, which was said to move away from the
bubblegum pop sound and image she became known for. Moore said during an interview with
Billboard magazine that "All of the music has started to look and sound the same" and that she chose to move in a different musical direction. Moore said that she wanted to feature more live instruments when performing, saying she wanted "no more dancers, no more singing to tracks. I got tired of that in a big way".
Entertainment Weekly said the single had "pumping,
Indian-influenced
Eurodisco". It failed to chart on the
Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., but peaked at number 2 on the
Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, and it reached number 21 on the
Billboard Pop Songs chart. Moore's self-titled second studio album,
Mandy Moore, was released on June 19, 2001. The album had uptempo
dance and
pop songs and influences from
Middle Eastern music. The album received mixed to average reviews from critics. Allmusic called the album a "lush, layered production". and received a Gold certification from the RIAA. The album has sold an estimated 1.5 million copies worldwide. The album reached number 37 on the ARIA charts in Australia, her highest peak in the country to date. The album's second single, "
Crush", was released on August 28, 2001; it peaked at number 35 on the
Billboard Pop Songs chart, Moore made her feature film debut in 2001, where she voiced a Girl Bear Cub in the comedy
Dr. Dolittle 2, which starred
Eddie Murphy. Later that year, Moore co-starred with
Anne Hathaway in the comedy
The Princess Diaries, based on
Meg Cabot's novel
The Princess Diaries, and was released on August 3, 2001. She played Lana Thomas, the rival of Mia Thermopolis (Hathaway). On her role, Moore told
InStyle Magazine, "I'm the crude popular girl who gets ice cream in her face." In the film, Moore performed a cover of
Connie Francis's 1958 song "
Stupid Cupid" while at a beach party. In 2002, Moore made her starring debut with
Shane West and
Peter Coyote in the romantic drama
A Walk to Remember, based on
Nicholas Sparks's novel
A Walk to Remember. She played Jamie Sullivan, the unpopular daughter of Reverend Sullivan (Coyote). The film opened at #3 at the U.S. box office raking in $12,177,488 in its opening weekend. The film received generally negative reviews.
Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times praised Moore and West's "quietly convincing" performances. It was a modest box office hit, earning $41,281,092 in the U.S., and was a
sleeper hit in Asia. The total revenue generated worldwide was $47,494,916. Moore received a number of nominations and awards for her performance in the film. Commenting on the film in 2010, she said: "It was my first movie and I know people say it may be cliché and it's a tearjerker or it's cheesy, but for me, it's the thing I'm most proud of." Moore's self-titled album's third and final single, "
Cry", was released on November 4, 2001, to help promote the film.
2003–2006: Coverage and continued acting In 2003, Moore began working on her third studio album, later revealed to be a cover album called
Coverage. The album had covers of 1970s and 1980s songs and was produced by
John Fields. Moore's cover of
John Hiatt's 1987 song "
Have a Little Faith in Me" was released as the album's lead single shortly before the album. The song peaked at number 39 on the
Billboard Pop Songs chart but did not enter the
Billboard Hot 100.
Coverage was released on October 21, 2003, and received generally mixed reviews.
Allmusic called the album a "leap to musical maturity,"
Entertainment Weekly called it an "effort to shed her bubblegum-blond image." The album debuted at number 14 on the
Billboard 200 chart, with first week sales of 53,000. This made it Moore's highest debut on the chart and highest-peaking album to date, but was also her lowest-selling and her first album not to be certified by the
RIAA. Moore's cover of
XTC's 1982 song "
Senses Working Overtime" was released as the album's second single and failed to have any chart success. Later that year, Moore's cover of
Carole King's 1971 song "
I Feel the Earth Move" was included on the compilation album
Love Rocks from
LGBT rights supporters. In 2004, Moore left Epic after five years because of creative differences. Moore and the label released her greatest hits album,
The Best of Mandy Moore, on November 16, 2004, to end her contract. The album reached number 148 on the
Billboard 200. Moore's third compilation album,
Candy, was released on April 5, 2005. In 2003, Moore co-starred with
Allison Janney,
Peter Gallagher, and
Trent Ford in the romantic comedy-drama
How to Deal which was based on
Sarah Dessen's novels
That Summer and
Someone like You. She played Halley Martin, a cynical and rebellious seventeen-year-old who deals with falling in love with Macon Forrester (Ford), the new boy at her school and her relationships and issues with her family and friends. The film failed to find teenage audiences in the U.S. and grossed a total of $14 million domestically. In 2004, Moore co-starred with
Matthew Goode in the romantic comedy
Chasing Liberty. She played Anna Foster, the rebellious eighteen-year-old "
First Daughter" who wants more freedom from the Secret Service. The film grossed approximately $12 million. Ebert singled Moore's performances out again and said in his review of
How to Deal that Moore has "an unaffected natural charm" and "almost makes the movie worth seeing." In his review of
Chasing Liberty he said that she has "undeniable screen presence and inspires instant affection." Other critics called her an "actress of limited range," but one review of
Chasing Liberty called her the "most painless of former
pop princesses." Late in 2004, Moore co-starred with
Jena Malone,
Macaulay Culkin and
Patrick Fugit in the religion satirical comedy-drama
Saved!. She played Hilary Faye Stockard, a proper and popular girl at a Christian high school. The film received generally positive reviews; it did not receive a wide release. Moore's performance was praised, with one critic calling her a "demented delight" and another calling it her best performance to date. She and
Michael Stipe covered
The Beach Boys' 1966 song "
God Only Knows", which bookended the film. In 2005, Moore co-starred in the sports family comedy-drama
Racing Stripes, where she voiced Sandy the white horse, and guest-starred in the
HBO comedy-drama
Entourage. Moore was originally scheduled to star in the films
Cursed,
Havoc and
The Upside of Anger, which were all eventually released in 2005, but without her involvement in any of them. In 2006, Moore guest-starred as Julie Quinn in two episodes of the fifth season of the
NBC medical sitcom
Scrubs, that were the ninth episode "My Half-Acre" and the tenth episode "
Her Story II". The same year, she guest-starred in the
Fox animated sitcom
The Simpsons, where she voiced Tabitha Vixx in the seventeenth-season finale called "
Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play". Moore co-starred with
Hugh Grant,
Dennis Quaid and
William Dafoe in
Paul Weitz's satirical comedy
American Dreamz, which was released in April 2006. She played Sally Kendoo, a sociopathic contestant on a singing competition series modelled after
American Idol. Weitz said 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. The film opened at number nine at the U.S. box office, eventually totaling barely $7 million, and it received generally mixed reviews.
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly praised Moore's and Grant's "wicked barbed chemistry" in their roles, but Robert Koehler of
Variety called Moore's role a "pitch-perfect study of a woman for whom a reality show is reality." Later in 2006, Moore voiced Nita, the heroine of the
Disney animated sequel Brother Bear 2, which was released directly to DVD on August 29, 2006. ComingSoon.net praised Moore's "surprisingly good performance". That same year, Moore was originally cast in
Emilio Estevez's drama
Bobby, but was replaced by
Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
2007–2009: Wild Hope and Amanda Leigh in
eastern Long Island, New York, August 2007 In early 2006, Moore said that she missed her music career and that singing is what she was the "most passionate about". In 2004, Moore signed with
Sire Records after her contract with Epic ended, but she left the label in May 2006 because of creative differences. She signed with
The Firm Music, owned by
EMI, in July that year, calling her recording contract "especially exciting", and saying that she left Sire because she did not want to "follow the mainstream", but rather have "complete control and freedom" over her music. Moore co-starred with
Diane Keaton,
Gabriel Macht and
Tom Everett Scott in the romantic comedy
Because I Said So. The film was released on February 2, 2007, and received mixed to negative reviews, but was a financial success, earning over $69 million worldwide at the box office. Later that year, Moore co-starred with
John Krasinski and
Robin Williams in the romantic comedy
License to Wed which was released on July 3, 2007. The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews but was a financial success, grossing $43.8 million domestically and $69.3 million worldwide.
Variety called the film "an astonishingly flat romantic comedy, filled with perplexing choices", but called Moore's performance "appealing". On September 24, 2007, Moore guest-starred in the
CBS sitcom
How I Met Your Mother in the third-season premiere episode "
Wait for It". Later that year, she co-starred with
Billy Crudup,
Tom Wilkinson and
Dianne Wiest in the romantic comedy
Dedication. She played Lucy Reilly, a struggling children's book illustrator who falls in love with Henry Roth (Crudup). The film premiered at the
2007 Sundance Film Festival and received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Moore's fourth studio album
Wild Hope was released on June 19, 2007, and Moore collaborated with record producer
John Alagía and a number of musicians on it, including
Chantal Kreviazuk,
Lori McKenna,
Rachael Yamagata and
The Weepies. Moore stayed alone in a house in
Woodstock in
Upstate New York while recording the album in late 2006. Moore performed the album's lead single "
Extraordinary" at the
Brick Awards on April 12, 2007, and launched a tour in the summer of 2007. The album received mixed to positive reviews from critics.
Billboard said that "
Wild Hope is the gratifying sound of a singer finally finding her comfort zone. Gone is the sugary pop of Moore's early career, replaced instead by thoughtful musings on love and life…an album full of subtle, but undeniable hooks." The album debuted on the U.S.
Billboard 200 at #30, selling 25,000 copies the first week of its release, according to
Billboard. The album also reached No. 9 on The Top Internet albums. To date, the album has sold over 120,000 copies in the U.S. and more than 350,000 copies worldwide. On February 23, 2008, Moore released the album in Australia, and subsequently toured with musician
Ben Lee and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Western Australia, supporting inaugural
American Idol winner
Kelly Clarkson on her tour. in
Manhattan, New York, June 2009 Moore began working on her fifth studio album
Amanda Leigh in 2008. Recording sessions for the album took place around December 2008 in
Boston,
Massachusetts with singer-songwriter, record producer, pianist, and guitarist
Mike Viola. The single failed to have an impact on any major charts.
Amanda Leigh was released on May 26, 2009. On the album, Moore said, "The music is all a reflection of me now, not somebody else's choices." To promote the release, Moore visited a number of talk shows, performing "I Could Break Your Heart Any Day of the Week" on shows including
The Ellen DeGeneres Show and
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On May 26, 2009, she performed songs from the album at
Amoeba Music in Hollywood. The album received generally positive reviews.
Time magazine called the album "impeccably recorded". An article on the album by
Paper magazine said, "Mandy (in the album)... shows real thoughtful and emotional depth."
Paper finished by saying that "Moore is a far better musician than she's often given credit for." It debuted at number 25 on the
Billboard 200, selling 16,000 copies in the U.S. during the week of its release, and at number 4 on the Top Independent albums chart. To date, the album has sold an estimated 100,000 copies.
2010–2015: Tangled and further acting After a break of almost two years from film roles, Moore co-starred with
Martin Freeman in the romantic comedy
Swinging with the Finkels. The film was shot in the
United Kingdom in 2009 and was released in 2011. Moore co-starred with
Kellan Lutz in the romantic comedy
Love, Wedding, Marriage. The film was shot in 2010 and released in 2011. In 2010, Moore made a guest-starring appearance as Mary Portman in the ABC medical drama ''
Grey's Anatomy'', for the
two-part sixth-season finale, her first television role since 2007. She returned to the show for two episodes of the seventh season. Also that year, Moore co-starred with
Zachary Levi where she voiced
Rapunzel in the
CGI Disney animated fantasy musical comedy
Tangled. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
Rotten Tomatoes reported that 89% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 185 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10. The site's consensus read: "While far from Disney's greatest film,
Tangled is a visually stunning, thoroughly entertaining addition to the studio's classic animated canon."
CinemaScore polled conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinemagoers gave the film was an "A+" on an A+ to F scale. It earned $200,821,936 in North America, and $389,900,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $590,721,936. in 2011 Worldwide, it is the
17th-highest-grossing animated film, the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2010, and the third-highest-grossing 2010 animated film, behind
Toy Story 3 and
Shrek Forever After. It is also the third Disney film appearing in the Top 10 films of 2010. It was the third-highest-grossing film worldwide produced by
Walt Disney Animation Studios, behind
Frozen (2013) and
The Lion King (1994), as of 2011. Moore and Levi performed the film's theme song, "I See the Light", at the
83rd Academy Awards, where it was nominated for
Best Original Song. The song also won a
Grammy Award for
Best Song Written For Visual Media as well as Best Song at the Las Vegas Film Critics Society. In October 2011, it was announced that she was set to star in an
ABC sitcom called
Us and Them, but the pilot was eventually passed by the network. In 2012, she co-starred with
Carla Gugino and
Rufus Sewell in
Sebastian Gutierrez's crime drama
Hotel Noir, which was released on October 9, 2012, in the U.S. From 2012 to 2013, Moore voiced Mara in the short-lived
Disney XD animated science fiction series
Tron: Uprising. She voiced the title character in the
Disney Junior animated series ''
Sheriff Callie's Wild West'' from 2014 to 2015. In July 2012, Moore announced that she would be collaborating with her then-husband, musician
Ryan Adams, on her upcoming sixth studio album. She said: "There's a lot to say and a lot that's happened to me in the last three or so years since the last record's come out, so I have been writing a lot and it's definitely going to be an intense, emotional record. I'm excited about it. I'm excited to get into the studio and start recording." On February 20, 2013, it was announced Moore would be starring as Louise in the
ABC sitcom
Pulling, based on the British sitcom
Pulling. The pilot was written by
Lee Eisenberg and
Gene Stupnitsky, but in March, as the pilot came closer to production, Moore's character was moved in a different direction and Moore considered herself to no longer be the right fit for the role. Moore asked to leave the pilot and ABC agreed to it. In a July 2014 interview with
CBS News, Moore said that 2014 was "the year of actual progress forward" on her sixth album and said it was more "dangerous" and "raw" than her previous albums, and said that she hoped to start recording the album in Adams's studio later in the summer. On September 5, 2014, she appeared on two tracks on Adams's self-titled fourteenth album,
Ryan Adams. From 2014 to 2015, Moore had a recurring role as Dr. Erin Grace in the short-lived
Fox medical comedy-drama
Red Band Society. In June 2015, it was confirmed that Moore and Levi would reprise their roles as Rapunzel and
Eugene "Flynn Rider" Fitzherbert in an animated television series based on
Tangled. The series,
Tangled: The Series, set between
Tangled and
Tangled Ever After, premiered on the Disney Channel in 2017. Moore co-starred with
Claire Holt in the underwater survival thriller
47 Meters Down. Filming began at
Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom and Dominican Republic on June 18, 2015, and finished on August 7, 2015. The film was released on June 16, 2017. In September 2015, Moore said that she was continuing to work on her sixth album. "I've been working on music steadily for the last couple of years," she explained. "I guess 2016 will be the re-emergence of my music. That side of my life has been dormant for too long in my opinion."
2016–present: This Is Us, awards recognition, and albums Silver Landings and In Real Life In September 2016, Moore began co-starring as
Rebecca Pearson in the
NBC family comedy-drama
This Is Us, where she later received a
Golden Globe Award nomination for her role. In July 2017, Moore announced her intentions to return to music in an interview with
People. She said, "I want to return to music" and that "I don't have a record label, but I have a lot of music written. Next year, I've decided I'm putting it out there!" In July 2018, she also said on
Jimmy Kimmel Live! that she might collaborate with her now husband, musician
Taylor Goldsmith,
Dawes' lead singer and guitarist, on her new music. In August 2018, Moore co-starred with
Amandla Stenberg and
Patrick Gibson in the
dystopian science-fiction thriller
The Darkest Minds. In November, she reprised her role as
Rapunzel in the Disney CGI animated comedy
Ralph Breaks the Internet with
John C. Reilly,
Sarah Silverman,
Gal Gadot,
Taraji P. Henson,
Kristen Bell and
Jane Lynch. The film grossed almost $500 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, who called it a "worthy successor" and praised the animation, humor, characters, plot and the vocal performances of Reilly and Silverman. The film received a Best Animated Feature nomination at the
76th Golden Globe Awards and
24th Critics' Choice Awards. In February 2019, Moore co-starred with
Justin Bartha, Barbara Jacques and
Paul Lieberstein in the short comedic action film
The Big Break. In March, she co-starred with
J.K. Simmons,
Sebastian Stan,
Max Greenfield and
Maika Monroe in the drama ''
I'm Not Here and voiced Courtney in the Fox animated sitcom Family Guy'', in the season 17 episode "No Giggity, No Doubt". On March 25, 2019, Moore received her star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. On September 17, 2019, Moore released her first original song in over a decade, the single "
When I Wasn't Watching", with an accompanying music video; this was followed by the single "I'd Rather Lose" on October 31. In November, she co-starred in the
independent historical drama
Midway with
Ed Skrein,
Patrick Wilson,
Luke Evans,
Aaron Eckhart,
Nick Jonas,
Dennis Quaid, and
Woody Harrelson. On March 6, 2020, Moore released her sixth studio album
Silver Landings via
Verve Forecast Records. She said regarding her decision to sign with Verve Forecast in late 2019, "I had slight
PTSD from being on labels in the past ... but Verve truly feels like it's run by a bunch of deeply creative people who aren't necessarily just concerned with the numbers game". The album was preceded by the single "Save a Little for Yourself" with an accompanying music video. On May 13, 2022, Moore released her seventh studio album,
In Real Life. The album was preceded by the release of the single "In Real Life" on March 8. It was accompanied by a cameo-laden music video which featured many of her
This Is Us co-stars in addition to
Wilmer Valderrama,
Hilary Duff,
Matthew Koma,
Amanda Kloots, and
Karamo Brown, among others. On April 5, Moore released her second single off the album, "Little Dreams". ==Musical style and influences==