by Paul Fischer
by
Paul Fischer
Mandy Moore looks nothing
like her 19 years. Curled up in a chair in a
Beverly Hills hotel 
room, caressing a pillow, the beautiful adolescent
singer/actress is wearing a short, black dress, seemingly unaware of how
sexy she appears. After all, she is as equally careful of how she comes across
to her bevy of teenage fans as she is about her career. Her latest film,
How to Deal, is a romantic comedy in which she plays the daughter
of divorced parents, trying to avoid love and her mother’s mistakes.
Naturally, she does
fall but during a love scene, stops short in going all the way. For Moore,
it was important not to taint her image for the sake of cinematic
commercialism or but to do something that she was uncomfortable with. "I
do
think it would have been more difficult just for me as a person. I’ve
always been allowed to be myself and make my own decisions with music and in
films and I don’t think I would have felt comfortable doing something
like
that at this point in my life." But the actress won’t be a teenager
forever
and adds that "hopefully I have that ahead of me, if people are still
accepting of me and allowing me to be what I love to do. But that scene in
How to Deal was part of the story and things happened this way. I love
being able to portray very confident, independent, strong-minded young women
" Which is how Moore sees herself, it seems as she, consciously or not,
emerges as a role model for her teenage fans, a responsibility she says she
has to take seriously. "I’m lucky to be in this position and I
think for
anybody that’s had some success in this industry, there are obviously
going
to be people that look up to you and consider you to be a role model, which
I think it’s flattering." Moore doesn’t pretend to be anyone
other than who
she is, "With me, what you see is what you get."
A successful recording artist since the release of her 1999 album 'So Real,' Moore’s interest in music originated when she was in an elementary school "that had a really big emphasis on the arts," she recalls. "Every student had to participate in drama while the girls took ballet and the boys would take PE. So, from a very young age I was always singing in school." The youngster made her stage debut in a sixth grade production of Guys and Dolls. "Every kid had to participate in the show and I was Miss Adelaide. That reaffirmed everything for me," and solidified her dream to be on stage. She was 14 when her recording career began to take shape. "And that was so odd to me. I knew that I wanted to get here some how and I honestly thought it was probably going to be through Broadway and then eventually come into recording and doing film, if I ever got there at all. But, I never thought at 14 that I would be here." Breaking into the industry via voiceovers and commercials, in 1999 Moore signed a record contract at Sony; her debut album 'So Real' appeared late that year and spawned the hit, "Candy"
She smiles when asked if she felt that she missed out on her
adolescence. "I feel I missed out on the typical social aspects of football
games, the prom, being at school and learning about the gossip." Yet,
she adds, "I feel like I had 
a different path in life. Maybe this is
something I was supposed to do? I’m a big believer in fate." She
says that her 'prom nights' are the fancy premieres she gets to attend "and
getting all dressed up and excited."
From the popular cheerleader in Princess Diaries to the dying teenager in A Walk to Remember, and her latest role in How to Deal, Moore is defined by her ability to play characters that are consistently distinctive. She loved playing the often cynical Halley Martin in How to Deal because she found it hard to relate to the character. "Unlike her, I have a great family life, love my parents and have a great relationship with them. I consider myself to be a romantic person and am pro-love in every single way. So, Halley could not be more opposite to me She has a very cynical outlook on life and on love and rightfully so because of what’s going in her, life, so I thought it would be a bit of a challenge playing her, because I couldn’t find too many parallels between the two of us and I wanted to get in her frame of mind and ask myself: Why is this girl feeling this way?" While Moore is not romantically cynical, the reverse is true when it comes to discussing the business side of fame. "I would say I’m definitely more cynical than I was four years ago, when I started off."
Moore’s acting career continues to go from strength to strength, currently in London shooting the romantic comedy/drama First Daughter and continuing with a busy singing career, "which is fun because I kind of get a sense of both worlds. I’m doing what I want to do, when I want to do it so it’s nice to be a little bit choosier" Her next album, ‘Coverage’, which hits stores in September, is a cover album "featuring everything from Cat Stevens and Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell." It’s a risky project for the 19-year old, but she thrives on risk. I want to do something different, and take a bit of a left turn. I didn’t grow up listening to these artists and I’ve only discovered that music in the past like two years. I’m passionate about it and I want people my age to be passionate about it and hopefully get them listening to the original artists."
Moore is in the perfect place in her life, and says she’s having a ball. Her only ambitions, she says, are to "continue to just be happy, having fun in what I’m doing and not taking myself or life too seriously."