We had the honor of interviewing Interview Nicole Scherzinger who plays Moana’s mother, Sina in the film. She was radiant as she walked into the room as well as super surprised and happy to see all a room full of women.
“It’s just great to be in a room with women. Awesome.”
She was happy to delve right into how extremely important it was to be a part of this film and to accurately portray her Polynesian roots.
Tell us why you wanted to be a part of this project and how it came to be?
Well, I didn’t want to be a part of the project. I felt I had to be a part of the project, and that’s because I’m from Hawaiian descent and I knew that the movie was gonna be about the Polynesian people and I’m just so proud that Disney did right by the Polynesian people and stayed true to our culture, where we come from, our mono, our power, our people, our lifeline.
They told a beautiful story about a young girl. It wasn’t a love story, it was a heroine story about a young girl’s journey, which we can all relate to about discovering who we really are and what we’re meant for. What our purpose and our destiny is and that’s a beautiful story. I had the honor of playing Moana’s mother, Sina. They tried to give me the backstory and I was like, please, I lived this, I lived with my mother and my tutu, which means grandmother in Hawaiian. In our culture, the men are the head of the household, but the women are the backbone. They are everything. They are the strength. They keep it together.
You have such a huge family. Is everybody still in Hawaii?
I have a lot of family here in America, but most of them are on the Island. You know when people come from an island, they usually stay on the Island. A lot of them haven’t even been outside of the Island. So, yeah, so I’m pretty much related to all of Oahu.
My mother had me at a very young age. She was pregnant with me when she was seventeen and had me when she was eighteen. She raised me on her own. My Tutu and Papa – that’s from grandmother and grandfather – they helped raise me as well. Then my mother met my father, which is why I got the last name Scherzinger. My adopted last name.
You’ve done a lot of live performances between music and the theater. How is this in comparison?
I wanted to be Whitney Houston. “The Greatest Love of All” made me realize that I wanted to sing. So from a little girl I always performed live, and I was fortunate enough to go to a performing arts school and I also did a lot of musicals. So the stage is my favorite place to be, really musical theater is.
Doing this movie was such a new experience for me because I’ve never been an animated character. When you’re acting in an animated film you have to just imagine everything. To be so creative in your head. You just have to kinda close your eyes and put yourself there and kind of be extra animated.
In terms of your character, Sina, was there a certain thing that you brought more into the character from your personal self?
It was interesting because in the script they had a couple different readings, like different ways they wanted to get the story across. Especially the part where she’s trying to explain to her daughter that you can’t go be on the reef. First of all, anything that I do I draw from a personal connection, and she says “Moana, sometimes who you are or who you want to be it’s not meant to be”. I drew from that experience and I drew from my mother. My mom and my tutu and all the women in my family have sacrificed everything for their children. They’re just selfless. That’s just who the women in my family are. So when I heard that line I really thought of my mother and my tutu and how sometimes who you are who you wish you could be.
Did you ever think that you would be where you are now when you first started out?
The honest answer to that is no. When I was a little girl I came from nothing, but for some reason I felt like I was meant to be Whitney Houston. Like I wanted to be. I knew I was meant to sing and to be a voice. My life has taken different paths and I don’t regret anything, and I’m very grateful for everything. I believe we all have a great purpose and I haven’t got there yet. People are usually like, wow, you’ve done so much. What is there left to do? And I’m like, that’s funny, ‘cause I feel like I’m just scratching at the surface and I’m just using a fraction of my potential.
So I’ve got everything left to do.
I’m very grateful for where I am. You have to look at it and be like this is what led me to be here, let me learn and grow from this.
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Disclosure: I was provided with an all-expense trip to LA by Walt Disney Studios to attend the Red Carpet Premiere of MOANA, as well as visit ABC televisions sets and attend the BFG brunch. All opinions are 100% my own.
Dianna Ranere