\u201cI lived in this very little bubble in Australia,\u201d the Sydney-born actress, 19, tells PEOPLE ahead of the new movie\u2019s July 10 release.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so hard to get there and then once you\u2019re there, it\u2019s so hard to leave again,\u201d says Laga\u02bbaia, \u201cbecause we\u2019re just so far away from everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Catherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c1c5243a89738aa58547678718f36798.jpeg\"\/)
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Catherine Laga\u2019aia in \u2018Moana\u2019
Credit: Courtesy of Disney<\/p>\n
As she notes, the same is true for Moana herself. Laga\u02bbaia was cast out of thousands<\/a> to play, in her first major film role, the flesh-and-blood version of the chieftess-to-be first voiced by actress Auli\u02bbi Cravalho<\/a>. The Thomas Kail<\/a>-directed remake<\/a> costars none other than Dwayne Johnson<\/a>, reprising his role as the demigod Maui from Disney\u2019s 2016 hit animated musical.<\/p>\n Growing up in Australia with her actor father and educator mother \u201cfelt like I was living in my own little Motunui with the things I recognized and the people I knew,\u201d quips Laga\u02bbaia, calling her childhood \u201cthe most normal, run-of-the-mill teenage years ever.\u201d Motunui (as depicted first in computer-generated animation and now filmed on Oahu, Hawaii) is the bustling but isolated island village where Moana and her tribe live.<\/p>\n \u201cLeaping into something new and having to go further than I\u2019d ever been and try things I\u2019ve never done, I feel like I took a lot of Moana\u2019s bravery,\u201d Laga\u02bbaia says. \u201cBecause she just kind of radiates that.\u201d<\/p>\n Catherine Laga\u2019aia There were other ways Laga\u02bbaia\u2019s childhood resembled Moana\u2019s. \u201cI\u2019m one of eight; I have seven other siblings,\u201d the actress explains. \u201cSo even my little house felt like a little Motunui, we had so many people always running around.\u201d<\/p>\n She adds, \u201cAll you want when you\u2019re in a group of siblings that large is your own thing. You want to be the best in something, you want something to be yours because everything is so shared.\u201d<\/p>\n Jay Laga\u2019aia and Catherine Laga\u2019aia in April 2026 Now, not long after graduating from Sydney\u2019s Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, an iconic Disney heroine belongs to Laga\u02bbaia. \u201cWhen I found acting and when I found Moana, when I got that, I was like, \u2018Okay, I\u2019ve got my thing now. This is something that differentiates me from you [siblings], but also something that helps me relate to and connect to you guys in a different kind of way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n In launching her movie career, Laga\u02bbaia is also following in her father Jay\u2019s footsteps<\/a>. The actor of Samoan descent, who has worked steadily in New Zealand and Australian screen projects, played Captain Tycho Celchu in Star Wars: Episode II \u2013 Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III \u2013 Revenge of the Sith.<\/p>\n \u201cI think having my dad in the industry, as well as wanting to do the OG proud, and wanting to do the people who love the movies proud, I feel my biggest thing was I wanted him to be proud,\u201d says the actress. \u201cI need him to be, at the end of the day, proud of the legacy that I\u2019m extending for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Moana, featuring the music of composer Lin-Manuel Miranda<\/a> and costarring Rena Owen, John Tui and Frankie Adams, is in theaters Friday.<\/p>\n![\"Catherine](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5882a3873d4f8d964ea6c79a27bc2d93.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Ramona Rosales\/Disney<\/p>\n![\"Jay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fb03beb0522f5a76bbccc77537fedf1a.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Don Arnold\/WireImage<\/p>\n