CNN —An Australian teenager of Samoan heritage has been announced as the star of the upcoming live-action version of the hit Disney movie “Moana.”Seventeen-year-old Catherine Laga‘aia has been cast as the eponymous heroine of the movie, which begins filming this summer. She is no stranger to showbiz, however, as her father is Jay Laga‘aia, a New Zealand-born actor who starred in two of the “Star Wars” movies. He is also one of the movie’s producers, alongside, among others, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote much of the original movie’s soundtrack. Auli’i Cravalho starred as Moana in the original film, along with Rachel House, Nicole Scherzinger and Temuera Morrison. Disney has successfully reimagined several of its animated classics as live-action movies, beginning with “Beauty and the Beast” in 2017, followed by “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” in 2019 and “The Little Mermaid” last year.

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Persons: Catherine Laga‘aia, ”, Alice Hart, Sigourney Weaver, Jay Laga‘aia, Dwayne Johnson, “ Hamilton, Lin, Manuel Miranda, Laga‘aia, “, Moana, Tuai, I’m, Katie, Lin Manuel Miranda, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Rena Owen, Gramma Tala, Thomas Kail, “ Hamilton ”, Johnson, Auli’i Cravalho, Rachel House, Nicole Scherzinger, Temuera Morrison, “ Aladdin ”, King ” Organizations: CNN, Pacific Islanders, Disney, Samoa, Broadway, Nielsen Locations: Motunui, New Zealand, Maui, Sydney, Fa‘aala, Savai‘i, ‘ Upolu, Samoa, Australia, Moana, Zealand