MOANA'S AULI'I CRAVALHO: 'Be the Hero of Your Own Story'

BEING CHOSEN AT AGE 14 TO VOICE THE DISNEY PRINCESS MADE HER A STAR. NOW 24, SHE'S BACK IN A SEQUELAND LOVING HER ACTING ADVENTURES

- JACK SMART

Auli'i Cravalho is juggling a blockbuster sequel, producing her first film and making her Broadway debut all at the same time.

"I've never been so happy.

I've never been so exhausted," says the 24-year-old actress, who rose to fame voicing the headstrong Disney princess Moana.

The only thing that dims her megawatt smile? The prospect of the Hawaii native's first New York City winter. "My heart is so full. I'm in the right place. But," she adds wryly, "check in with me in, like, three weeks, and see if I'm frozen."

Cravalho jokes she's currently "living like a monk" in a New York apartment with her partner (whose name she has kept private), best friend and cat Rocco as she performs eight shows a week as Sally Bowles in Cabaret while also promoting Moana 2. And although she's forging a new path in theater, the return of her intrepid Polynesian chiefess has her feeling reflective. "I get to have that full decade look back at just how much growth I've gone through," says Cravalho, who was a freshman in her high school glee club when she beat out hundreds of other aspiring stars to first earn the voice role. "I had so much to learn. I didn't know the legacy that I would be carrying."