Mandy Moore (choreographer)
Samantha Jo "Mandy" Moore (born March 28, 1976) is an American choreographer, dancer, producer, and dance instructor. She is known for her work on the United States reality television series So You Think You Can Dance, having appeared on the show every year since the third season, and Dancing with the Stars. She choreographed the 2016 film La La Land and has also worked on commercials and various musical productions such as Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. She has created dance numbers for the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Awards, and Grammy Awards ceremonies. She has been nominated seven times for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography, winning in 2017 for her work on Dancing with the Stars, in 2018 for her work on So You Think You Can Dance, and in 2020 for Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.
Mandy Moore
Choreographer, dancer, producer, dance instructor
1994—present
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography (2017, 2018, and 2020)
Career[edit]
Television[edit]
Moore was first hired by Carrie Ann Inaba to help out with some television dance projects, which led to her assisting with auditions for the reality show So You Think You Can Dance.[4] She signed on for season 1 of So You Think You Can Dance as assistant to the choreographer. By season 3 she was choreographing dance numbers and by season 14 she was serving as creative producer.[5] In 2018 she was named as a judge for Dancing with the Stars: Juniors.[4][6] She was a guest judge (fill in), replacing Craig Revel Horwood on the first episode of Dancing with the Stars (Australian Season 17).
Among her television credits are Glee and American Idol (Fox), The Fresh Beat Band (Nickelodeon), Disney's 60th Anniversary Celebration (ABC), Modern Family, and "XQ Super School Live".[7] Moore is an executive producer of NBC's musical comedy-drama Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, as well as the show's choreographer. She also appears as the auditioner in episode 11.[8]
Film[edit]
Moore has choreographed dance numbers for several David O. Russell films, starting with Silver Linings Playbook (2012)—for which she trained actors Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence to perform a mashup of different dance styles[9][10]—American Hustle (2013), and Joy (2015); she also did choreography for Leslye Headland's Sleeping With Other People (2015).[11]
Her most notable work to date is the 2016 film La La Land, for which she choreographed all the dance numbers, both large-scale and small-scale.[3][5] To choreograph the opening number, "Another Day of Sun", which took place in a traffic jam on a Los Angeles freeway ramp, Moore blocked out the action on paper and then began staging the moves using a group of ten dancers in a studio parking lot. The final scene involved 30 dancers, 100 extras, and 60 cars.[11][12] Moore trained the lead actors, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, both dance novices, over a period of six to eight weeks.[11] She emphasized emotion rather than technique, as Stone recalled:
Awards and honors[edit]
Since 2008, Moore has been nominated seven times for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography. She won in 2017 for her work on season 23 of Dancing with the Stars ("On Top of the World" and "Carol of the Bells"),[5][6] and in 2018 for her work on So You Think You Can Dance ("Brand New" and "To Make You Feel My Love").[21] In 2020, Moore received a juried Emmy Award for the first season of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.[22]
Personal life[edit]
To avoid being confused with the better-known singer Mandy Moore, Moore registered with the Screen Actors Guild under the name Mandy Jo Moore.[23] Still, the two are often confused, and with tongue in cheek, Moore named her corporation "Nope Not Her".[10] She also uses the handle @nopenother on social media.[6]