Rachel House, ONZM is a New Zealand actress, acting coach, and director. She is well known for her role as Joycie Waru in the TV-mini-series Hope and Wire. For Disney, she voiced Gramma Tala in Moana, Terry in Disney/Pixar's Soul, Parisia in Amphibia, and Mama Binturong in The Lion Guard.
Gramma Tala is a major character in Disney's 2016 animated feature film Moana. An eccentric storyteller from the island of Motunui, Tala is the mother of Chief Tui and grandmother of Moana. Because of her passion for ancient Polynesian myths and legends, Tala regards herself as the "village crazy lady".
Rachel House as Tala, Tui's mother and Moana's paternal grandmother. Like Moana, Tala shares a passion for the ocean and the two have a very deep bond. House reprised her role in the film's Māori-language dub.
Zendaya is not confirmed to be a part of the live-action Moana remake cast. Few updates have happened since Dwayne Johnson's announcement of a live-action Moana movie in 2023. The cast has not been announced, but Auli'i Cravalho (original voice of Moana) has been revealed to be sitting out of the film.
MOANA | Is There Something You Want To Hear? | Official Disney UK
Will there be a Moana 2?
In Walt Disney Animation Studios' all-new epic animated musical, Moana 2, three years since her first voyage, Moana is on an expansive journey in search of people beyond the shores of Motunui. Moana 2 opens in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024.
The Heart of Te Fiti May Have Been Keeping Tala Alive
Considering the ocean chose Moana when she was a child, someone needed to keep the precious Heart safe. A popular fan theory explains that with the Heart in her possession, Gramma Tala was granted a little more time to live and guide Moana on her quest.
Moana's father, Chief Tui, may have been chosen by the ocean before her to bring the Heart of Te Fiti to Maui, indicating a family history of protecting the world. Chief Tui recognizes the Heart of Te Fiti when Moana shows it to him, suggesting that he has seen it before and has a fear associated with it.
Moana: Our island? Gramma Tala: But one day, someone will journey beyond our reef, find Maui, deliver him across the great ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti. I was there that day. The ocean chose you.
Background. Tala is Moana's grandmother and the mother of Motunui's village leader Tui. Like her granddaughter, she has a love for sea exploration, having come from an ancestry of South Pacific navigators.
At 16 years old, Moana of Motunui has a slender yet muscular build that sets her apart from previous Disney princesses and heroines. She has brown eyes with thick eyebrows and eyelashes, full brownish-pink lips, and long, wavy, black hair.
Maui (/maʊwiː/) is a fictional character that appears in the 2016 Walt Disney Animation Studios animated film Moana. He was created by directors John Musker and Ron Clements and is voiced by American actor Dwayne Johnson. Maui is loosely based on the mythological figure Māui in Polynesian mythology.
The death of Moana's grandmother is very sad especially for viewers who have recently lost a grandparent or don't understand death. There is another very emotional scene where her spirit visits Moana in the form of a manta ray. Chief Tui lashes out at Moana a few times and it can get heavy handed.
The overarching message of Moana is, truly, that the worst thing to happen to you doesn't have to define you. Moana's father lives in fear due to a tragic past; Maui feels as though he is missing a critical part of himself without his hook; Te Fiti turns into a literal monster after she is attacked.
In the first film, Moana is around 16 years old when she sets out on a journey from her island of Motunui to find Maui and force him to restore the heart of Te Fiti. That would make her about 19 or 20 in the new movie.
The ocean challenged Moana's empathy by tempting her to choose between the shell and the sea turtle; she chose to save the latter. Moana's selfless act prompted the ocean to choose her as the world's "chosen one" and revealed itself as a sentient being.
Although Moana's relationship with Maui never extends beyond the platonic level in the film, and although he is a 1,000-year old demigod and she is a 16-year old human, a lot of fans of the film like to put her and Maui in a romantic pairing known as Hooked Wayfinder.
