Mandy Moore | |
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| Born | Samantha Jo Moore (1976-03-28)March 28, 1976 (age 49) St. Louis, Missouri, US |
| Occupation(s) | Choreographer, dancer, producer, dance instructor |
| Years active | 1994—present |
| Awards | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography (2017, 2018, and 2020) |
Samantha Jo "Mandy" Moore (born March 28, 1976) is an Americanchoreographer, dancer, producer, and dance instructor. She is known for her work on the United Statesreality television seriesSo You Think You Can Dance, having appeared on the show every year since the third season, andDancing with the Stars. She choreographed the 2016 filmLa La Land and has also worked on commercials and various musical productions such asTaylor Swift'sThe Eras Tour. She has created dance numbers for theAcademy Awards,Golden Globe Awards,Emmy Awards, andGrammy Awards ceremonies. She has been nominated seven times for aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography, winning in 2017 for her work onDancing with the Stars, in 2018 for her work onSo You Think You Can Dance, and in 2020 forZoey's Extraordinary Playlist. [sparkles]
Samantha Jo Moore was born on March 28, 1976, inSt. Louis, Missouri,[1] and grew up inSummit County, Colorado.[2] Her parents are Bob and Wendy Moore, and she has one sister.[3] She enjoyed dancing from a very young age. A public school student, she studied at the Summit School of Dance inBreckenridge under the school's founder, Kim Delgrosso, from age 7 to 18.[3] She also attended thePerry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp inSteamboat Springs for three summers.[3] While attendingSummit High School, she attended the Shelly True Dance Academy inDenver several times a week.[3] She also participated in high school basketball, track, and gymnastics.[2]
Moore moved toLos Angeles after graduating from high school in 1994 to pursue a career in dance.[3] She attended the EDGE Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles on a scholarship from the Summit Foundation.[3]
Moore was first hired byCarrie Ann Inaba to help out with some television dance projects, which led to her assisting with auditions for the reality showSo You Think You Can Dance.[4] She signed on for season 1 ofSo 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 forDancing with the Stars: Juniors.[4][6] She was a guest judge (fill in), replacingCraig Revel Horwood on the first episode ofDancing with the Stars (Australian Season 17).
Among her television credits areGlee andAmerican 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 ofNBC's musicalcomedy-dramaZoey's Extraordinary Playlist, as well as the show's choreographer. She also appears as the auditioner in episode 11.[8]
Moore has choreographed dance numbers for severalDavid O. Russell films, starting withSilver Linings Playbook (2012)—for which she trained actorsBradley Cooper andJennifer Lawrence to perform a mashup of different dance styles[9][10]—American Hustle (2013), andJoy (2015); she also did choreography forLeslye Headland'sSleeping With Other People (2015) andDisney's 2025 live-action remake ofSnow White.[11][12]
Her most notable work to date is the 2016 filmLa 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 aLos 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][13] Moore trained the lead actors,Ryan Gosling andEmma Stone, both dance novices, over a period of six to eight weeks.[11] She emphasized emotion rather than technique, as Stone recalled:
"[Moore] tried to impart to us that, as much as we need to be technical and think of all of our steps, it's going to be about our faces. We need to see the joy and connection. We need to look at each other and smile at each other. We need to keep acting".[14]
Moore's stage credits include the New Wave L.A. Program created by theLos Angeles Ballet, a segment ofCeline Dion's 2008Taking Chances World Tour,Strictly Come Dancing,Cirque du Soleil'sMichael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour;Shania Twain's Las Vegas show,Shania: Still the One,[7][15][16] andTaylor Swift'sThe Eras Tour.[17]
Moore directed and choreographed theAurora Fox Arts Center's production ofThe Wedding Singer in 2011,[18] and was the choreographer for the world premiere of the 2013 musical "Nobody Loves You" at theOld Globe Theatre inSan Diego, California, which she subsequently broughtOff-Broadway to theSecond Stage Theater inManhattan.[7][19]
Following Moore's work on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, she choreographed the music video for "The Fate of Ophelia", the lead single from Swift's 2025 albumThe Life of a Showgirl.[20]
Moore has also choreographed routines for commercials, awards ceremonies, and fund-raisers. Her commercial credits include ads forTarget,Amazon Prime, andSkechers.[1] In 2017 she choreographed dance numbers for four of the five major US awards ceremonies—theAcademy Awards,Golden Globe Awards,Emmy Awards, andGrammy Awards.[1] For the Golden Globes ceremony that year, she choreographedJimmy Fallon's opening take-off on the "Another Day of Sun" film scene.[1] Among the fund-raisers she has choreographed are "Dancing with the Mountain Stars", a fund-raiser for the St. Anthony Summit Medical Center,[18] and the 21st Annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards inPalm Springs, California, in 2015, benefitting the Desert AIDS Project.[16]
Moore has danced on film inA Time for Dancing (2002),Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), andDid You Hear About the Morgans? (2008),[2][6] and in the television sitcomMalcolm in the Middle.[18]
Moore teaches at the EDGE Performing Arts Center and is a faculty member of JUMP weekend dance conventions for children.[15] She also teaches in private studios and has led dance workshops in Italy (Mediterraneo Dance Festival), Australia, and Korea.[2][18][21]
She is a member of the Board of Governors of theTelevision Academy, and as of 2017 heads that body's Choreographers Peer Group.[7][22]
Moore is proficient in choreographing many different types of dance, includingcontemporary,jazz,ballroom,tap, andfolk.[10] She is known for training dancers on all levels and of all ages.[4][19]
Since 2008, Moore has been nominated eight times for aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography. She won in 2017 for her work on season 23 ofDancing with the Stars ("On Top of the World" and "Carol of the Bells"),[5][6] and in 2018 for her work onSo You Think You Can Dance ("Brand New" and "To Make You Feel My Love").[23] In 2020, Moore received a juriedEmmy Award for the first season ofZoey's Extraordinary Playlist.[24]
To avoid being confused with the better-known actress-singerMandy Moore, Moore registered with theScreen Actors Guild under the nameMandy Jo Moore.[25] 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]
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