Mandy Moore

Samantha Jo "Mandy" Moore (born March 28, 1976) is an American dancer, choreographer, dance instructor and producer. 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.

Early life and education

Samantha Jo Moore was born on March 28, 1976, in St. Louis, Missouri, Her parents are Bob and Wendy Moore, and she has one sister. She enjoyed dancing from a very young age. A public school student, she studied at the Summit School of Dance in Breckenridge under the school's founder, Kim Delgrosso, from age 7 to 18. 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. In 2018 she was named as a judge for Dancing with the Stars: Juniors. 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.

Film 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

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. Moore trained the lead actors, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, both dance novices, over a period of six to eight weeks.

Stage Moore's stage credits include the New Wave L.A. Program created by the Los Angeles Ballet, a segment of Celine Dion's 2008 Taking Chances World Tour, Strictly Come Dancing, Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour; Shania Twain's Las Vegas show, Shania: Still the One,

Moore directed and choreographed the Aurora Fox Arts Center's production of The Wedding Singer in 2011,

Other venues Moore has also choreographed routines for commercials, awards ceremonies, and fund-raisers. Her commercial credits include ads for Target, Amazon Prime, and Skechers. For the Golden Globes ceremony that year, she choreographed Jimmy Fallon's opening take-off on the "Another Day of Sun" film scene. and the 21st Annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards in Palm Springs, California, in 2015, benefitting the Desert AIDS Project.

Professional dancing Moore has danced on film in A Time for Dancing (2002), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2008), She also teaches in private studios and has led dance workshops in Italy (Mediterraneo Dance Festival), Australia, and Korea.

She is a member of the Board of Governors of the Television Academy, and as of 2017 heads that body's Choreographers Peer Group.

Dance styles Moore is proficient in choreographing many different types of dance, including contemporary, jazz, ballroom, tap, and folk.

Awards and honors

Personal life To avoid being confused with the better-known actress-singer Mandy Moore, Moore registered with the Screen Actors Guild under the name Mandy Jo Moore. Still, the two are often confused, and with tongue in cheek, Moore named her corporation "Nope Not Her". She also uses the handle @nopenother on social media.