Moana star Catherine Laga'aia reveals strategy for keeping calm at public events

Catherine Laga'aia has opened up about the nerves she experienced while promoting her first feature film Moana.

The 19-year-old Australian actress admitted that she found the promotional tour for Disney's live-action Moana, which was released earlier this month, overwhelming at times.

Speaking to Teen Vogue, Catherine explained that she has been learning how to stay calm ahead of premieres and red carpet events.

"Something that my director, Thomas Kail, always taught me was to just think about the thing you're doing in that exact moment and maybe the exact next thing you have to do," she said.

"For me, the concept of thinking like, 'Okay, I'm gonna do the red carpet, I'm gonna watch the movie, then we're gonna do it somewhere else. It's gonna be like a whole thing...' is so awful to comprehend for me," Catherine continued. "So I'm thinking about this, then I'm probably gonna have a snack, and then maybe I'll go annoy one of my brothers."

The emerging actress added, "I'm kinda walking my way slowly through the day."

Catherine also manages the pressure of the promotional events by reminding herself why she's promoting the movie.

She continued, "I think remembering that this movie is so much bigger than myself and bigger than anything that I could have ever really dreamed of."

Catherine stars as the title character in the film alongside Dwayne Johnson, who reprises his role as the demigod Maui. Moana was previously voiced by Auli'i Cravalho in the 2016 animation.