Lily D. Moore: “We should all love everyone and help people around us”
Words: Olga Burak / lala__burak
Photography: Ally Ferraro / ally_ferraro
Styling: Anna Kossmann & Elena Schlenk / annak_style / elenaschlenk
Makeup: Alice Maggioni / alicemaggioni
Hair: Montse Fernández / artymontsee
Concept assistant makeup: Egle Roccazzella / egleserena
Producer: Cecilia Lisca / cecilialisca
Editor: Guilherme Ferrari / gferrari____
Earlier this spring, Netflix released Never Have I Ever, a teen-drama series about Indian American high school student dealing with the death of her father and first love disasters. It was one of the few TV-projects where students were represented by teenagers and not by young adults in there twenties. Nevertheless, the authors tried to be as realistic as they could talking about all the problems young people are faced today. This philosophy concerned also the cast, which included diversity actors.
Guess, everyone who watched this series drew his or her attention on sassy and smart sister of main school heartbreaker – Rebecca, which was played by actress with Dawn’s syndrome Lily D Moore. As it turns out to be, actress is very much alike her protagonist. Despite young age Lily knows what she wants, fearless to try something new and open to any opportunity life challenges her. True inspiration for any person in today’s world! The French Fries Magazine team couldn’t stay away from such a bold and outstanding figure, and took chance to speak with actress personally.
In your childhood, you were quite lucky to have the possibility of living in two countries – Austria and United States. Do you feel the impact of combination of such two different mentalities, and how do they influence your life today?
It helped me to be more adaptive to different situations in life. I also learned a lot about these two different cultures. And I love this aspect and very grateful for such experience.
At what point did you feel the passion for acting and when did you realize that it could be your destiny?
My family tells me, that I could always make people laugh and they were drawn to me. At the age of 6, I began taking drama classes in school and fell in love with it. Three years later I switched to acting lessons in local theater. From the very beginning this art form attracted me so much, that I wanted to act all the time.
During your career you played different characters, but which one of them is closer to you?
Definitely Rebecca from Never Have I Ever. My personality is very close to her and it helped me to get her and portray her the best way I can.
Speaking about Rebecca…What kind of common features do you have with her?
I am sassy, persistent and funny as she is. I go for what I want and I know what I want to achieve. I don’t like to take no as an answer, so I’ll put all my effort to avoid hearing it.
Today the world of movies changes rapidly, preferring to show different stories with all sorts of characters that reflect nowadays reality. But even though there is this diversity on the screen, do you feel a lack of interesting personalities for actors with Down’s syndrome?
Yes I feel like there is a need to have more starring and co-starring roles. The World Cinema still has so many untold stories where actors with Down syndrome could be involved, and make picture more bold and realistic.
You also tried yourself actively in modeling. What attracts you in fashion world? Is there any particular brands or magazines, which you dream to work with?
Today fashion changes so rapidly and gives everyone the same opportunity to show yourself and stand out of the crowd. I would love to be the face for Gucci, Stella McCartney and Tommy Hilfiger. Also I see myself as representative of teen brands. As to magazine, of course I dream about working with Vogue and Sports Illustrated.
Nowadays, Beauty became a word with a wide meaning, but what does it mean for you personally?
I think beauty comes from inside and moves to the outside. Our appearance is basically a reflection of our thoughts and personal traits.
Honestly, we could say this year has been very unpredictable, especially with the COVID situation and lockdown. Tell us, how did you survive this period and what were you doing during this forced vacations?
Well, I had to finish my sophomore year in high school. I also took this time to learn some old cooking recipes of my grandmother, took some swimming and horseback rode and sewing classes, played a lot of games, and even discovered TikToc dances.
As you mentioned before one of your hobbies and is creating videos for your personal YouTube blog. What inspired you to do it?
I started it, to show on my example that people with disabilities are just like everyone else. So in the meantime I do challenge videos, music covers, hair and make-up tutorials and other fun stuff. Check it out!
There are certain thoughts, that in the future we won’t have big TV-channels. Instead, we would totally switch to social media, where each one of us would be a small but very inspiring source of information and entertainment. How do you see yourself in that kind of reality?
I would love to try it! Every person is such a unique Universe and I think we all have something to share with the world.
Beside active acting career and modeling you are also known for charity work. What inspired you to create a H.E.L.P homeless ministry?
H.E.L.P. stands for “Helping Everyone with Love and Passion”. The thing is, I always wanted to help… but giving money to people made me feel so uncomfortable. So after a while I decided to put snacks and toiletries into bags and give them out whenever I see homeless person. I guess this was the best way to be convenient to yourself and at the same time do something good.
How important is empathy in your life?
Incredibly important! I think we should all love everyone and help people around us. Admit it, this would be hard to do without empathy in our hearts.
In a few interviews you mentioned, that it’s important to find your Inner Star. What do you mean by this expression and did you succeed in finding it?
I think Inner Star is our special Talent. Like a gift from destiny… I’m sure everyone has their own Inner Star… It could be drawing, reading, cooking, sports, games, and science. As soon as you find what you are good in, you will shine bright like you are meant to be. Because every one of us is unique, beautiful and brave.
You are a very open person about your dreams and expectations in life. For example, you often speak about our goal of receiving an Oscar. What kind of role you think will help you to achieve this high bar.
I believe, that any film, that deserved an Oscar have interesting characters and a strong storyline. So, for sure, when I get any script, I’m interested in different emotions that I will show during shooting. And what kind of “colors” I could add to my character, to make it seems more real.
Our last question would be about your upcoming projects. Where in the nearest future we could expect to see you?
Well, pandemic kind off changed everybody’s plans, so there is nothing special going on right now. But I’m sure next year we will make up for this lost period.
