All my life, I have heard two conflicting points of view about what type of women I should date. My mom always told me to try and find the sweetest, nicest girl I could possibly find. My dad, on the other hand, always told me to go after the girls who either were smoking hot or who had unbelievable bodies. Growing up, I had the usual celebrity crushes most guys had. I had converted to the dark side and followed my dad's advice since these crushes involved the hottest unattainable girls I saw on television and in movies. I lived in a fantasy world where I was married to Jenny McCarthy, spent my nights with Nicole Eggert, and woke up next to Cindy Crawford. Never in these delusional fantasies of mine were women like Oprah, Helen Hunt or even Renée Zellweger, who all seem like really nice people, ever involved. I was led to believe there was no such thing as both a hot and sweet girl, since no one ever told me about these type of women, nor had I ever encountered one. Then all of that changed with just one song in 1999. That was the year Mandy Moore was introduced to the world with her hit single "Candy." It was also the same year that she took up a permanent residency in my heart and the archetype for my future wife. Mandy Moore is the type of girl who you can bring home and would make both your mom and dad proud of you. She is the one.
Mandy Moore's awesomeness should be discussed at church/synagogue, during sporting events, holiday parties, bars and everywhere or anywhere discussion is held. When was the last time you had a conversation about Mandy Moore and how awesome she is? Because I know you answered "never," that is why she is not appreciated for what she is, the most awesome girl you can ever dream about.
When Mandy Moore first burst onto the scene, she was a teen starlet who played the innocent role in the same mold of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera before her. She was 15 years old (Side note: As was I at this time. Fate? I think so.), blonde and beautiful. It seemed that the phrase "the girl next door" was created about her. She was too good to be true. One look at her and it was like you can just tell that she wouldn't be corrupted, like you knew Spears and Aguilera eventually would be. Sure she didn't have the success Spears, Aguilera, or even Jessica Simpson had, but she didn't need that. Her voice was angelic, her smile was magical, and heart was full of gold. Even though she wasn't the first of her kind, in terms of a female teenage pop singer, she was original because she was hot, seemed like a total doll, and appeared to be a real person. I don't care how big of a fan you are any other pop singer, but you have to admit that they always seemed like celebrities, in the sense they were never like someone you currently know or will ever meet in a thousand lifetimes. They are these distant figures we would hear on the radio or see on tv that can't relate to us and we can't relate to either. Mandy has this vibe going on for her that she would be someone you would meet at a friend's party or she would be standing in line in front of you at Subway. It doesn't seem too far fetched to even see her helping you at Banana Republic to get that smaller size jeans that you need. Can you imagine Britney doing this? Hell no! Why? Cause she isn't as awesome, yet she gets all the appreciation she needs, and them some! (Side note: This is coming from someone who actually likes Britney Spears) That's why the paparazzi doesn't follow Mandy around town, like they do other celebrities; because she's too real. She's just like us, regular everyday people. She's not crazy, she doesn't do outrageous things like other celebrities, she stays grounded, and most importantly (and underappreciatedly awesome) she carries herself around with class, again unlike all her contemporaries. If that's not the hottest, most awesome compliment you can give a celebrity, I'm not sure what is. It's something that's so rare in a celebrity, that you can see Haley's comment more often than you can see someone famous have all of those traits.
Still not convinced of this awesome aura that Mandy exudes? Just take a look at what she has acted in and what her (playing herself or her character) was able to accomplish. Keep in mind she is totally believable to do everything she has done on the big and little and screen because of the hotness and sweetness combination that she has. In Entourage, she plays herself as Vincent Chase's costar and ex-girlfriend. Chase is the ultimate ladies man who meets and sleeps with at least one girl every episode. Yet it turns out, he's still in love with her after their breakup and can't get over Mandy because she's that great of a catch. In Scrubs JD meets her character and immediately falls for her, wants to settle down, and buy a house with her. He's petrified of finding a flaw and screwing things up with her in the two episodes she is in. When she guest starred in How I Met Your Mother she was the first girl Ted hooked up with after his relationship with Robin ended. I never saw License to Wed, but I do know that John Krasinski's character has to go through hell and back just to get the APPROVAL of Mandy's priest to marry her. However, the best example of how Mandy can win any guy's heart is in A Walk To Remember , when she plays the local minister's daughter. The local bad boy still falls deeply in love with her, changing into a better person just because of who she is and how she makes him feel. No one could have played this role as believable as Mandy did because this is what she does in real life. Even when she's not playing herself, she still has something about her that just draws guys in. It's like she a tractor beam of awesomeness that just radiates from her beautiful smile. She's not breathtakingly gorgeous, but she just has that "IT" factor. I am a huge proponent of the theory that a good personality can make a girl better looking and a bad personality can make a girl worse like. If Mandy Moore, is like an eight or nine out of ten on just looks, when you factor in her personality and her vibe, she becomes a ten billion out of ten. She's so cool that she even appeals to geeks. She was in an episode of The Simpsons and the voice of Aerith Gainsborough in the video game Kingdom Hearts. If you can be hot to the geeks who play Kingdom Hearts and the alpha-male type guys who watch Entourage, then you definitely have mass appeal awesomeness. Yet amazingly, Moore gets none of their recognition for her charm that she deserves.
I seriously think there is nothing that Mandy can't do. If you couldn't tell by the aforementioned paragraphs detailing her singing and acting, she is awesome in anything she does. After all, she also had her own clothing line called Mblem., that was sold in boutiques all over the world and such high-end department stores like Macy's, Bloomingdales, and Nordstrom's. In 2000, when she was only 16, Moore hosted her own talk show, The Mandy Moore Show. Listen, I don't care what anybody says, to be a talk show host is not an easy job. You need to be personable, outgoing, fun, spontaneous, smart, and have a good sense of humor. These are characteristics that a lot of people can't even master when they are in their 40's or 50's. For Mandy to have her own talk show and display these qualities at such a young age, speaks volumes about her awesomeness. Even the show only lasted two years, how many people reading this actually knew she had a talk show? I can't imagine many, if any, of my loyal, faithful readers knew this. I didn't even know this, and this show was on right around the time I gave her my heart. Therefore, this show and Mandy herself (since she was the host of it), must have been extremely underappreciated by MTV, pop culture, and to a larger extent, society that it was and still is pretty unknown. Also consider the following when you ponder Mandy's awesomeness; she is a fan of MMA and has been seen at several UFC events. Mandy's favorite band is Weezer. Her favorite movies are Annie Hall and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. (Side note: Can you imagine if Mandy was the main character in either of these movies instead of Diane Keaton and Claire Danes respectively? I would not blame Woody Allen or Jim Carrey's characters at all for their extreme actions of chasing after Mandy's character.) According to her IMDB page, Mandy not only likes roller coasters, but she also had a high school GPA of 3.8, which shows she's not just a talented pretty face, the girl knows how to have fun and is probably smarter than you also. Mandy models for Coach handbags, was a spokesperson for Neutrogena, and for the School and Youth Programs of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. According to her website, Mandy is involved with non-profit organizations in helping fight malaria in Africa. Also, the USA Today reported that Mandy was serving as the Honorary Chairperson of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's division on awareness for youth by spreading awareness of the seriousness of leukemia and lymphoma. As we all know, here at the Underappreciated Awesome Celebrities Blog, charity is looked upon greatly in terms of someone's awesomeness, and a woman's hotness. In this case, it just solidifies Mandy's case for being the sweetest, most awesome woman alive.
One thing that amazes me about Mandy's career is that even though she might not get the appreciation she deserves from everyone, she does get props here and there, and when she does its very quietly mentioned. For example, did you know that Moore's movies have grossed a total of $220 million in the US? You wouldn't expect it considering her movies are usually panned by critics and moviegoers. However, that doesn't mean she's a bad actress, she just has to choose better roles. After her role in A Walk To Remember, Mandy received several positive reviews for her performance, none bigger when Roger Ebert said her performance was "quietly convincing." Ebert also said about her acting job in How to Dealthe she has "an unaffected natural charm" and "almost makes the movie worth seeing." Even Variety mentioned that Moore's acting was "appealing" in of their reviews. It's not just her acting career that again gets praised, yet stays under the radar. Even though she's not considered as successful as other pop starlets, an article by Paper Magazine concluded that "Moore is a far better musician than she's often given credit for." So, it's not like Mandy isn't known for being talented throughout the world, it's just that she doesn't get appreciated often enough or for what her talented to deserves. Although, if she does get mentioned for being awesome it's usually detailed as being surprising and unexpected, and that is a crime against humanity in my opinion.
Just when I thought Mandy couldn't be any more awesome, I found out something she said that literally rocked my world. When she was dating Zach Braff she said in an ELLE interview that she likes "good Jewish boy(s) with a sense of humor." Now I'm not saying I'm holding out hope that we still have a chance of dating, (Side note: She's married to Ryan Adams (Side note: He clearly made a deal with the devil to lock that down)) but I'd be lying if I said that didn't make my heart melt. That's what Mandy does to me on a regular basis because she's not just beautiful, but she's an awesome, adorable individual. Even though I said earlier that Mandy is the archetype for my future wife, I know that the future Mrs. A will never compare to Mandy, (Side Note: If you're reading this in five to seven years, I'm sorry and I love you honey.) and there's a reason for that. I'm just curious if anyone else came to the same epiphany that I did. Mandy Moore is not just awesome, but she really is the perfect woman.
