After months away from the spotlight, Mandy Moore made a dazzling return to the red carpet, debuting what appeared to be a striking new look.
The actress and singer didn’t go unnoticed when she attended Step Up’s 2025 Inspiration Awards at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
She posed for photos at the September 26 event wearing a white silk blouse, black mini skirt, tights, and pointed-toe heels.
Image credits: Freestyle Releasing
The This Is Us star kept her hair parted down the middle and opted for bold red lipstick and brown eyeshadow.
However, the focus wasn’t on her outfit. On social media, viewers quickly commented that they were “in shock” over the photos, noting that Mandy looked nothing like herself.
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“I’m genuinely baffled,” one person wrote on X/Twitter. “I can’t figure it out how this can be the same person. Mandy Moore was such a natural beauty, why get work done to the point of being unrecognized?”
“I’m sorry but has anyone else seen MANDY MOORE lately?!!?!?! This is so far from her face assigned at birth????” someone else joked.
“I’m still in shock that this person is Mandy Moore,” another person added, while a fourth agreed, “What the hell happened to Mandy Moore? Is it even the same person?”
Social media users agreed that the famous actress looked “unrecognizable”
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The Candy singer didn’t spark the same kind of reactions back in April, when she attended the 2025 Fashion Trust US Awards in Los Angeles.
Her latest appearance comes after Mandy told critics to “kindly F off” following her GoFundMe controversy.
The mom of three faced backlash for asking fans to donate to her family members whose house was destroyed in the Southern California wildfires.
Image credits: E! News
“Yesterday, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law Griff & Kit [Goldsmith] lost their home and everything they own in the Eaton Fire,” she wrote in an Instagram post, along with a screenshot of their GoFundMe page.
Mandy added that the wildfire struck while the couple was expecting their child, and that Griff, a musician, had lost all of his instruments in the blaze.
“So many have asked how to help during this unimaginable and stressful time…Please consider donating and sharing to help them rebuild,” she wrote, adding that her family needed her fans’ support “now more than ever.”
Her post soon became flooded with hateful comments arguing that the actress shouldn’t be asking for donations when she could just use her own money to help her brother and sister in-law.
The Golden Globe nominee swiftly updated the caption of her post to address the backlash. She clarified that she had already contributed to her family and said that speculating about her net worth was neither “helpful” nor “empathetic.”
Her appearance comes after Mandy asked fans to donate to her family following the California wildfires
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Mandy, whose Altadena home was also damaged by the fire, explained that a friend had started the fundraiser and that she decided to share it because “people have asked how they can help them.”
“We just lost most of our life in a fire too. Kindly F OFF. No one is forcing you to do anything,” she told commentators.
The star is married to musician Taylor Goldsmith, with whom she shares three children.
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Mandy also shared several other GoFundMe links in an Instagram Story, noting to followers that she had already made contributions.
The 41-year-old released her debut single, Candy, in 1999, the same year she was the opening act for two of the biggest boybands of the time, *NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys.
Two years later, in 2001, she released her second album and made her film debut, voicing a character in Dr. Dolittle 2, which starred Eddie Murphy.
She also co-starred with Anne Hathaway in the 2001 film The Princess Diaries, playing Lana Thomas, the popular girl and rival of Anne’s character, Mia Thermopolis.
Netizens speculated about possible cosmetic changes
Image credits: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic / Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
But Mandy had her big break in the big screen adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel A Walk to Remember. She later appeared in How to Deal, Chasing Liberty, Because I Said So, and License to Wed.
From 2016 to 2022, she portrayed Rebecca Pearson in the hit NBC drama series This Is Us, a role that earned her nominations for both a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
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Her next major role will be in The Breadwinner, an upcoming comedy film scheduled for release in March 2026. Mandy will star alongside comedian Nate Bargatze, who plays himself, as well as Will Forte, Colin Jost, and Kumail Nanjiani.
The film centers on Nate Bargatze, who becomes a stay-at-home dad after his wife (played by Mandy) lands a deal on Shark Tank.
“This made me gasp out loud,” one fan wrote about Mandy’s alleged cosmetic transformation
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