Actress Lily D. Moore, who has Down syndrome, recently made history with her starring role in an upcoming Hallmark movie. But for this rising star, it’s only the beginning — and her dreams are much bigger.
Moore is starring in “Color My World With Love,” in which she plays an impressionist painter named Kendall, who strikes up a romance with a character named Brad, who also has Down syndrome. At the time, Moore said she wanted the movie to show that people with Down syndrome have “endless possibilities.”
“Everyone has a dream to fall in love and get married one day, even people with disabilities,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I hope viewers take away that ‘Color My World With Love’ is about painting your own story through your emotions and that we all have endless possibilities.”
But for Moore, the Hallmark movie is just the beginning. In an interview with PEOPLE, she said she has a much bigger goal: to be the first actress with Down syndrome to win an Oscar. Nineteen-year-old Moore said she’s been acting since she was six years old, and has always known it was what she wanted to do. “Color My World With Love” was the first step towards opening that door.
“It has always been one of my dreams,” she said. “I finally got that chance.”
Moore is going to be starting classes at Clemson University soon to study health care, saying her goal is to help people and save lives. But her Hollywood dreams haven’t been forgotten, either; she plans to continue acting. “I want to be the first Down syndrome actress to win an Oscar,” she said.
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And with her fame, Moore wants to send a message about people with Down syndrome. Despite advances in medicine and therapies, many still look negatively on life with Down syndrome, and see it as a condition from which people “suffer.” Preborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are often targeted for eugenic abortions, particularly in Europe, where the abortion rate is as high as 90%; in countries like Iceland, it’s closer to 100%. Moore wants to show how those with Down syndrome are people just like everyone else, and they can do far more than most people expect.
“People with Down syndrome have hopes and dreams just like typical people,” she said. “We want friends, get a job, go to college, fall in love, live independently and also get married. We don’t need to have anyone to feel sorry for us.”
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