Yara Shahidi

Yara Sayeh Shahidi (born February 10, 2000 ) is an American actress and producer. She began her career as a child, appearing in the films Imagine That (2009), Butter (2011) and Alex Cross (2012).

Shahidi gained recognition for her starring role as the oldest daughter Zoey Johnson in the ABC sitcom Black-ish (2014–2022) and its spin-off series Grown-ish (2018–present). She received NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Black-ish and three NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series nominations for Grown-ish. Time included her on “The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016” list. She done voice over work in the films Smallfoot (2018), Fearless (2020), PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021) and My Father’s Dragon (2022).

Shahidi played her first adult lead role in the 2019 drama film, The Sun Is Also a Star. In 2023, she played Tinker Bell in the fantasy adventure film Peter Pan & Wendy, and executive produced and starred in the romantic comedy-drama film, Sitting in Bars with Cake.

Early life and education

Yara Sayeh Shahidi was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Keri Salter Shahidi and Afshin Shahidi, a photographer .Her mother, Keri Shahidi (born Keri Jamelda Salter), is of African American and Choctaw heritage, and her father Afshin Shahidi is Iranian.

Afshin was one of the principal photographers for musician Prince, who kept a signed photo of Yara in his editing suite at Paisley Park. The Shahidi family moved to California for Afshin’s work when Yara was 4 years old. She is the older sister of child actor and model Sayeed Shahidi and they have a younger brother, Ehsan. The rapper Nas is her cousin. Yara means “Someone who is close to your heart” in Persian Shahidi is a common surname in Iran, of Muslim origin, and means “witness” in Persian.

Shahidi graduated in 2017 from Dwight Global Online School. In 2017, Shahidi was admitted to Harvard University, and she began her studies there in 2018 after taking a gap year with a plan to major in Interdisciplinary Sociology and Black American Studies. Shahidi graduated from Harvard in 2022.

Career

Early works

Shahidi began her career when she was 6 years old, appearing in television commercials and print advertisements for companies such as McDonald’s, Ralph Lauren, Target, GapKids, Disney, Guess Kids and The Children’s Place. She frequently worked with her mother and younger brother in various print and broadcast campaigns. Her first on-screen appearance was in au episode of HBO comedy series, Entourage in 2007. In 2009, she had a recurring role as Jessica St. Clair‘ character daughter in the chort-lived ABC comedy series, In the Motherhood. Later that year, she guest-starred on Cold Case and Wizards of Waverly Place.

Shahidi made her big screen debut in 2009, starring opposite Eddie Murphy in Paramount Pictures comedy film Imagine That, for which she received a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film. She also appeared in the action film Salt in 2010 as a next door neighbor to Angelina Jolie‘ character. The following year, she starred in the comedy film Butter that premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and garnered mixed reviews from critics. In 2012, she appeared in the action thriller film Alex Cross opposite Tyler Perry. From 2012 to 2013, Shahidi was regular cast member in the syndicated sitcom The First Family playing the role of Chloe Johnson, the daughter of President William Johnson. In 2013, she played young Olivia Pope in the two episodes of ABC political thriller series, Scandal.

2014—2022

In 2014, Shahidi was cast as a 14-year-old Zoey Johnson, the eldest daughter of Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross‘ characters in the ABC comedy series Black-ish created by Kenya Barris.^[20] She won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the show’ first season. She also received Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Breakthrough Role in 2016 and BET YoungStars Award at the 17th BET Awards. She left the series after three seasons but appeared as a recurring guest-star in latter seasons. ABC announced in 2017 that Shahidi would be headlining a Black-ish spinoff, titled Grown-ish, on its sister network Freeform. The series premiered on January 3, 2018 with the positive reviews from critics. For her performance, Shahidi received three NAACP Image Awards nominations for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series.She left the series after five seasons, but stayed as a executive producer and recurring guest-star for its sixth and final season in 2023.

In 2016, Shahidi signed to model with New York’s Women Management modeling agency, in hopes of providing a platform to see more women of color in diverse role.Time included her on “The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016” list. She was ranked one of the best dressed women in 2018 by fashion website Net-a-Porter.^[28] She was one of fifteen women selected to appear on the cover of the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, by guest editor Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. In 2021, Shahidi debuted a sportswear collaboration with Adidas.

In 2019, Shahidi played the leading role in the teen drama film, The Sun Is Also a Star based on the young adult novel of the same name by Nicola Yoon. It was theatrically released in the United States on May 17, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $6.8 million worldwide. She co-produced Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film-winning film Hair Love (2019). She done voice over work in the films Smallfoot (2018), Fearless (2020), PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021) and My Father’s Dragon (2022).

In 2020, Shahidi and her mother launched their production company 7th Sun and signed a deal with ABC Studios to produce shows. Their first project was Smoakland, a single-camera comedy pilot for Freeform in 2021. Later in 2021, it was announced that they develop adaptation of Cole Brown’s book Greyboy: Finding Blackness in a White World.

2023—present

Shahidi starred in the Apple TV+ anthology series Extrapolations that premiered on March 17, 2023. She played Tinker Bell in the fantasy adventure film Peter Pan & Wendy, a remake of Peter Pan. It premiered on Disney+ on April 28, 2023. Later in 2023, Shahidi executive produced and played the leading role in the romantic comedy-drama film Sitting in Bars with Cake alongside Odessa A’zion.The film was released on September 8, 2023 by Amazon Prime Video and received generally positive reviews from critics with Shahidi’s performance as a girl struggling with her personal life whilst simultaneously fulfilling her role as a caregiver to her friend diagnosed with cancer receiving praise, though some found her to be overshadowed by A’Zion’s performance.Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle felt that Shahidi’s friendship with A’Zion was, “the most authentic element of the film,” adding that it, “really makes the film”.

Shahidi set to star alongside Lena Headey in the action thriller film Ballerina Overdrive.

Activism

 

Shahidi founded Eighteen x 18 with social news publisher NowThis, which “will be a platform to encourage [her] peers to vote for the very first time in our upcoming midterm elections.” Her other organizations include Yara’s Club a partnership with Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN) of New York, which provides online mentorship in hopes to end poverty through education.

Shahidi’s activism was noticed by former first lady Michelle Obama, who wrote her a letter of recommendation to Harvard University. She was also given the opportunity by Teen Vogue to interview Hillary Clinton in 2017.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2021, Yara Shahidi joined the Dior Stand with Women campaign

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Imagine That	Olivia Danielson	Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film
2010	Salt	Salt’s Young Neighbor
	Unthinkable	Katie
2011	Butter	Destiny
2012	Alex Cross	Janelle Cross
2018	Smallfoot	Brenda	Voice
2019	Detective Pikachu	Girlfriend
	The Sun Is Also a Star	Natasha Kingsley	Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Actress (2019)[51]
	Hair Love		Co-executive producer
2020	Fearless	Melanie	Voice
2021	PAW Patrol: The Movie	Kendra Wilson	Voice
2022	My Father’s Dragon	Callie	Voice
2023	Peter Pan & Wendy	Tinker Bell
2023	Sitting in Bars with Cake	Jane	Executive producer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Entourage	Kandace West	Episode: “No Cannes Do”
2009	In the Motherhood	Esther	5 episodes
	Cold Case	Meesha Sullivan ’91	Episode: “Read Between the Lines”
	Wizards of Waverly Place	Olive	Episode: “Doll House”
2010	Lie to Me	Olivia	Episode: “Teacher and Pupils”
	$♯*! My Dad Says	Girl Scout	Episode: “Pilot”
2011	The Cape	Layla	Episode: “Endgame”
	Family Guy	Little Girl	Voice, episode: “It’s a Trap!“
	Rip City	Montana	Television film
2012	The Finder	Adina	Episode: “The Conversation”
2012–2013	The First Family	Chloe Johnson	23 episodes
2013	Scandal	Young Olivia Pope	2 episodes
2014	Bad Teacher	Jalissa	Episode: “Pilot”
	The Fosters	Maddie	2 episodes
2014–2022	Black-ish	Zoey Johnson	Main role (seasons 1–3), Recurring role (seasons 4–8); 79 episodes NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2015) BET Award for YoungStar (2017-2018) Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Breakthrough Role (2016) Nominated – Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Comedy Series (2017) Nominated – BET Award for YoungStar (2016) Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Comedy TV Actress (2017, 2019)[51] Nominated – Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Television Series (2016) Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice TV: Breakout Star (2015) Nominated – MTV Movie & TV Awards – Next Generation Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2017-2018)
2016–2018	Trollhunters	Darci Scott	Voice, 10 episodes
2018–present	Grown-ish	Zoey Johnson	Lead role (seasons 1-5) Recurring role (season 6) Producer Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (2019-21) Nominated – Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actress, Comedy Series (2018, 2021) Nominated – People’s Choice Award for Favorite Comedy TV Star (2019-2020) Nominated – People’s Choice Award for Favorite Female TV Star (2021) Nominated – People’s Choice Award for The Comedy TV Star of 2021 (2021) Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Comedy TV Actress (2018) Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Star: Female (2019)[51]
2018–2019	3Below	Darci Scott	Voice, 8 episodes
2023	Extrapolations	Carmen Jalilo	Episode: “2037: A Raven Story” Read more on source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yara_Shahidi