Yara Shahidi

Yara Sayeh Shahidi (born February 10, 2000) is an American actress, model, and activist. She gained recognition for her starring role as the oldest daughter Zoey Johnson on the sitcom black•ish (2014–present) and its spin-off series Grown-ish (2018–present). Her film credits include Imagine That (2009), Smallfoot (2018), and the lead role in The Sun Is Also a Star (2019). Time included her on “The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016” list.

Early life and education

Yara Sayeh Shahidi was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Keri Salter Shahidi and Afshin Shahidi, a photographer. Her mother, Keri Salter, is of mixed African American and Native Choctaw heritage, and her father, Afshin, is Iranian. The 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 their cousin.

Keri Shahidi states the name Yara means in Persian “Someone who is close to your heart”, the name Sayeed means “Blessing”, and Ehsan means “To act as though God is watching”.

Shahidi graduated in 2017 from Dwight Global Online School. Starting in 2018, Shahidi began college at Harvard University with a plan to major in Interdisciplinary Sociology and African American Studies.

Career

She 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.

Shahidi made her cinematic debut in 2009, starring opposite Eddie Murphy in Paramount Pictures’ Imagine That, for which she received a Young Artist Award nomination for the best performance in a feature film category. She also appeared in the Angelina Jolie action film Salt in 2010 as a next door neighbor. In 2012, she played Chloe Johnson, the daughter of President William Johnson, in the TV series The First Family.

In September 2014, Shahidi starred in ABC’s prime-time comedy Black-ish as 14-year-old Zoey Johnson. In December 2014 she won an NAACP Image Award in the category of ‘Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy’.

In 2016, she 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 roles.

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.

She was ranked one of the best dressed women in 2018 by fashion website Net-a-Porter.

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 2020, Shahidi and her business partner (her mother) launched their production company 7th Sun and signed a deal with ABC Studios to produce shows. She was recently cast as Tinker Bell in the upcoming Peter Pan remake Peter Pan & Wendy.

Activism

Shahidi founded Eighteen x 18 with social news publisher NowThis, which “will be a platform to encourage 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.

Shahidi has publicly supported Jussie Smollett after reports that Smollett faked a hate crime for personal and monetary gain. In April 2019, at the NAACP Image Awards, Shahidi stated, “I stand with Jussie” after Chris Rock made jokes at Smollett’s expense.

In 2021, Yara Shahidi joined the Dior Stand with Women campaign. She appeared in many videos and portraits with other women.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Imagine That	Olivia Danielson
2010	Salt	Salt’s Young Neighbor
	Unthinkable	Katie
2011	Butter	Destiny
2012	Alex Cross	Janelle Cross
2018	Smallfoot	Brenda	Voice
2019	The Sun Is Also a Star	Natasha Kingsley	Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie Actress (2019)
2020	Fearless	Melanie	Voice
2021	PAW Patrol: The Movie	TBA	Voice
2022	Peter Pan & Wendy	Tinker Bell	Live action

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Entourage	Kandace West	Episode: “No Cannes Do”
	Robotboy	Lola MBola
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”
	$h*! My Dad Says	Girl Scout	Episode: “Pilot”
2011	The Cape	Layla	Episode: “Endgame”
	Family Guy	Little Girl (voice)	Episode: “Episode VI: It’s a Trap”
	Rip City	Montana	Television movie
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–present	Black-ish	Zoey Johnson	Main role (seasons 1–3), Recurring role (season 4–5), Guest role (season 6-present); 79 episodes NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2015) BET Award for YoungStar (2017) Nominated – BET Award for YoungStar (2016) Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Comedy TV Actress (2017, 2019)
2016–2018	Trollhunters	Darci Scott (voice)	10 episodes
2018–present	Grown-ish	Zoey Johnson	Lead role Nominated – Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer TV Actress (2019)
2018–2019	3Below	Darci Scott (voice)	8 episodes