Black Women in Entertainment
Her Story: Yara Shahidi
Black Girls Rock! celebrant Yara Shahidi is the epitome of young, gifted and black! And we thank her for being unapologetically so.
Early Life
Yara Shahidi was born and raised in Minneapolis until the latter end of her toddler years, before her family moved to California.
She started her rising career at six weeks old, being featured in commercials and print ads, for campaigns such as: McDonalds, Ralph Lauren, Target, Gap Kids, Disney, Guess Kids, Children’s Place and Disney. She often worked hand-in-hand with her mother and younger brother in various print and broadcast campaigns.
Yara received her big break in 2009 with the movie Imagine That, which starred Eddie Murphy.
Rising YoungStar
Around the same time, Yara starred in the new ABC comedy “In the Motherhood,” portraying the sister to her real life brother, who was also starred TV series as well. Yara was securing role after role and it was just the beginning. Yara’s next film project, Unthinkable, also starred Samuel L. Jackson and gave her the opportunity to work alongside her real life brother Sayeed as the children of Samuel L. Jackson’s character.
I was fine doing commercials with my mommy and I thought that movies would be really long and kind of hectic. But then, I read the script and I really really enjoyed it. So I went to audition and I had the greatest time ever.
Between the years of 2009 and 2011, Yara starred in the following TV series and films:
- Cold Case – TV Series (2009)
- Wizards of Waverly Place – TV Series (2009)
- Lie to Me – TV Series (2010)
- Salt – Film (2010)
- Family Guy – TV Series (2011)
- The Cape – TV Series (2011)
- Butter – Film (2011)
She’s Just Getting Started
In 2012, Yara connected with Tyler Perry in her next huge feature film, Alex Cross, about a homicide detective who is pushed to the edge of his moral and physical limits as he combats a ferociously skilled hitman who specializes in torture and pain. Yara played the role of Alex Cross’s daughter Janelle, alongside her brother, who played his son, Damon Cross.
First Things First
Hollywood started taking notice of the young actress, recognizing not only how talented she is, but also how eloquent and bright she is. Yara’s next role that she took on from 2012 to 2013 was as Chloe Johnson on the comedy/drama series The First Family.
It was not long before she moved into her next featured roles on ABC’s hit-show Scandal, The Fosters and lending her voice to Darci’s
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