Yara Shahidi - The Shade Room

Yara Shahidi

Yara Shahidid is an American actress, model, and activist best known for playing Zoey Johnson on the television series Black-ish and Grown-ish, the spin off series.

Personal Life

Early Life

Yara Shahidi was born on February 10, 2000 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father, Afshin Shahidi, is Iranian and her mother, Keri Salter, is African American and Native Choctaw. Her father is a photographer, and Yara and her family moved to California so Afshin could pursue his photography career.

Yara Shahidi’s younger sister, Sayeed, is a model and child actor. Yara has a younger brother, Ehsan, as well. Additionally, Nas, the rapper, is their cousin.

Yara went to Dwight Global Online School and graduated in 2017. In 2018, she began college at Harvard University and plans to major in Interdisciplinary Sociology and African American Studies.

Relationships

Yara Shahidi is pretty private about her dating life. Fans have speculated that she and her Grown-ish co-star Luka Sabbat are together, but the two say they are just friends.

Career

Yara started her career at the young age of six years old. She started off with roles in TV commercials and print advertisements. In 2009, she made her debut on the big screen, starring in the film Imagine That with Eddy Murphy. In 2010, she had a role in the film Salt featuring Angelina Jolie.

Yara got a starring role as Zoey Johnson on the ABC’s comedy show Black-Ish. This role earned her the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy award at the NAACP Image Awards.

In 2017, it was announced that their would be a spinoff of Black-ish, called Grown-ish, where Shahidi would be the starring role. This series premiered the beginning of 2018 and is still presenting filming.

Filmography

  • Entourage, 2007
  • Robotboy, 2007
  • In The Motherhood, 2009
  • Cold Case, 2009
  • Wizards of Waverly Place, 2009
  • Imagine That, 2009
  • Salt, 2010
  • Lie to Me, 2010
  • Sh*t My Dad Says, 2010
  • Unthinkable, 2010
  • Butler, 2011
  • The Cape, 2011
  • Family Guy, 2011
  • Rip City, 2011
  • Alex Cross, 2012
  • The Finder, 2012
  • The First Family, 2012-2013
  • Scandal, 2013
  • Bad Teacher, 2014
  • The Fosters, 2014
  • Black-ish, 2014-present
  • Trollhunters, 2016-2018
  • Smallfoot, 2018
  • Grownish, 2018-present
  • 3Below, 2018-2019
  • The Sun Is Also a Star, 2019
  • Fearless, 2020
  • PAW Patrol: The Movie, To Be Announced

Activism

Shahidi founded Eighteen x 18, a platform that was designed to encourage young people to vote for the first time during the 2020 midterm elections. She also has a partnership with Young Women’s Leadership Network of New York, an organization that offers online membership to help end poverty through education.

In The News

Yara became a part of the Dior Stand With Women campaign in 2021. She also recently was cast in the upcoming Peter Pan & Wendy movie as Tinker Bell.

For all news on Yara Shahidi, stay up to date with The Shade Room!

RELATED STORIES

Become A Roommate!
Become A Roommate!
TSR Logo

The Latest Tea Sent Daily

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.