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.