Yara Shahidi Biography

Yara Shahidi photo

YARA SHAHIDI

Yara Shahidi was born and raised for the first four years of her life in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before her family made the move to California for her father's line of work. She began her career at six weeks old, working alongside her mother in commercials and print ads. Shahidi has been seen in campaigns for Gap Kids, Guess Kids and Disney, to name a few. She frequently had the opportunity to work with her mother and younger brother in numerous print and broadcast campaigns.

Yara played Esther in the ABC sitcom In the Motherhood, which debuted March 26, 2009. She and her real-life brother, Sayeed, play siblings in the series.

She made her motion picture debut starring opposite Eddie Murphy in Imagine That(2009) and followed this up with an appearance in the action-thriller Salt(2010) with Angelina Jolie.

In 2014, Yara earned her most popular role to date as Zoey Johnson on the sitcom Black-ish (2014-present). Her performance on the show has earned her seval accolades, including the NAACP Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2015. She continues to play the character on the series and was awarded her own spin-off, Grown-ish, in 2018.

Most recently, Yara lent her voice to the animated children's film Smallfoot(2018) with Channing Tatum and James Corden.

In her free time, Yara loves cooking with her father, learning to speak Farsiand traveling. She currently resides with her mother, father, and two younger brothers.

Filmography:

Smallfoot (2018)
Alex Cross (2012)
Butter (2011)
Salt (2010)
Unthinkable (2010)
Imagine That (2009)
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