Very few child stars successfully transition to bona fide celebrity, but it seems Yara Shahidi has cracked the code. The beautiful American actress and singer is best known for her roles as young pope Oliva Scandal and as Zoey Johnson, on Black-ish. She reprized her role as Zoey Johnson on the Darkish FreeForm spinoff, Grown-ish, which was a critical and commercial success for the network and for the star herself. She has since appeared in Drake’s critically acclaimed music video, Nice For What.
Yara Shahidi is also known to be smart, articulate, knowledgeable, and on her way to greatness, based on her interviews and the fact that she received a letter of recommendation from Michelle Obama for Harvard University.
Yara Shahidi: Bio & Age
Yara Sayeh Shahidi was born on February 10, 2000 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her name ‘Yara’ is of Persian origin and means ‘someone who is able to do something hard’.
From an early age, Yara got involved in modeling and built a great career. She has since evolved into a globally recognized actress.
Parents and family
Yara Shahidi comes from a close-knit and supportive family. Her parents, Afshin and Keri, moved the family to California when Yara was just four years old for her father’s photography career. She has two younger brothers – Sayeed and Ehsan. Sayeed followed in his older sister’s footsteps and entered the entertainment industry to become an actor and model. He is best known for his roles in Switched at Birth, The Event and The First Family .
She is also related to American rapper Nas – who is her cousin.
ethnicity and religion
Yara Shahidi is of mixed ethnicity with her mother, Keri Salter Shahidi, of Choctaw and African-American ancestry, while her father, Afshin Shahidi, is of Iranian descent.
Yara has joined the league of well-known mixed-ethnic celebrities who parade all over Hollywood.
To date, Yara has not spoken publicly about her religious beliefs.
Career beginnings and breakthrough
Yara began her career when she was just six years old by appearing in numerous TV and print commercials from various companies including The Children’s Place, Ralph Lauren, Target, McDonald’s, Guess Kids, Gap Kids and Disney. For most of her advertisements and print campaigns, she sometimes worked with her younger brother and mother.
Then, Yara did what many try and few succeed in – that’s turn a modeling career into a modeling career. She had her acting debut in Imagine That, a 2009 comedy starring Eddie Murphy. The film focused on the relationship between Eddie Murphy’s character and his daughter Olivia (played by Yara) when his fantasy world provides the information his father needs to succeed. Although the film was a box office failure, her performance in the film was praised, which is why she earned a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Performance in a Feature Film category.
She later appeared in Entourage, The Finder, Salt, Alex Cross, Butter, and Unthinkable. In 2012, she then landed the lead role of Chloe Johnson in the comedy series – The First Family
Shortly after, she was cast in the ABC comedy Black-ish as Zoey Johnson, alongside Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson. The series had several epic characters, but Yara Shahidi captured the hearts and devotion of teenagers all over the world and in the process garnered a large number of loyal fans. She won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Blackish. Thanks to her success on the show, the network greenlighted a spinoff series, Grown-ish, around her character, which premiered on January 3, 2018.
In 2016, she joined New York-based modeling agency Women Management in hopes of seeing more women of color in leading and diverse roles.
Height, weight and body measurements
There is no doubt that Yara Shahidi has an enviable physique. She is currently 160ft (5ft 3in) tall and weighs just 99kg (45lbs). Her slender figure can be attributed to her age, and as she grows, her height, weight, and height will change dramatically.
Her current diet and workout plan are unknown at this time, but it can be assumed that she is trying hard to maintain her physique.
Net value
Yara Shahidi currently has a net worth of $1million. Considering her age and the fact that she is at the start of a successful career, this ensures that this amount will increase in the years to come as she ages and takes on a bigger role.