Yara Shahidi

Yara Shahidi Biography

Yara Sayeh Shahidi (</ref>}}, ) (born February 10, 2000) is an American actress and model, best known for playing Zoey on the sitcom Black-ish.

Early life

Shahidi was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to a mixed African-American and Native Choctaw mother, Keri Salter Shahidi, and an Iranian-American father, Afshin Shahidi. Her father is a photographer. The family moved to California for Afshin's work, when Yara was 4. She is the older sister of child actor and model Sayeed Shahidi and a second cousin to rapper Nas. Keri Shahidi in a 2016 interview with Star Tribune claimed that the name Yara translates to "someone who is close to your heart" in Persian.

Career

She began her career when she was 6 years old, appearing in television and print advertisements for companies such as McDonald's, Ralph Lauren, Target, GapKids, Disney, Guess Kids and The Children's Place. She frequently worked with her mother and younger brother in various print and broadcast campaigns.

Shahidi made her theatrical debut in 2009, starring opposite Eddie Murphy in Paramount Pictures' Imagine That, for which she received a Young Artist Award nomination for the best performance in a feature film category.

In September 2014, Shahidi starred in ABC's prime-time comedy Black-ish as 14-year-old Zoey Johnson. In December 2014 she won an NAACP Image Award in the category of 'Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy'.

In 2016 she signed to model with New York"?s Women Management modeling agency, in hopes of providing a platform to see more women of color in diverse roles.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Imagine That	Olivia Danielson
2010	Salt	Salt's Young Neighbor
2010	Unthinkable	Katie
2011	Rip City	Montana	Television movie
2011	Butter	Destiny
2012	Alex Cross	Janelle Cross

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Entourage	Kandace West	Episode: "No Cannes Do"
2009	In the Motherhood	Esther	5 episodes
2009	Cold Case	Meesha Sullivan '91	Episode: "Read Between the Lines"
2009	Wizards of Waverly Place	Olive	Episode: "Doll House"
2010	Lie to Me	Olivia	Episode: "Teacher and Pupils"
2010	$h! My Dad Says*	Girl Scout	Episode: "Pilot"
2011	The Cape	Layla	Episode: "Endgame"
2011	Family Guy	Little Girl (voice)	Episode: "Episode VI: It's a Trap"
2012	The Finder	Adina	Episode: "The Conversation"
2012-2013	The First Family	Chloe Johnson	23 episodes
2013	Scandal	Young Olivia Pope	2 episodes
2014-present	Black-ish	Zoey Johnson	Main Role NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Nominated - BET Awards for YoungStar
2014	Bad Teacher	Jalissa	Episode: "Pilot"
2014	The Fosters	Maddie	2 episodes
2016	Trollhunters	Darcy