At 14, Yara Shahidi Was Asked To Disney Prom — Through Her Agent

When Yara Shahidi scored her breakout role on black-ish in 2014, she couldn’t quite relate to the typical teen life she portrayed. While her character, Zoey Johnson, was laser-focused on texting, tweeting, and boys, the then-14-year-old actor was more likely to be engrossed in The Catcher in the Rye, foreign films, or lusting after items like typewriters, record players, and fountain pens.

Still, the Minnesota native craved normalcy, and found it by remaining enrolled in her all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles, Immaculate Heart. “I literally had PAs driving my assignments back and forth,” Shahidi tells Bustle. “I’d go to school and take my tests, then I’d go back to set. It was a real hustle at 14.”

Before long, Shahidi — a self-declared “nerd” and proud member of the speech and debate team — added another pursuit to her already-full plate: advocacy. During one of her first speaking engagements, a 14-year-old Shahidi found herself on an NAACP panel alongside Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas. After pushing past some imposter syndrome, it all “just clicked,” she says. Shahidi could use her voice and platform, could integrate the conversations she’d had with her Black Iranian-American family about representation, diversity, and inclusion, into her work life.

In 2015, Shahidi won an NAACP Image Award for her role in black-ish. From there, she’d continue to grow as both an activist and an actor, scoring her own Freeform spinoff, grown-ish, in 2018 — and find time to keep up with her studies, earning a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, after former First Lady Michelle Obama famously wrote her letter of recommendation. Now, in her latest role in the Disney movie, Peter Pan & Wendy, Shahidi has become the first woman of color to portray Tinker Bell.

It’s a lot — and it’s all thanks to the first steps she took in 2014. “The biggest thing in my life was being 14 and having a space where I felt like people cared about what I had to say,” she adds. “It definitely emphasized the fact that I had a worthwhile opinion to share, [which] could be integrated into my work ... I never realized just how fulfilling this world or work could be.”

Below, Shahidi recalls her life at 14, from her experiences on the black-ish set to her first time attending Disney Prom.

Take me back to 2014, when you were 14. How were you feeling about life?

I was a sophomore at my all-girls Catholic school and was pouring [myself] into school. My acting career at that point had been about dipping in and out of shows as a guest star. I was just like, “I go to set, say my lines, and leave.” black-ish was the first thing that made me start thinking about this as a career.

What do you remember about your black-ish audition?

I went in for, not a screen test, but a producer session, and [black-ish star and executive producer] Anthony [Anderson] walked in and surprised us. He wasn’t supposed to be there, but he came in to say hi to everybody. I remember reading with him and being like, “Whoa, that’s the most fun I’ve had in an audition!”

You’d already worked with some legends, but how did it feel joining a cast of heavy-hitters like Anthony and Tracee Ellis Ross?

As a young actor, no one says, “Hey, you’re about to enter this set. This is how it works.” You’ve just gotta figure it out. I remember [that] everyone was so giving, from Laurence Fisburne, who is such a presence, to Jenifer Lewis, my TV grandmother.

That must have been intimidating for a 14-year-old.

I remember how scary my first big table read was. I don’t know if I can impress upon people how scary table reads are. Every executive, every bigwig writer, every person just is staring at you as you say your lines. You can’t use your body, you can’t get up and act with people. I just remember going over and over this monologue, and I felt like I’d nailed it. [But when] I got the script for Episode 1, they’d removed the monologue. I was like, “Oh boy, here we go.” [Laughs.] But they ended up bringing it back later.

You mentioned having concerns about missing events like your winter formal. How exactly were you able to prioritize and preserve a sense of normalcy?

I made it to winter formal, which was great! That was fun. Honestly, it was a constant experiment. By Season 2, when I was 15, we had it more down pat. But, for me, the three hours allocated to school time wasn’t enough, so it ended taking up a lot of my other time, making sure I was up to speed with my schoolwork.

In what ways were you able to “live as a kid” at 14?

My Fridays consisted of roller-skating in Glendale and a lot of other fun moments. There were a lot of other kids who were in my shoes, too. I mean, we weren’t the only kids on TV, especially on ABC. So I got a sort of pseudo-community of people who were going through similar moments and transitions. Disney would even host things, like a Disney prom. They’d literally invite anyone from the ABC Disney ecosystem who was a kid under the age of 16.

My first Disney prom was a little crazy and scary. I remember, without naming any names, somebody asked me to go to prom through my agent. I remember being like, “Welcome to Hollywood!” I’d been expecting a little sign, you know? Like, “Yara, prom?” But it was a fun time.

Who were some of those fellow young actors you bonded with?

I had friends like Peyton and Spencer List. We went to almost every event together. I’d known Cameron Boyce since I was 4 [from working] in Disney ads. Marcus Scribner and I were the same age, so we spent a lot of time together. Also, our school trailer was kind of small, which meant we were in very close proximity. Like, you had to get along.

But my parents were always big on family, so everyone on set was familiar with my brothers. There was one point when I was shooting black-ish on one stage and my middle brother, Sayeed, was shooting Code Black next door. And my little brother, Ehsan, would go back and forth and rank our craft services. He’d go up to directors and be like, “You know, black-ish has better snacks.”

What do you think 14-year-old Yara would think of your life now?

I don’t know if 14-year-old Yara would have guessed where I am. Even with grown-ish, that was such an unexpected surprise. I thought I was going to get written off. I remember dealing with that anxiety, having no clue that they were setting up [a] spin-off. So it was really exciting, but it came with a lot of questions.

This interview has been edited and condensed.