Yara Shahidi, 23, is making history by becoming the first black girl to co-star as Tinkerbell in the new Peter Pan and Wendy, which will air on Disney+ on April 28, 2023.
She began her acting career in 2009 in the comedy film with Eddy Murphy called Imagine that, we could already notice her incredible acting talents. Other well-known films in which she featured from Warner Bros were Smallfoot in 2018, and The Sun Is Also a Star in 2019. But these roles were only a glimpse of his talent.
At only 14 years old, Yara Shahidi was already playing an important role which has totally changed the course of her acting career. She starred in an ABC comedy series called Black-ish as “Zoey Johnson”. Then, at the age of 17, she played the lead role in the spin-off series Black-ish, Grown-ish. The series features famous black comedians & actors like Anthony Anderson and Jenifer Lewis.
In 2014, Yara Shahidi won an NAACP Image Award in the “Best Actress in a Comedy” category.
Apart from her acting career, she has a great fascination for fashion and beauty. She has collaborated with brands such as Dior, Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Guess, to name a few. In her recent cover with Byrdie, Yara explained why she uses fashion and beauty to be her authentic self.
She said, “With fashion, I love thinking about purpose.” I like to use clothing to amplify a message I find important or celebrate someone I admire.” “With beauty, I’m all about leaning into the fact that I’m in my 20s. I like to have fun with my makeup and hair and do things that will make me smile. I love using big red carpet moments as another way to experiment and figure out if I can get closer to sharing what’s authentically me every time I step out.
Regarding her role as the first black Tinkerbell in “Peter Pan”, Yara told Byrdie, “I talked to the director, David Lowery, about why he and the higher-ups at Disney wanted to retell this story and I loved his response. They wanted to bring some new fun to this classic but also give us the fairy tale we deserve”.
“It’s evident they’re not just popping Black and Brown folks in the cast for the sake of updating the story. Instead, it’s about creating a story that so many more people can see themselves in after we’ve been left out for so long.”
