Yara was destined to be an actress since she was a baby. Her talent can be seen in her portrayal as Murphy’s daughter, as the full-spirited character ‘Olivia’. Olivia takes her father, who is an overworked businessman, on a journey through her imaginary world and shows him valuable lessons along the way.
In her free time, Yara loves learning to cook with her Baba (father), baking with her mommy, learning to speak Farsi, traveling with her family, and conducting science experiments (she wants to build a laboratory in her garage one day). Her favorite subject in school is history–she likes to start everyday learning something new. She currently resides in Los Angeles with mother, father, her two younger brothers and her fish, Cleophus.
Early Life
Yara was born and raised for the first four years of her life in Minneapolis, before her family made the move to California for her father’s line of work. When she thinks back to what she misses most about Minnesota she will tell you, “the beautiful lakes, Joon Joon, Grampie and Snow”!
Her Work
She began her career at six weeks old, working along side her mother in commercials and print ads. Yara can be seen in such campaigns as McDonalds, Ralph Lauren, Target, Gap Kids, Disney, Guess Kids, Children’s Place and Disney, just to name a few. She frequently has had the opportunity to work with her mother and younger brother in various print and broadcast campaigns. They can currently be seen in the Tropicana “Squeeze” commercial and print campaigns together.
In addition to “Imagine That,” Yara played the daughter of Jessica St. Clair in a new ABC comedy “In The Motherhood,” which debuted on March 26, 2009. She portrayed the sister to her real life brother, who was also in the TV series as well. Yara’s next film project is titled “Unthinkable” with Samuel L. Jackson where she and her real life brother play the children of Samuel L. Jackson’s Character.
Yara Shahidi made her theatrical debut June 12, 2009, starring opposite Eddie Murphy, in Paramount Picture’s “Imagine That”.
Her work can be seen in her gallery or on IMDB.
