Yara Shahidi tells Kimmel she is proud of Iranian heritage and Michelle Obama (Video)

Apr 20, 2017

Independent Aggregator of Iran-related News/Events, Kodoom.com: The star of ABC's sitcom series Black-ish, Iranian-African-American actress Yara Shahidi, talks on Jimmy Kimmel Live about the Persian New Year, Norooz, including the celebrations, Chaharshanbeh Soori (Fire Jumping), types of food and gifts that come along with the holiday. She also talks about how about graduating from high school, the college application process and a huge favor from Michelle Obama as a letter of recommendation:

Shahidi who speaks Persian (Farsi) was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to an African-American mother, Keri Salter Shahidi (pictured second from left on picture above), and an Iranian-American father, Afshin Shahidi, a professional photographer (pictured first from left in picture below). 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.

Tara (2nd right) with Father (1st left), Mother (left), Siblings and Obama Family

She began her career (IMDB link) 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 (right) and Murphy

Shahidi made her cinematic 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.

Yara Shahidi

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

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