Anyone who’s heard of Yara Shahidi or read any of the actress’s interviews knows that she is wise beyond her years. From the outset, the 19-year-old star of Black-ish, Grown-ish, and now The Sun Is Also a Star, has used her celebrity to shed light on issues related to diversity and inclusion, feminism, and other social inequities and from what she told us, she has no intention of ever changing that focus.
When we asked the Minnesota-bred daughter of an African-American mother and Iranian father about her long-term goals, she said, “I want to be policy adjacent.” Though Yara admitted she doesn’t exactly know what that looks like yet, she did share that she’s inspired by the work of Patrice Cullors whose dedication to activism is as strong as it is to her art.
“To be able to follow in those footsteps and to inform policy in a way that doesn’t involve politics directly would be fantastic,” Yara shared.
Check out our entire chat with the young star in the video above as she talks about how her family influenced her development as an activist and actress and the exciting projects they’re developing to make the Hollywood infrastructure more diverse and inclusive.
