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Yara Shahidi has been effortlessly juggling her acting duties and college responsibilities like a boss.
Prior to her appearance at the 73rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 19, the Grown-ish star told Entertainment Tonight that she asked the academy if she could present early in the night, just so she could make it on a flight back home to attend her college classes at the prestigious Harvard University.
“I do fly out tonight to make it to class in time,” Shahidi explained to the outlet.
“The lovely people at The Academy really helped me out because I was like, ‘Guys, I have a hard out to make this flight,'” she said.
According to PEOPLE, the actress got accepted into Harvard in 2017 but took a gap year before continuing her studies in 2018. Shahidi revealed to Jimmy Kimmel in an interview that same year that she dreamed of becoming “a history professor.”
“I’ve wanted to be a history professor for longer than I’ve wanted to be an actress,” she explained. “And so I used to have the Harvard webpage up, and I’d go through the course catalog. So needless to say, this is something I’ve been planning for a long time.”
The studious star shared that she would be a social study major and gushed about her excitement for taking African American studies.
“…I also describe what I want to do as being policy adjacent… so I guess I want to be next to Capitol Hill, she said at the time.
Shahidi previously told Seventeen that she was accepted to every college she applied to which included Standford University, Yale University, and Spellman.
The 21-year-old dazzled at Sunday’s awards show in a Kelly Green gown designed by Dior. Shahidi, who is gearing up for her role as Tinker Bell in Disney’s forthcoming live-action version of Peter-Pan, presented the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Award to Brett Goldstein for his role in the popular comedy series Ted Lasso.
While chatting with Karamo Brown during E! News’ red carpet special, the young star spoke about her recent involvement over the last year in fighting for social justice issues. Back in June of 2020, Shahidi sat down for a conversation with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund President, Sherrilyn Ifill, where they spoke about solutions to reimagining the justice system “without pervasive white supremacy,” USA Today noted. She was also a key voice in speaking out against the deaths of both George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
“I think a lot of it came from just the conversations that we have at home and the fact that I come from a family that cares deeply about how we’re using our platform,” Shahidi shared about her passion for activism.
“To enter this world through a show like Black-ish, that also took pride in being about something constantly, feels like it gave me the leeway to be able to have the conversations that were important to me… I think knowing that we have a purpose is what grounds me constantly,” she added.
Congrats to Yara Shahidi!
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