Getty Yara Shahidi attends Refinery29 29Rooms Los Angeles: Turn It Into Art Opening Night Party at ROW DTLA on December 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Yara Shahidi has been cast as the lead in Freeform’s new series, Grown-ish. The show is a spinoff of ABC’s Black-ish, and follows the oldest Johnson child, Zoey, as she heads to college in Southern California.
Read on to learn more about the shows main cast.
Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson
Yara Shahidi attends the Hollywood Reporter/Lifetime WIE Breakfast at Milk Studios on December 6, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for A+E Networks/Lifetime)
Yara Shahidi, 17, rose to fame playing Zoey Johnson on ABCs Black-ish. She is originally from Minneapolis and is the cousin of rapper Nas. Fun fact: she was a flower girl at Nas’s wedding. Yara’s father, Afshin Shahidi, was the personal photographer of the late singer Prince, according to Vanity Fair.
Yara began her career in the industry at the ripe age of 6. She appeared in a handful of modeling and print campaigns for companies like McDonald’s, Ralph Lauren, Target, GapKids, Disney, Guess Kids and The Children’s Place before making her film debut in 2009, playing Eddie Murphy’s daughter in Paramount Picture’s film, Imagine That.
In June, Shahidi announced that she would be attending Harvard University.
Deon Cole as Charlie Telphy
Deon Cole attends the 2017 Soul Train Awards, presented by BET, at the Orleans Arena on November 5, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Deon Cole is an actor, comedian, and writer. He was on the writing staff of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, as well as Conan.
Cole was also a regular cast member in Angie Tribeca. Among his other performances, Cole has appeared on John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show, Mash Up and Lopez Tonight.
On Grown-Ish, Cole’s Charlie Telphy teaches a marketing course at Zoey’s college. In the words of AOL, “The point of Charlie’s entertainingly bizarre class is to give the show’s characters an early focal point.”
Trevor Jackson as Aaron
Trevor Jackson at the 2017 BET Awards at Microsoft Square on June 25, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Trevor Jackson is a singer, actor, dancer, and songwriter, best known for playing Kevin Blake on Syfy’s Eureka and Kris McDuffy in the Disney Channel TV movie Let It Shine. He also played Kevin LaCroix on American Crime.
When he was younger, Jackson played Young Simba in The Lion King.
In August 2017, the Hollywood Reporter announced that Jackson would be reprising his role from the backdoor pilot.
Emily Arlook as Nomi Segal
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdd0eJUnhmq/?hl=en
Emily Arlook plays Nomi, a new friend of Zoey’s at college. In 2016, Arlook played Dana in two episodes of The Good Place. She also played Ariella Kretzmer in the TV show Hand of God.
Francia Raisa as Ana Torres
Francia Raisa attends 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball 2017 presented by Capital One at The Forum on December 1, 2017 in Inglewood, California.
Francia Raisa, who fans may remember from The Secret Life of the American Teenager, will play Ana, whom Freeform describes as “an outspoken conservative freshmen at Southern California University.”
Raisa, 29, was born and raised in California, and began gaining traction as an actor in high school. During her senior year, she booked a role opposite Hayden Panettiere in Bring It On: All or Nothing.
Jordan Buhat as Vivek Shah
Grown-ish is listed as Buhat’s first credit on IMDB.
Deadline describes his character as, “a first generation Indian-American freshman at Southern California University with an endearing lack of self-awareness.”
Chris Parnell as Dean Parker
Actor Chris Parnell attends the 2016 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
Chris Parnell will play the dean of Southern California on Grown-Ish.
Parnell is perhaps best known for being a cast member on SNL from 1998 to 2006, and for playing Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC’s 30 Rock. He is also a voice actor, playing Cyril Figgis on the FX comedy series Archer and Jerry Smith on the Adult Swim series Rick and Morty.