Yara Shahidi | GLAMOUR Unfiltered

Halle, Chloe walking angels,

walking fairies, princesses.

Hi, I'm Yara Shahidi and this is my GLAMOUR Unfiltered.

Well, playing Tinkerbell

when it was offered to me was just such a no-brainer.

How do you say no to that?

But I think the two things

that were biggest for me was,

one, to be able to play in such a fun

and imaginative world was unlike anything I've done before

and unlike anything I've done since.

And then I think the updates to the story were so exciting.

David made and wrote such a compelling story

that felt like it was playing on the Tinkerbell

and the Peter Pan and Wendy that we know and love

while adding dimensions that we hadn't seen before,

that it felt like,

oh, if we're gonna do a remake,

this is a really cool one to be a part of.

Yeah, I loved the way that was excavated

because I think in prior stories,

while Tinkerbell has always struggled with being heard,

she definitely kind of came off as like a sassy sidekick.

So I liked how David took what was already there

and really centered it in this new way of saying,

well, what does it feel like for this character's arc

to really be struggling with being heard?

And Wendy being somebody that sees her almost immediately

and learns to hear her in this way

that Peter Pan hasn't even heard her yet or seen her yet.

It was really cool.

And yeah, absolutely resonant.

I think anyone, not only in their twenties,

but in every stage of life,

I feel like we're constantly,

I'm constantly fine tuning,

figuring out the best way to communicate

so that what I need at the end of the day is being met.

It's surreal

because I think the best way I could describe it is

that while I was filming,

it was such an isolated process

that I didn't necessarily think of

or remember the scale of this project

because I was filming by myself

in a room not much bigger than this.

And so it took me,

one, seeing the movie to be like this is ma-

Like, I knew it was massive,

but truly like this is a massive undertaking

and a huge fantasy world and huge fairy tale.

But then also,

when we started to finally share the trailers

and the character imagery,

I think it didn't connect for a moment

how resonant it would be

because the process was so different

that, sure, I understood like,

okay, I'm the first Black Tinkerbell.

But it was seeing people sign up

to get the doll for their niece and their cousins,

for their young ones.

That really made it dawn on me how big of a deal this was,

and the fact that there's a generation of kids

where they'll know that they're included in this fairytale.

I hope the impact is to continue to dream big.

I think fairy tales are some of the first stories

that were ever introduced to us kids.

It's how I grew up was not even on TV,

but just on reading Grimm's Fairy Tales

and Hans Christian Anderson,

but, you know, in order to balance the fact

that I wasn't necessarily included in those fairytales,

my family had to look globally.

So I had African folklore and like indigenous folklore

that I grew up on.

And so to take a fairytale

that is as prominent as Peter Pan

and give it a world that looks like the world

that we live in today,

hopefully means

that we're validating people's fantasy lives

because I think that's necessary, especially as a kid,

to know that you have the right and the space to dream,

so absolutely absurdly big.

Halle, I mean, I couldn't think of anyone better.

That her, Halle, Chloe walking angels,

walking fairies, princesses.

So, I couldn't think of anyone better.

But again, it goes back to fantasy life.

Not only is, of course,

I think I would argue

that diversity and inclusion is important in every story

but I think particularly for fantasy worlds,

I think oftentimes,

the first step that we take

and the first spaces where you see brown and Black folks is

in spaces of discussing historical traumas.

And I think while those stories are absolutely essential

to be telling and necessary to center,

as a young kid, you deserve lighthearted,

totally indulgent stories about flying,

about growing up,

about being able to imagine yourself

as a mermaid and a princess.

And so I think there's something about, you know,

allowing there to be diversity and inclusion

in stories about childhood that are really necessary

so that you have a plethora of media to turn to.

I think anybody being unabashedly themselves.

When I think about the people that inspire me constantly

when I think of, even like,

I think I take a lot of inspiration

from musicians generally,

just because, you know, as an actor,

you're playing somebody else.

As a musician,

you're just yourself 100% of the time.

And when I think of people like Solange,

when I think of people like Frank Ocean,

there's a certain vulnerability

to committing to be yourself.

There's a certain, you know,

you take on their certain pressures

to publicly being yourself on such a large platform.

And so I think people that continue to do that,

I think it's a reminder to myself to embrace who I am

because I think sometimes there's this urge to,

I don't know, make the neatest version of yourself,

the most presentable version of yourself,

versus the most honest.

Well, I think the reason I resonated with voting work was

that it was selfishly a way I didn't have

to actually choose what I wanted to prioritize

because every issue is on the ballot

and every issue comes up when we vote.

And so it was a way in which I could be in community

and conversation with organizers from every area,

whether it's racial equality, gender equality,

environmental issues, anything in between.

But I think quite honestly,

I think now with where we stand,

it's an interesting time

because not only, you know, coming from the states,

not only are we kind of under a spotlight

as the world asks us to step up

to our self-proclaimed values,

but the entire world is under a spotlight.

I think most of these spaces

that we've deemed as inherently progressive,

we're starting to question like,

well, maybe you need to do a little more

to stand up for to your self-assertive values.

And so I think this era of my life has been more

about trying to figure out how to partake

in that global work that's happening.

Of course, I think there's so much to be done locally

but constantly being in conversation

with my peers and mentors

because we're really in this together right now, I think,

as a world about trying to figure out what that next step

in equality looks like.

I've had an interesting relationship with social media

because I think on the one hand,

it's been an educator for myself and so many people,

especially in being able to tell stories

and communicate stories

that otherwise I wouldn't have had access to.

When I think about global news

and the fact that so much of it

for me came from social media for a long time

and smaller like overlooked stories came from social media.

But at the same time,

sometimes I think social media and work can be confused

for one another.

So I remember there being this sense of obligation

to saying like, well,

I have to share everything I care about,

otherwise people won't think I care about it.

And I think this was subconscious.

Like, I don't...

I was never consciously like,

Quick!

People will think I don't care about this

if I don't post it.

But I think, subconsciously,

there was this urge and this aid like,

this almost anxiety that was created

because there was this really real sentiment

across social media that if it wasn't on your page,

that this was something that you overlooked

and that you must not have cared about at all.

And so there was a moment,

I think especially during the pandemic

where I look at my page and I'm like,

it looks like I'm running a news page.

Like I might as well be the admin for CNN on Instagram,

the way that my social media looks.

There was nothing wrong with that,

but to me, what I realized was I wasn't giving myself space

as a 20 something year old to just experience the emotions

and figure out what the work was.

I think there was such an urgency I had

to being able to put something out immediately

to share how I feel

and share exactly what there was to be done.

But we kept running into these crazy instances

that none of us had had experienced before

where I was like,

I'm so far from having an answer about how to address this.

I'm so far from even knowing where to start

that that was really, I think, what encouraged me

to figure out what that balance was

between what goes on social media

and what work has to happen offline.

In theory, I think there's a checklist

of being like therapy, yes.

Supplements, yes.

Sunscreen, yes.

But it's much harder when you try

and integrate that into your life on a daily basis.

I mean, for me, I'm constantly figuring that out.

I think the biggest thing in my life

or in this phase of life is that I used to go through,

I used to have to justify for myself

any moment I took for myself.

And so I could convince myself out of doing anything

for myself.

Because I don't really need to do that

because at the end of the day, who is that benefiting?

It's not benefiting my work.

It's not benefiting this or that.

And so I think for me, self-care has been realizing

that I don't need a reason to do something for myself.

And I usually have to take that reminder

from the people around me

because I'm not always great at putting that into practice.

But even for me, I love live music.

And that's the one thing.

It may sound so silly

but that's the one thing for me.

Going to a concert past my bedtime

when I know I have to be up early is a practice

and being like, but I know this is gonna fill me up

so I'm going past reasonable Yara

that says, You don't need this.

What you need is 10 hours of sleep

and to run through what your day looks like tomorrow,

to be like,

but I know that day is gonna be so much better,

having experienced this.

So trying to prioritize certain experiences.

[Yara laughs]

It was great

but we also haven't met yet.

[Interviewer] What? [Yara laughs]

So, fantastic.

Phenomenal.

Recommend it.

But we have not yet met. [interviewer laughs]

So because I was filming on a separate stage,

he, I mean,

what an incredible Hook to work opposite of,

really fun to be able to watch his scenes

and watch everything he brought to this character

that was both thoroughly creepy

but you also thoroughly root for him.

So it was fun to be Tinkerbell opposite him.

But it was,

it's funny because, you know,

playing a fairy that's so small means

that I was shooting on a separate set

so I can report back and give you a full answer

in a couple hours when we've met.

But I'm sure the answer will remain the same.

Absolutely.

I mean, 23 has definitely treated me well

but I think the reason it has is

because I've kind of gone back to being like,

well, what made me happy as a kid

and how do I go back to that place?

I think I definitely carried this idea

of what adulthood looked like and how serious it had to be.

And so there's,

I feel like every stage of life

like for example, having graduated.

I've always had school.

Like, school has been my anchor for years.

I always knew like next year was defined by the school year.

So to be in this phase of life where I'm like,

I've graduated from school.

My television show, Grown-ish is coming to an end,

the two things that have been such a consistent in my life.

Adulthood gets a little in, like, nerve wracking,

being like, what's next?

But I think going back

to that kind of childhood centering of,

okay, well where can I find adventures

to put in between has made it much more exciting.