Yara Shahidi Reacts to Ending of 'Grown-ish' and Having Her Own Tinker Bell Doll (Exclusive)

ET spoke to Shahidi at the premiere of the new Disney+ film Tuesday.

The ending of Grown-ish is a bitter-sweet one for the show's star, Yara Shahidi.

ET spoke to Shahidi at the premiere of her new film, Peter Pan and Wendy, where she dished on the show coming to an end this summer with its sixth season, and what it's like having her own Tinker Bell doll.

"I mean, we hit 100 episodes. Shows don't get to do that anymore," Shahidi said. "So, I think it's bitter, but primarily sweet, because we got to tell a lot of story, and I've gotten to be a lot of Zoey over the past six years."

Aside from Grown-ish, Shahidi's latest role sees her as Tinker Bell, in the latest re-imagining of the Peter Pan fairytale.

While she drew inspiration from the Tinks that came before her, including Julia Roberts, the 23-year-old actress revealed that she turned to the work of the late Josephine Baker to help her nail down the fairy's iconic facial expressions.

"I'd have to say -- one, just animated Tink. Because there's something about that exaggerated, that larger than life thing that you can do in animation that we tried to capture here," she explained. "We have Julia Roberts, we have so many incredible folks. I think inspiration that may be surprising, is that we looked at Josephine Baker performances, because she has so many where she's using her features and not saying anything."

Shahidi continued, "And so when we were trying to figure out what Tink's facial features were, and movements were gonna be, it was a lot of silent movies and a lot of Josephine Baker."

Something almost as magical as getting to star as the iconic Disney character, is getting a doll of her own fashioned after her role in the film. While it's not the first doll made in Shahidi's likeness, the TV and film star couldn't help but gush over having her very own Tinker Bell doll.

"So special," she said when asked how it feels to have a toy made after her. "I didn't remember until we were just driving around for press today, that one of my first dolls was an Alvin Ailey ballerina. And I remember just how cool it was to have a doll that looked like me, have a doll that looked like my family, in this beautiful dress."

"And so, I think to have a Tinker Bell doll, but also, for them to say when they made the Tinker Bell doll, 'Hey, we used your last Barbie in reference for this one?' That's just a sentence folks could dream of," Shahidi added. "I didn't think I'd ever be hearing that in my life."

See Shahidi as Tinker Bell when Peter Pan & Wendy flies exclusively onto Disney+ April 28.

RELATED CONTENT:

 

Latest News