- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
Yara Shahidi is in talks to star in the adaptation of the best-selling YA novel The Sun Is Also a Star.
The Nicola Yoon book centers on Natasha, a girl in New York City whose pragmatism is challenged when she falls in love right before her family is set to be deported back to Jamaica.
MGM and Warner Bros. picked up the rights to Yoon’s book after partnering for an adaptation of Yoon’s debut, Everything, Everything. (Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson starred in the teen romance that picked up over $60 million at the box office on a $10 million budget.)
Girls Trip writer Tracey Oliver wrote the script for The Sun Is Also a Star, which was a 2016 National Book Award Finalist.
Alloy Entertainment will produce, after working with WB and MGM on Everything, Everything. Alloy’s Les Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton are producing.
Shahidi first broke out as the eldest daughter on ABC sitcom Black-ish and now stars in her own spinoff, Grown-ish, on Freeform.
In addition to her acting career, Shahidi is an outspoken activist. She formed Yara’s Club, a partnership with The Young Women’s Leadership Schools, and participated in Michelle Obama’s education initiative, Let Girls Learn. Naturally The Sun Is Also a Star, which handles issues of immigration and immigrant rights, fits perfectly into Shahidi’s wheelhouse.
She is repped by CAA, Principal Entertainment, and Hirsch Wallerstein.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day