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Cast Archive: Yara Shahidi
Yara Shahidi
Though she was not even 10 years old, scene-stealing child star Yara Shahidi lit up the screens as Eddie Murphy's precocious daughter Olivia in the family comedy Imagine That (2009). A contemporary fairy tale about a young girl whose magical blanket helps her distracted dad find solutions to grown-up problems, the film's gentle tone and sweet message helped propel the charming Shahidi into the public eye. Although "Imagine That" was her first major film, Shahidi had actually began acting since she was six months old, appearing in television commercials and print ads with her mother in Minnesota. When the Shahidi family moved to California in 2004, Yara immediately began pursuing a film career. In short order, she beat out 3,000 hopefuls for the role of Olivia and quickly established herself as a young actress of note. After "Imagine That," she took on a variety of roles - from intense thrillers like "Unthinkable" (2010) to frothy television comedies like "In the Motherhood" (ABC, 2009- ), which allowed the talented young actress to display her wide range.

Born in 2000 in Minneapolis, MN to a Persian-American father and an African-American mother, Shahidi began her career appearing in print ads for Target. She soon graduated to television commercials, often appearing alongside her mother and younger brother, Sayeed, in ads for The Gap, Guess Kids and Disney. Turning to television commercials, she starred in a series of spots for Tropicana Squeeze orange juice. Meanwhile, the family moved to California in 2004 when her father switched jobs, which helped the already in-demand Shahidi to secure more acting work. In interviews, she sometimes lamented the move to the West Coast, but nonetheless acclimated nicely to her new surroundings. When she was not working, the bright young actress was in school, studying everything from science to her favorite subject, Greek mythology, while becoming fluent in Persian and developing an interest in cooking. In interviews, she mentioned a desire to build a science lab in her parent's garage to conduct experiments when she was not on the set making movies.

Between school and the typical distractions of childhood, Shahidi spent a great deal of 2009 in front of a camera. She had a recurring role as Jessica St. Clair's precocious daughter on the short-lived sitcom, "In the Motherhood" (2009- ). Based on the popular web series, the multi-layered show featured stories inspired by the real-life experiences shared by viewers on the show's site. Around the time the series was pulled from the air for good, Shahidi made her feature debut in "Imagine That," starring Eddie Murphy as a down-and-out financial executive whose career tailspins out of control, only to be invited into his daughter's imaginary world where he finds solutions to all his problems. Though sweet and well-intentioned, "Imagine That" failed to attract an audience and bombed at the box office.

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Cineplex Inc. ("Cineplex") is the largest motion picture exhibitor in Canada and owns, leases or has a joint-venture interest in 130 theatres with 1,359 screens serving approximately 70 million guests annually. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Cineplex operates theatres from British Columbia to Quebec and is the exclusive provider of UltraAVX™ and the largest exhibitor of digital, 3D and IMAX projection technologies in the country. Proudly Canadian and with a workforce of approximately 10,000 employees, the company operates the following top tier brands: Cineplex Odeon, Galaxy, Famous Players, Colossus, Coliseum, SilverCity, Cinema City and Scotiabank Theatres. Cineplex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "CGX".