The final moment for the show’s protagonist, Yara Shahidi, is a mixed bag.
While promoting her new film Peter Pan and Wendy, Shahidi chatted with ET about the forthcoming sixth and final season of the show, as well as what it’s like to have her very own Tinker Bell doll.
Well, we’ve achieved 100 shows,” Shahidi said. “Shows can’t fulfill that need anymore.” After six years of telling stories and experiencing Zoey’s life, I have mixed feelings about leaving the character behind.
Recently, Shahidi played the role of Tinker Bell in a modern adaptation of Peter Pan.
The 23-year-old star has said that actresses like Julia Roberts and Tina Fey have been her role models. The artist also says that the late Josephine Baker had an influence on the facial expressions of the fairy.
Animated Tink is my first choice. We were going for that blown-up, cartoonish sense of scale, she said. Julia Roberts is only one of many outstanding people that work with us. Many of Josephine Baker’s performances involve only her expressive face, making it puzzling that we learned anything from them.
Shahidi says, “So, when we were trying to figure out Tink’s face and movements, we watched a lot of silent movies and a lot of Josephine Baker.”
It’s almost as thrilling as portraying a cherished Disney character in a movie to have a doll built to look like her on-screen image. Even though this isn’t the first doll made to look like Shahidi, the TV and movie star was thrilled to receive her very own Tinker Bell doll.
How does she feel about getting a personalized plaything? How unique, she exclaimed. One of my oldest toys was an Alvin Ailey dancer, and I didn’t even realize it until we were on the road today for press. I’ll never forget how incredible it felt to have a doll who looked like me, a doll that looked like my family, and a doll that wore a dress as beautiful as the one I had.
So, I think it would be cool if they came out with a Tinker Bell doll and admitted that they were inspired by an older Barbie. A phrase like that is what people dream about, Shahidi said.That’s the last thing I ever expected to hear.