Quvenzhane Wallis Joins ‘Black-Ish’
Quvenzhane Wallis will be joining the cast of ABC’s comedy series Black-ish. This will be the first TV role for the 15-year-old Oscar nominee. She will be playing Kyra, the younger cousin of the main character, Andre Johnson (Anthony Anderson), who ends up moving in with the Johnson brood after her household suddenly becomes volatile. Wallis will be a recurring guest star on the show’s fifth season, according to a report from Deadline.
Wallis popped up on everyone’s radar after a stunning performance as Hushpuppy in the drama film Beasts of the Southern Wild in 2012. The role catapulted her into becoming the youngest actress to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
In 2014, Wallis starred in the Annie remake, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture. In 2016, she was featured in Beyonce’s short film, Lemonade, and later authored and released two children’s books in 2017.
Her role on Black-ish will mark the young superstar’s first appearance on television. She took to Instagram to share the good news with her 28,800 followers. She added the following caption to the photo.
“WE LITTTTTT. I can’t wait for y’all to see,” she wrote before telling her followers to catch up on the show’s current season so that there will be no confusion when her character makes her first appearance.
Black-ish focuses on an upper-middle-class African-American family and the highs and lows of living in a predominately white neighborhood. The series has featured episodes that have dealt with racism, marital issues, and politics.
It was created by Kenya Barris and is executive produced by a number of individuals, including Jonathan Groff, Kenny Smith, Gail Lerner, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, and E. Brian Dobbins. The show currently stars Anthony Anderson as Andre, Tracee Ellis Ross as Rainbow, Yara Shahidi as Zoey, Marcus Scribner as Andre, Jr., Miles Brown as Jack, Marsai Martin as Diane, Jenifer Lewis as Ruby, and Laurence Fishburne as Pops.
The addition of Wallis could likely be due to the absence of eldest daughter, Zoey, played by Shahidi, who has landed her own spinoff series, Grown-ish, which was renewed for a second season earlier this year, according to E! News. Wallis will make her official debut on Season 5 in January, 2019.
Black-ish airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC and is approaching its landmark 100th episode that will pay tribute to music icon Prince.
