'Us' star spills on horror movies, blockbusters and Oscar-winning co-stars at 14

Where most 14-year-old’s are busy balancing homework with maintaining their Snapchat streaks, Shahadi Wright Joseph is busy balancing back to back blockbuster movies, with stints on Broadway and of course - school.

She may still be shy of her 15th birthday but triple-threat Shahadi’s star is firmly on the rise.

Starting off on Broadway, moving into film, and now reprising her role of young Nala in Disney’s live action remake of the The Lion King, Shahadi first hit the big time playing two characters in Jordan Peele’s darkly thrilling horror film ‘Us’.

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle, Shahadi admitted she knew there was something special about the horror flick as soon as she committed to the audition.

“When finally, we got the call that I had got the part, I was definitely freaking out. It was kind of crazy I was jumping around my room,” she says of the day she was confirmed to star in the film.

“I was with my sister and she was in the kitchen doing homework, and I was like ‘Omg Jordan Peele is on the phone!’.”

Star-studded lineup

Best of all, was the fact that Shahadi was starring opposite some pretty incredible talent.

Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o stars as Shadhadi’s mother in the film, while her Black Panther co-star Winston Duke played the father.

“It was a lot of fun because Winston and Lupita and Evan (Evan Alex), we all have such great chemistry as a family that we would always help each other out on set,” she gushed, saying she learnt a lot from her famous co-stars.

“They’re such great actors so I really learnt a lot from watching them the whole time, it was just really awesome because we just got to talk and really get to know each other.”

Double challenge

It was no straightforward guns and violence gig either, Shahadi brought to life both Zora Wilson and her murderous doppleganger Umbrae.

The horror film follows a holidaying family who are confronted with twisted versions of themselves, and forced to fight for their lives.

Shahadi admitted it was a challenge embodying two such different roles in the same space, saying she barely recognises herself in the film.

“Sometimes it really feels like I’m watching someone completely different,” she admitted.

Though a terrifying flick is not everyone’s cup of tea, at the tender age of 14 Shahadi is an avid horror film fan, and one of the reasons she was so eager for the role was her love of the genre.

“I’ve never done a horror movie before but I do love horror movies which is what really drove me to make the audition,” she said.

Thank goodness for that, because suffice it to say that this is one freaky flick, not for the faint-hearted.

Fortunately Shahadi doesn’t seem to fit into that category.

With a climbing fan base and over 70k Instagram followers, Shahadi’s star is definitely on the rise.

An impressive array of film under her belt, and projects on the horizon mean I think we’re only going to be seeing more of this pint-sized powerhouse.

Us is available on DVD now

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