Trevor Jackson On The Growth And Glow-Up Of 'Grown-ish' Season 2

Grown-ish, Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) and her misfit group of friends are back for their sophomore year. In the first season of Freeform's critically acclaimed spin-off of the hit ABC sitcom Black-ish, Grown-ish explored what it means to be a member of Generation Z navigating the higher education system along with the joys and perils of adulthood. Since Zoey first set foot on the Cal U campus, she set her sites on the deliciously handsome Aaron (Trevor Jackson), a Black Lives Matter activist and outspoken sophomore whose passion and unwillingness to be silenced (and ability to pull off a rat tail unironically) made the stylish popular girl's heart flutter. Though Aaron and Zoey lived in a bubble of sexual tension and admiration for each other for much of Grown-ish’s freshman season— in the end, Zoey fell for Luca (Luka Sabbath) — a laid-back artist who matched Zoey’s fashion sense and curbed her desire to be the center of attention. 

With a new school year on the horizon — and the second season of Grown-ish debuting tonight, Shadow and Act sat down with Trevor Jackson about his explosive 2018, where Aaron and Zoey stand now, and what we can expect from the series this season. 

"Everything’s changed," Jackson said of the sophomore season of Grown-ish. "I think the characters are like a big family now trying to figure out all their shit. Should they be more comfortable now, or a closer family? Maybe. Aaron is sorting his shit out. Luca and Zoey are together. Everybody is just trying to find their rhythm, and I'm very, very excited for it." 

Continue reading at Shadow and Act.

Tyra Banks Talks 'Life Size 2' And Why Eve Was Never Supposed to Be In the Cards For Her

Nostalgia is king in the entertainment industry these days. With countless reboots and revamps in and out of the box office and on our television screens, there is something both comforting and whimsical about returning to a past time in our lives. For those of us who came of age in the new millennium, Life Size was a distinct pop culture moment. The film followed an angsty young tween, Casey (Lindsay Lohan), who while mourning her mother, inadvertently brings her Eve fashion doll (Tyra Banks) to life. The plucky Disney tale was supposed to be just another Disney Channel flick at the time, but instead, it became a phenomenon. Now, almost two decades later, Banks has stepped back into Eve’s stilettos for Freeform’s Life Size 2: A Christmas Eve. 

This time around, Eve is inadvertently awakened by Grace Manning (grown-ish actress Francia Raisa) — a spoiled twenty-something socialite turned CEO, who has been tasked with taking over her mother’s company Marathon Toys —the same organization that established the Eve dolls. 

The sequel to Life Size didn’t come together quickly. Though Banks first announced the film was in development in 2012, the movie was not greenlit until April 2017. Nearly six years after she first began discussing a sequel to Life Size, Shadow and Act sat down to chat with Banks about becoming Eve again, why the sequel is so much sexier than the original, and why she knew Raisa was the right choice to push this film forward. 

"It was so exciting to step into the high heeled shoes — the very painful high heeled shoes of Eve after eighteen years," Banks told Shadow and Act. 

Knowing how much fans loved the original, and now that the iconic supermodel was on board as an executive producer, she wanted to be confident that she gave Eve and Life Size the reverence that they deserved. 

"I wanted to make sure as an executive producer of the sequel to give you all that stuff that you loved about it the first time but switch it up. I wanted to twist it up and also mature it up a little bit so that people who watched Life Size when they were little and are now adults could have something that they could relate to." 

Continue reading at Shadow and Act.

On some supermodel shit with the iconic Tyra Banks. We talked Life Size 2, returning to Eve almost 20 years later & why the sequel is much sexier than the OG flick ✨✨#LifeSize2 #Freeform Full interview soon come, but check out my stories for a snippet 🎬

188 Likes, 24 Comments - Aramide Tinubu (@awordwitharamide) on Instagram: "On some supermodel shit with the iconic Tyra Banks. We talked Life Size 2, returning to Eve almost..."