Grown-ish is a spinoff of the ABC comedy Black-ish. The show stars Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson, the eldest daughter of Dre (Anthony Anderson) and Bo (Tracee Ellis Ross) who goes off to study at a local liberal arts college in California. Grown-ish tells the tale of Zoey’s adventures and struggles with the new group of friends she has found at Cal U and how together they must navigate their transition into adulthood. The show had a backdoor pilot on an episode of Black-ish in 2017 in which Dre drops Zoey off at college for orientation.
Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi)
Zoey has had quite a journey at Cal U. She entered as a freshman fashion design major, but decided to take time off to go on tour with Joey Badass (who appears as himself) as his personal stylist. Eventually, she decided to come back to school to get her degree and will manage to graduate with all her friends. After a few years of “will they/won’t they”, she finally began a relationship with Aaron (Trevor Jackson). However, when the first part of the season ended, they were in a little bit of turmoil as Aaron’s jealousy over Zoey’s friendship with her ex, Luca (Luka Sabbat) boiled over into a physical altercation.
Shahidi has been acting since she was six years old. She will be starring as Tinker Bell in the upcoming film Peter Pan and Wendy. She is also an outspoken activist and has been recognized by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.
Aaron Jackson (Trevor Jackson)
As the object of Zoey’s affection, Aaron is very involved in campus issues involving race. He and Zoey had an antagonistic, yet electric connection right from the start. They don’t find their way into each other's arms until the end of Season 3, but it hasn’t been all wine and roses. He graduated at the end of Season 3 and has since been teaching while Zoey is in her senior year. At the end of the first half of Season 4, he came to blows with Luca, and his future with Zoey was left in question.
Jackson is an accomplished dancer and singer. He has also had major roles in Eureka, AmericanCrime, and the film, Let It Shine.
Ana Torres (Francia Raisa)
Ana has been one of Zoey’s roommates since day one. She sticks out in the group as the lone Conservative Republican and is constantly arguing her viewpoint with Nomi and Aaron specifically. She dated Javi (Henri Esteve) for most of the first half of Season 4 until they decided to end their relationship. In a moment of weakness, she hooked up with Vivek (Jordan Buhat) and swore him to secrecy. She is majoring in Political Science.
Francia Raisa was one of the stars of The Secret Life of the American Teenager from 2008 - 2013. She also had roles in Bring It On: All or Nothing and The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream.
Nomi Segal (Emily Arlook)
Nomi is one of Zoey’s best friends. She took a year off from Cal U to have her baby daughter, Luna, after a one-night stand with Phil (Tommy O’Brien). After Phil walked away from Nomi when she revealed they had a child, she was stunned to run into him at the end of the semester party in the first-half finale. I’m guessing this isn’t the last time we will see Phil in this upcoming season.
Emily Arlook has had bit parts on The Good Place and Pillow Talk and most recently can be seen in the series Showmance.
Jazz Forster (Chloe Bailey)
As another one of Zoey's best friends, Jazz has had a rough year. Her sister qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in track and Jazz fell short. Jazz also ended her relationship with Doug (Diggy Simmons) and has a tough time moving on. She has recently begun dating Des (Warren Egypt Franklin). Des is bisexual and Jazz has struggles with that as well as finding it difficult to watch Doug move on without her. She is an Economics major.
Chloe is in the singing duo Chloe x Halle with her sister. She has appeared in the feature films LastHoliday and Joyful Noise, as well as a cameo in the visual album, Beyoncé: Lemonade.
Vivek Shah (Jordan Buhat)
Vivek is a rich kid majoring in engineering, but he also sells various drugs as a side hustle on campus. After being arrested, he was expelled in the first part of Season 4 much to the disgust of his father. He is currently appealing his suspension and lives with the girls at their ridiculously nice campus house. After his recent hookup with Ana, it will be interesting to see where Vivek's priorities will lie.
Grown-ish is Jordan Buhat’s first major role.
Luca Hall (Luka Sabbat)
Luca is eccentric and cool. He thrives on keeping the peace and remaining as chill as possible. He is also a fashion design major and dated Zoey in their sophomore year. They have remained close friends, much to the dismay of her current boyfriend, Aaron. Luca is insanely popular without putting any effort into it which simultaneously is admirable and infuriating to his friends.
Sabbat had a small role in the 2019 film The Dead Don’t Die. Grown-ish is his first major television role.
Sky Forster (Halle Bailey)
As Jazz’s twin sister, Sky left for Tokyo at the end of Season 3 to compete in the Olympics. Sky and her sister trained together for years and although it was difficult, she had to leave Cal U to compete. She did not appear in the first half of Season 4, so here’s hoping she’ll be in the second half. She is an Early Childhood Education major.
Halle Bailey is one half of the successful singing duo Chloe x Halle with her sister. She will also be starring as Princess Ariel in the upcoming live-action feature, The Little Mermaid in 2023.
Doug Edwards (Diggy Simmons)
Doug is best friends with Aaron, Vivek, and Luca. He dated Jazz for a while, but when she slept with someone else while they were broken up, he couldn’t forgive her. He has since started dating Luca’s sister in secret and is terrified Luca will see this as a betrayal.
Diggy was first seen on TV on the reality show Run’s House as he is the son of Rev. Run from Run D.M.C. He was upgraded from recurring to a main character in Season 3 of Grown-ish.
Kiela Hall (Daniella Perkins)
Kiela is Luca’s younger sister who is a freshman at Cal U. She and Doug have an immediate attraction and begin a secret romance. Kiela is also very outspoken on campus about racial injustice and has no problem being at the forefront of protests with a megaphone.
Daniella Perkins is a YouTube and Tik Tok personality who made her television debut on Girl Meets World back in 2016. She also appeared on the Nickelodeon shows Legendary Dudas and KnightSquad.
Charlie Telphy (Deon Cole)
Charlie is a co-worker of Dre on Black-ish and inexplicably turns up as one of the night professors at Cal U. His character becomes the Dean in Season 2. It is never explained how he has two completely different full-time careers on Black-ish as well as Grown-ish.
Cole’s big break came on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Conan. He has starred on Black-ish as Charlie since 2014. He also had roles on Angie Tribeca and in the Netflix film The Harder They Fall.
In addition to Anderson and Ross, Black-ish cast members Laurence Fishburne, Marcus Scribner, Miles Brown, and Marsai Martin have also guest-starred. The final season of Black-ish is currently airing on ABC. The second half of Season 4 of Grown-ish premieres on January 27th on Freeform. Both Grown-ish and Black-ish are available to stream on Hulu.
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