‘Grown-ish’: Daniella Perkins Upped To Series Regular For Season 5, Six Join As Recurring
EXCLUSIVE: We’ll be seeing more of Kiela in the upcoming fifth season of Freeform’s Grown-ish. Daniella Perkins, who recurred as the character in Season 4, has been promoted to series regular for the upcoming fifth season. Additionally, Matthew Sato (Doogie Kamealoha M.D.), Tara Raani, Justine Skye (Already Gone), Amelie Zilber, Ceyair Wright (Space Jam: A New Legacy) and Slick Woods have joined the cast in recurring roles in the series starring Yara Shahidi.
Perkins’ Kiela, a sophomore, is Luca’s little sister but she’s trying to forge her own path at Cal U.
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Perkins appeared in 10 episodes last season.
In Grown-ish Season 5, on the heels of big sister Zoey’s (Shahidi). graduation, Andre Johnson Jr. (Marcus Scribner), AKA Junior, enrolls at Cal U and embarks on his own journey to being “grown.
Bogdana Ferguson/Elliot Huntley/Ty Ferg/ Mike Quinn/David Esterson/Jason Kibbler
Raani plays Zaara, a first-generation Muslim-American. She is a sophomore, type A overachiever with a lot of swagger. Zaara is queer and open with her sexuality.
Skye plays Annika, a funny, sharp, and extremely ambitious freshman. She chose Cal U because it was good for her brand.
Zilber plays Lauryn, a freshman who is a little shy and awkward, and sometimes a bit naive, so she overcompensates in an attempt to mask her insecurities. She’s a devout Christian, but very open-minded.
Wright plays Zeke, a contemporary all-American football player who is super confident and comfortable in his own skin, but still extremely endearing.
Sato plays Brandon, a sophomore at Cal U, who is charming as hell, smart, and an overachiever who’s comfortable in any situation. His eyes are set on a political future with the goal of creating change.
Woods plays Slick, a freshman who tells it like it is. Slick Is a style icon with no filter.
Grown-ish season 5 is produced by ABC Signature Studios and is executive produced by Kenya Barris, Zakiyyah Alexander, Courtney Lilly, Craig Doyle, Yara Shahidi, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland, E. Brian Dobbins and Michael Petok. The series is produced by ABC Signature. Barris co-created the series with Larry Wilmore.
Season 5 premieres Wednesday, July 20 at 10 pm.
Perkins previously starred in Nickelodeon’s Knight Squad as Ciara. She also co-hosts Drop That Seat with Kida The Great from Executive Producer Nick Cannon and she voices Winnie in the animated miniseries Middle School Moguls opposite Jane Lynch and Tim Gunn. Her past credits include a series regular role on Nickelodeon’s Legendary Dudas as well as a guest star role on Disney’s Girl Meets World. She played the leading role of Milly in the Nickelodeon TV movie Blurt.
Sato can be seen on Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha M.D. His earlier credits include CBS’ Hawaii Five-O, Nickelodeon’s Side Hustle and Peacock’s Saved by the Bell. He also has directed multiple music videos and short films.
Musician Skye’s single, “Know Myself,” has accumulated over 57 million streams to date, and her song “Collide,” which features Tyga, was featured on ScHoolboy Q’s Grammy-nominated album Blank Face. She also launched a weekly Instagram music series with Timbaland titled “Space & Time Sessions” during the 2020 pandemic. Acting credits include Already Gone (2019), Tales (2019) and How High 2 (2019).
Zilber is a 20-year-old political activist and actress who uses her platform to educate her audience of 2.6M (Instagram) and 7.3M (TikTok) on politics. Across her platforms, she shares a variety of content, which she describes as “beauty and fashion with a socially conscious twist.” She also hosts the Facebook roundtable talk show Don’t @ Me. The show features Zilber discussing key issues facing young people — ranging from voter registration to racial discrimination to climate change — with a panel of activists that includes Vanessa Pena, Zahra and Taylor Cassidy.
Wright, a USC four-star cornerback, starred as LeBron James’ son in Space Jam: A New Legacy. He’s in production currently starring alongside Craig Robinson in Time Tripper directed by Adam Mason (Songbird). Wright is the nation’s 77th-best player on the 247Sports composite and the sixth-best cornerback.
Woods is best known for her modeling campaigns with Moschino, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs, and has also appeared in runway shows for Yeezy, Fendi and Miu Miu. In 2017, Woods was named as one of the faces of Rihanna’s makeup line, Fenty Beauty. She has also been seen in Vogue, ELLE, i-D and Glamour, among others.
Raani is a queer actor, writer, and model with a background in sketch comedy. She was executive producer and anchor of Wellesley College’s satire news show The Boobtube. Raani is also known for writing and starring in the episodic TikTok series My Brother’s Match, following the life of a young New York lesbian. She also recently wrapped filming The Late Shift directed by Alan Scott Neal. As a model, Raani has been featured in Vogue Italia, Teen Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, and The Cut.
Zilber is repped by UTA and Grandview. Wright is repped by Mark Schulman at 3 Arts and Domina Holbeck at A3. Perkins is repped by UTA, Rise Management and Yorn Levine Barnes. Skye is repped by ICM and Orienteer. Sato is repped by AEFH and Luber Roklin Entertainment. Woods is repped by CAA and Afrikaa Johnson at FTA Gallery. Raani is repped by by U-Shin Kim and Chiara Licciardello at UGA Talent.
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