Marsai Martin Makes History as the Youngest Executive Producer in Hollywood at 14

It really doesn’t matter what age one is, If one is fired up to achieving a dream, it indeed can be achieved.
This fact was on Wednesday, proven by young and budding Marsai Martin who at age 13 became the youngest executive producer in Hollywood with her body-swap comedy Little, starring Issa Rae, Regina Hall and yours truly.
Universal Pictures just released the official trailer for the upcoming movie and given by the looks of the trailer and the starry line-up, the new comedy could be the funniest movie to hit theaters in 2019. Regina Hall plays Jordan Sanders, a ruthless tech mogul who shows little regard for her overworked assistant, April (Rae).
After a confrontation with a young girl, Hall wakes up to find that she has turned back into her 13- year-old self, (Martin), leaving the underappreciated assistant April (Issa Rae) to tend to her young boss, given that she is the only one who knows her secret.
As Jordan heads back to grade school to live the life of a young adolescent, April is instructed to take over for her at the office and run the company.
The comedy also stars Justin Hartley, Tone Bell, JD McCrary and Rachel Dratch. The film will be helmed by Tina Gordon, who will also direct the upcoming 2019 comedy What Men Want starring Taraji P. Henson.
Girls Trip screenwriter, Tracy Oliver co-wrote the screenplay for Little, along with Gordon. The upcoming comedy was produced by William Packer, James Lopez and Black-ish showrunner and creator, Kenya Barris.
Little was based on an idea by Martin who came up with the film’s premise after watching the 1990’s classic, Big. At the age of 10, Martin went on to pitch the idea to Black-ish showrunner Kenya Barris, after the ABC show’s season 1 finale. With Barris enthralled with the idea, he rallied mega-producer Will Packer to bring the project to life.
While the body-switch comedy isn’t a concept new to Hollywood (17 Again, 13 Going on 30, Freaky Friday, The Change Up), the film is formative for the reason that a 14-year-old Marsai Martin will now hold the title as the youngest executive producer of a major Hollywood motion picture in history.
The 14-year-old black-ish actress said that the film was inspired by the movie Big, which she watched at the age of 10.
“It was one of my most favorite films growing up,” Martin said of the Tom Hanks classic. “After the Season 1 finale of Black-ish, we told Kenya Barris about it, and he called Will [Packer] and said: ‘Yo, you know the girl who plays Diane on Black-ish? She has this dope idea!’”
The trailer for the comedy was released Jan. 9, to rave reviews from several corners of the Internet, who (like us) are genuinely excited about the film’s release in a few months.
What’s more, this is a film created by a black girl, starring black women, directed by a black woman and written by black women, and therefore shows there is nothing little about the amount of Black Girl Magic that went into creating this film.
Marsai Martin stood out with her character Diane on “black-ish.” Her comedic timing is impeccable, reactions fittingly expressive, and she’s the perfect foil to her character’s twin, Jack, played by Miles Brown.
On how she got into acting,
At a very young age, when I was a baby, I used to mimic all of these movies, like “Dreamgirls” and “Ray,” the type of movies you wouldn’t think a little kid would know. But my parents thought I was great. Then, one day, we went to get holiday photos done, nothing big, but the photographer was like, “This girl is spectacular and really great. She knows her left and her right and it’s amazing.” The photographer gave us a business card to an acting class with Kathy Sullivan. We went there a few times and then the rest is history. We moved to California because of my dad’s job, and it wasn’t even a year yet when I got 15 national commercials and “black-ish.”
And on how she gets comedic inspirations, theb young celebrity averred;
“Probably my mom, because she’s very sweet and humble, but super hard to impress. If I tell her a joke or say what’s on my mind that’s funny and she laughs, I know I can make anybody else laugh. And she takes care of me and gets me food. [laughs]”
Admitting Beyonce is the biggest celebrity she has met, on which occasion she cried, Martin says in wy of advice to young people who want to do what she does;
“Believe in yourself. Push to your highest limit. Be confident that you can do it. If you take that one push to do it, then God’s got the rest. Just leave it up to him.”
And projecting into her future, Marsai says,
I know it’s early, but do you have any goals for your career.
” I see myself being a legend! [laughs] I don’t know what 30-year-old or 20-year-old Marsai would want, but there’s a path for me. And I want an EGOT!”
Marsai Martin is a TV actress. Born in Plano, TX. Marsai began acting before she could talk. Noticing her natural desire for the spotlight, her parents took her to the Kim Dawson Agency in Dallas where they immediately signed her at the age of 5. She soon landed her first national commercial with the agency, appearing in The Choice Hotel ad “Voice of the People”. As a student at Cathryn Sullivan Acting for Film, she attended a seminar that included several LA agents. In this seminar she secured representation with Melissa Berger at CESD.
Marsai relocated to Los Angeles in late 2013 and in a little more than 100 days has accomplished more than most struggling actors can dream of including securing a major national commercial campaign with Meineke. That meteoric whirlwind also included being cast as the co-star in a number one network comedy. Marsai plays the sassy eldest twin Diane Johnson on the ABC hit comedy Black-ish. Alongside an all-star cast including Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis-Ross and Lawrence Fishburne, the young starlet has stolen the hearts of viewers who tune in every week to see her mischievous antics on the show. Her work on the award winning show has garnered her industry recognition including the Young Artists Awards and the NAACP Image Awards.
With opportunities presenting themselves daily, Marsai is excited about what’s to come and when asked what she wants to do when she grows up her answer is simply “To be a legend.” In addition to acting, she loves singing, dancing, writing and directing her own movies and videos.
Marsai Martin’s story is indeed inspiring and she remains a big inspiration for young ones like her and biggies alike.