Yara Shahidi & Charles Melton Open Up About Representation & On-Screen Love Interests

Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton are on the cover of Cosmopolitan‘s May 2019 issue out on newsstands on April 16, and we’re providing an exclusive first look on JustJared.com.

Here’s what the The Sun Is Also a Star co-stars had to say…

Yara, on how her Grown-ish character, Zoey Johnson, has impacted her life: “I can tell you that I give my friends the best advice, because my character gets into so much trouble. I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, we tried the whole love-triangle thing. Doesn’t work.’”

Yara, on her Grown-ish castmates/onscreen love interests, Luka Sabbat and Trevor Jackson: “It’s really funny. I forgot what story I was telling them—it wasn’t anything bad, but somebody wasn’t being the nicest to me, and I think they both offered to fight them on my behalf. I said no—I’m a pacifist! But I appreciated the gesture.”

Charles, on being cast in a lead role as an Asian American: “Being an Asian-American lead for a studio film—it almost seems like it’s not real for me, you know? Growing up, I never saw anybody who looked like me, really. So it’s very emotional for me… [After seeing Crazy Rich Asians] I cried seven times. It was just so emotional. Everyone was of Asian descent, and I was like, Wow. And I’m thinking about the movie I did with Yara, and Yara is Iranian and Black. It’s very surreal.”

Charles, on falling in love: “I think you can fall in love in the snap of a finger, you know? It all started when I was 13 or 14. Every girl I was with, I thought I was gonna marry…my head’s in the clouds. I’m a dreamer. I’m a hopeless romantic!”

For more from Yara and Charles, head to Cosmopolitan.com.