Yasmeen Fletcher (born March 1, 2003) is an American actress of Lebanese decent on her mothers side. She's best known for playing the character of Nakia Bahadir a student at Coles Academic High School in Jersey City who is close friends with Kamala Khan in the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
Yasmeen Fletcher | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 1, 2003 Aliso Viejo , Orange County, CA |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2019–present |
Early life
Fletcher was born in Aliso Viejo, California to parents Troy and Maysoun and grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. She relocated to Los Angeles in 2018 to pursue her career in acting.
Career
Yasmeen is also well-known for portraying the character of Chandra in the 2020 Disney Channel original movie Upside-Down Magic, Kaitlin in the Disney+ series Andi Mack, and Yasmeen in the 2019 movie Ham on Rye.
Yasmeen was very excited about getting the Ms. Marvel role. “I’m not going to lie. I thought my managers were joking,” Yasmeen recalling the moment she found out she was cast in the Disney+ series. Just two weeks earlier, she was told the role wasn’t going her way, so the news was unexpected. In a span of days, Fletcher went from being sad about the loss of the part to packing her bags to start filming one of the most highly anticipated new Marvel shows. It was a roller coaster of emotions for the 19-year-old, but it was all worth it in the end. She could finally see herself represented in a superhero story, so to now be a part of that on a bigger scale comes with a great sense of pride.
“It’s beyond fulfilling being a part of something that, in comic form, made me feel so seen. Even though Ms. Marvel is Pakistani and I’m Lebanese, the ethnic and cultural growing-up portion I saw myself in,” she says. “So I can’t even imagine how it’s going to feel for young Pakistani and Muslim teens or Lebanese teens or Middle Eastern or South Asian teens to finally see themselves on-screen. Seeing the first two episodes, for some reason, I was able to completely remove myself and just watch as a fan, and I was beaming the whole time because it truly is a fantastic form of representation, and I can’t wait to see people’s reactions.”
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Ham on Rye | Yasmeen | |
| 2019 | Andi Mack | Kaitlin | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Upside-Down Magic | Chandra | Disney Channel Original Movie |
| 2021 | Let Us In | Carly | |
| 2022 | Ms. Marvel | Nakia Bahadir | Main role |