Marsai Martin is a teen actress and singer best known for playing the role of Diane Johnson in the popular comedy series Black-ish. In 2019, at just 14-years old, she made history when she became the youngest Black executive producer in Hollywood history with the film Little.
Little is based on many original ideas from Marsai, but inspired by the movie Big, which she viewed for the first time at the age of 10. She says it was one of her most favorite films growing up.
She comments, “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!’”.
So, the idea materialized.
Little tells the story of a woman who, when the pressures of adulthood become too much to bear, gets the chance to relive the carefree life of her younger self.
The film, which had a production budget of $20 million, went on to gross $40.7 million in box offices in the U.S. and Canada, and $48.8 million worldwide. Not too shabby!