Malia Obama, 25, Debuts Her Alias & Ditches Family Surname After Starting Movie Career
Malia Ann, a newcomer to Hollywood, is the older daughter of a very famous United States couple. She decided to ditch her last name in a bid to have a fresh start as a filmmaker and an individual.
Malia Ann is actually Malia Obama, the oldest daughter of former US president and first lady, Barack and Michelle Obama. For her latest film project, “The Heart”, the young Obama dropped her last name in favour of her middle name. As her Hollywood career has taken off, Malia’s pen name was revealed in the Sundance Institute’s “Meet the Artist” spotlight video, which introduced her as Malia Ann-filmmaker.
The move is speculated to be an attempt to distance herself from the powerful Obama parents, who themselves have launched their careers in entertainment with their production house “Higher Ground Productions” in 2018.
Malia Obama’s red carpet debut
Malia Obama made her red carpet debut as Malia Ann at the age of 25 at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier this month. She was there for the premiere of her “The Heart”.
Interestingly, the Obama parents, new movie moguls themselves, did not attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Malia Obama’s “The Heart”
Malia Ann has described her project as “an odd little story, somewhat of fable, about a man grieving the death of his mother after she leaves him an unusual request in her will,” as she put it in her Sundance spotlight.
The film “The Heart”, has been produced by Donald Glover’s company Gilga, and is Malia’s first time directing project.
Malia Obama’s previous work
Although “The Heart” is Malia’s first directing attempt, the Obama kid already has writing credits under her belt as a staff writer on Glover’s Amazon Prime show “Swarm”.
‘An incredible writer and artist’
During her time in the film industry, Malia had garnered several compliments.
According to E News, Malia’s colleague and Swarm’s co-creator Janine Nabers has said that “she’s a very professional person” in a January 2023 Vanity Fair interview. “She’s an incredible writer and artist.”
Donald Glover has also praised the Harvard grad, noting that her famous parents didn’t play a role in how she was treated on set. “I feel like she’s just somebody who’s gonna have really good things coming soon,” he told Vanity Fair in March 2022. “Her writing style is great. We can’t be easy on her just because she’s the [former] President’s daughter.”