The Marvel star and unconditional superfan has plans to leave her mark and safeguard Ms. Marvel’s legacy.
PHOTOS: Kayla Varley
TALENT: Iman Vellani
VIDEOGRAPHY: Mallory Turner
STYLING: Karolina Frechowicz
SET DESIGN: Maya Sassoon
MAKEUP: Hadeel Sittu
HAIR: Daniela Martinez
WORDS & PRODUCTION: Jasmine Perrier
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: Dane Peterson
LOCATION: db Atelier dtla
SPECIAL THANKS: Jill Fritzo PR
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Iman Vellani lights up a marvelous world
In person, Vellani is soft-spoken, fun-loving, and grounded. She greets us over Zoom from her childhood bedroom in Markham, Ontario, which showcases a wall filled with posters. When we speak, the 21-year-old is happy to be back home after traveling for The Marvels, celebrating her big screen debut. “Every time I go to LA, I have to come back to Markham because there’s no billboards, people don’t watch anything here,” she says with a laugh. By taking on the role of Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel in the MCU, she has become a leading lady, blockbuster star, and even comic book writer in only a couple of years. Despite getting into show business with no prior experience, she exudes an evident sense of maturity and self-awareness. “There are a lot of things where I don’t allow myself to feel how cool of an achievement they are, because this is all too crazy for me to process. But my parents really help me acknowledge everything that’s happening in my life, and their excitement gets me excited,” she says. “The fame or all the accolades weren’t ever something that I even aspired to have in my life. In my head, it’s a kind of necessary evil to make movies and meet all these wonderful people that I’ve looked up to for so long, which is what I actually want to do.”
“I think I did want to be an actor from maybe birth to high school, but it wasn’t ever a thing that I would say out loud,” she says. In her hometown, Vellani went to an art school and recalls being quietly into all aspects of the industry. “I genuinely loved being on stage, but then I started getting more infatuated by the behind-the-scenes work, lighting design, writing, directing plays for my school, and working with people to build their vision.” She found out about her casting on her last day of high school. “I got the call in front of my friends, we were out getting some lunch, and they were super confused because I had not told them that I had even auditioned in the first place. Then I immediately texted my parents on our WhatsApp group chat. When I came home, everyone was in this really weird phase of shock. My family is so far removed from the film industry, we couldn’t believe any of it until I was actually on set filming the thing.” In another universe, she would have gone to university to study integrated media. “I was so interested in the different jobs that there were outside of director, actor, producer, or writer. In a sense, I’m getting an insane crash course by working on these large film sets with Marvel — in between takes, you’re observing and learning so much, and you have those people directly there to talk to if you have any questions. I’m basically still in my college years and I’m treating it as such.”
It is hard not to fall for Vellani’s performance when her genuine presence and sparkling energy shine through. As an avid superhero enthusiast herself, you get the sense that there is a familiar feeling when she plays the Pakistani-American teenager from Jersey City. “She is a true representation of fandom. When I first started, I was coming out of my peak Marvel fandom and Avengers: Endgame had just come out. So all Kamala’s reactions — like her being excited over AvengerCon and all these incredible superhero things — that was me being excited in real life. Not that I’m not obsessed anymore, but I’ve seen how the sausage is made and I’m way more practical and pragmatic about how I look at the film industry as a whole.” Because of that, Vellani’s high contribution to the character came naturally. “I didn’t realize this was rare,” she says, touching on the encouraging and collaborative working environment around her. “On Ms. Marvel, we were all given space to give our opinions and change lines, which was super validating. They truly cared about how comfortable we were with the story that we were telling, because it’s obvious when actors are distanced from the material. Our producer, Sana Amanat, is like the go-to person. And we had such incredible writers like Sophie Miller, who is very Gen Z and understands the teenager voice. Because the last thing you want is 40-year-olds writing for 16-year-olds.”
The opening sequence of Ms. Marvel introduced a vibrant collage-style animation of an Avengers battle scene created by Kamala, which was inspired by a stop-motion video Vellani had made with her action figures. “I sent it to Kevin Feige and our producers as a joke because I was really bored during our quarantine period, and they were like, ‘This is great, we should be doing this instead.’ Kamala’s notebook is inspired by a notebook that I carry around, so there’s a lot of things where they just took stuff from my life that I was more than happy to give.” Starring as the titular character does set high standards for the newcomer, but she couldn’t have imagined a better starting point to prepare herself for the rest of the journey. “I definitely have a lot more appreciation for the craft because at first, I didn’t think of myself as an actor. I hated calling myself that because I felt like such a fraud,” she says on the imposter syndrome she had when entering the industry. “My perspective on myself has shifted massively after The Marvels and working with Brie [Larson], Teyonah [Parris], and Sam [Samuel L. Jackson] — seeing myself hold my own in scenes with them made me realize, ‘Oh, I can maybe do this for a living.’”
Before she knew it, Vellani had what it takes to become a trailblazer in a new generation of female superheroes. “I did not have a character like Ms. Marvel to look up to growing up, and I didn’t even realize that was something that was missing in my life,” she reflects. “This character personally made me feel comforted, seen, appreciated, and validated. And I’ve seen that happen to so many other people who are exposed to her now. I really think Ms. Marvel is the character for people who are looking for that comfort and that sense of belonging.” With her talent and drive, the ambitious young woman took matters into her own hands to establish a new legacy, driven by her personal connection to the source material. “She only debuted in 2013, so there’s still so much left we can do with the character — Spiderman and Captain America have been alive forever in the comic books and their stories are still ongoing. I want to be a part of things that I’m passionate about, because that’s the only time I’m going to shine and feel like I’m going to make a difference in the work that we’re doing.”
Vellani, who has been picking up comics since she was 13, recently co-wrote her own comic book with Sabir Pirzada, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant — and she has a whole other series coming out next year. “In a lot of ways, it is my fan fiction because I had so many ideas that went beyond the story of our TV show, but I never thought I would be able to do that,” she says. “This all happened when I told my Ms. Marvel producer, ‘Oh, if I wrote a Ms. Marvel comic, I would do this.’ And she was like, ‘If you’re serious about it, I can make a couple of calls.’ Then I had a meeting with the editorial team at Marvel Publishing.” That all came full circle when Vellani got her hands on her work at her local store. “The first time I bought it, I got it from the same man who sold me my very first comic book.” She adds, “I did my first signing in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago — the line went around the entire block, it was the craziest thing I had ever seen. Seeing people waiting there in the rain for hours, for my signature, was blowing my mind. My favorite part of all this is meeting the fans because talking to them and interacting with them makes it feel real.”
In The Marvels, Vellani effortlessly captivates our attention and brings a breath of fresh air, and the post-credit scene announces that her character arc is not ready to be over yet. “I’m in a very lucky position right now. How rare it is for actors starting off to get two projects that are seen by so many people all over the world, for Marvel, nonetheless.” While still in her debuts, the Markham native has made quite the name for herself with rave reviews for her overall performance and her first job being an Emmy-winning series [for Outstanding Motion Design]. So what does the rising star have next on her radar? “I hate answering it because I want to do so much and meet as many people as I can,” she replies. “I don’t know if acting is going to be the trajectory for my entire career, but I’m choosing wisely what I do next because I do want it to be as special as Ms. Marvel.”
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