• Malia Obama voting fresh start for Hollywood career
• Dropped famous last name in favor of middle name, Malia Ann
• First time directing film with writing credits under her belt, gaining praise for her talent and professionalism
Here is what happened:
Malia Obama is voting for a fresh start. As her Hollywood career takes off, Barack and Michelle Obama’s oldest daughter has dropped her last name in favor of her middle name, officially going by Malia Ann for her newest film project The Heart. Fans did a double take after Malia’s pen name was revealed in the Sundance Institute’s “Meet the Artist” spotlight video, which introduced her as filmmaker Malia Ann, seemingly in an effort to distance herself from her powerful parents, who have also launched careers in entertainment with Higher Ground Productions.
Although the former president and first lady are now movie moguls, Michelle and Barack did not attend the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier this month, when Malia, 25, made her red carpet debut at the premiere of The Heart. Malia described her project as “an odd little story, somewhat of fable, abut 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.
While the film—which was produced by Donald Glover’s company Gilga—was Malia’s first time directing, she already has writing credits under her belt as a staff writer on his Amazon Prime show Swarm.
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