“The Sun Is Also a Star” Stars Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton cover the May 2019 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine photographed by Eric Ray Davidson.

Yara Shahidi on how her Grown-ish character, Zoey Johnson, has impacted her life: “I can tell you that I give my friends the best advice, because my character gets into so much trouble. I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, we tried the whole love-triangle thing. Doesn’t work.’”

Yara on her Grown-ish castmates/onscreen love interests, Luka Sabbat and Trevor Jackson: “It’s really funny. I forgot what story I was telling them—it wasn’t anything bad, but somebody wasn’t being the nicest to me, and I think they both offered to fight them on my behalf. I said no—I’m a pacifist! But I appreciated the gesture.”

Charles on being cast in a lead role as an Asian American: “Being an Asian-American lead for a studio film—it almost seems like it’s not real for me, you know? Growing up, I never saw anybody who looked like me, really. So it’s very emotional for me… [After seeing Crazy Rich Asians] I cried seven times. It was just so emotional. Everyone was of Asian descent, and I was like, Wow. And I’m thinking about the movie I did with Yara, and Yara is Iranian and Black. It’s very surreal.”

Charles on falling in love: “I think you can fall in love in the snap of a finger, you know? It all started when I was 13 or 14. Every girl I was with, I thought I was gonna marry… My head’s in the clouds. I’m a dreamer. I’m a hopeless romantic!”

[Photo Credit: Eric Ray Davidson/Cosmopolitan Magazine]