First appeared on E!online
Malia Obama is voting for a fresh start.
As her Hollywood career takes off, Barack and Michelle Obama's eldest daughter is dropping her last name, adopting her middle name and officially calling herself Maria Ann for her latest film project, The Heart. became.
Fans did a double take when Malia Obama's pen name was revealed in the Sundance Institute's “Meet the Artist” spotlight video. In this video she introduced her to her film director Maria Anne, but this was apparently an attempt to distance her from her powerful parents who started her career in film. is. Entertainment by Higher Ground Productions.
The former president and first lady are now movie moguls, but after Malia Obama, 25, made her red carpet debut at the premiere of The Heart earlier this month, they announced they will not be attending the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. There wasn't.
Malia Obama described her project in Sundance Spotlight as “a strange little story, a bit of a fable, about a man grieving the death of his mother, who left an unusual wish in her will.”
Photo: Malia Obama and Sasha Obama over the years
The film, produced by Donald Glover's company Gilga, is Malia Obama's directorial debut, although she already has a screenwriting credit as a staff writer on the Amazon Prime show Swarm.
“She's a very professional person,” Swarm co-creator Janine Nabors said of the Harvard graduate in a January 2023 interview with Vanity Fair. “She's an amazing writer and artist.”
Glover echoed that sentiment, praising Malia Obama and noting that her famous parents don't influence how she's treated on set.
“I think she's someone that really good things are about to happen,” he told Vanity Fair in March 2022. [former] The president's daughter. ”
Of course, Malia Obama isn't the first celebrity child to take on a stage name in Hollywood to distance herself from her family. Nicolas Cage changed his last name from Coppola, and Angelina Jolie ditched the last name Voight.