Hand-plucked from an open casting call in Dallas, the 15-year-old has the hit-making machine that catapulted Cyrus, Hilary Duff and Zac Efron to stardom behind her.

FORBES: Magazine Article

There is no open casting for actors in Saudi Arabia and it is hard to find either women or girls to appear on film because it is regarded negatively by conservatives in the country.

BBC: Haifa al Mansour becomes first female Saudi director

While I think the industry is pretty open on casting, it's not that open on making serious movies in general, and serious African-American movies are probably even harder to get financed.

CNN: Cover story: Where's the diversity at the Oscars?