Iman Vellani

I was born in Pakistan, and we moved to Canada when I was 1.

I watch German art house films and then I also work on Marvel movies. And I love both of them equally.

A lot of the time, people of color don't get to be real individuals, but 'Ms. Marvel' shows Kamala and her community as real people. We want to make them as specific as possible, and I think that specificity is true representation.

If you keep generalizing people in one-dimensional ways, that's how we're gonna see them, but when you represent them in a way that reflects the way they actually live, it can open people's eyes.

My entire personality isn't Islam or being Pakistani - it's just one part my life, and if anything, my entire life was Marvel.

One day, I picked up an issue of 'Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart' by Brian Michael Bendis, and Kamala Khan was on the cover. I was like, 'Oh, my God, who is this Brown girl?' Then I went into a deep dive of 'Ms. Marvel' comics and just absolutely fell in love.

When you think of comic book readers, you never think of the brown girl, and I was that.

Being 16 and dealing with high school and boys and relationships and family drama and culture and religion - it's so confusing and complicated. Whereas being a superhero, you fight crime and you look cool doing it.

I can't do my taxes, but I've seen 'Iron Man 1' a hundred million times.

As cheesy as it sounds, being a part of the Marvel fandom just makes you feel like you're a part of something, and isn't that kind of what we all want?

I really think it's important to find a passion and explore it. You don't have to have everything figured out at 16.

I think it's so wonderful to show a child of immigrant parents who's proud of their culture and doesn't neglect it.

Marvel is one of the most accessible franchises in the entire world, and film and TV totally shape how we see people in this world.

I love a good movie where I can go crazy, be superanalytical and discuss the cinematography and the score and everything. I love when my mind gets put to work. I also love entertainment. I want to escape reality and have a good time.

With dreams, you can do literally whatever you want.

I want to be involved in work I'm proud of and has a good message, and that Hollywood hasn't really seen before.

I got interested in cinematography when I started watching Ingmar Bergman movies and a lot of Agnes Varda. But acting's working out pretty well so far, so I'll see where this takes me.

It's so awesome to be able to contribute to the official Marvel comics canon.

I've never written anything before in my entire life, but I have read many comics, so I just wrote what I would want to read. I was given a very professional tool to write what is essentially my own fan fiction.

I've listened to Bollywood music willingly now. That's a huge character development for me, I must say.

I think when you're in high school, you just feel things so intensely. All your emotions are so heightened: your crushes, your friendships, minor inconveniences. They just feel like the end of the world.

Life is not all just rom-com-y. There's a lot of ups and downs, especially when you're a teenager.

Marvel has always championed that idea of finding this idealized version of yourself through their characters - a version of yourself that can fly in space or stop a train with one hand.

Yes, I am obsessed with 'River of Dreams.' It's one of my favorite albums, my favorite song.

My aunt sent me a WhatsApp forward that she got through this entire forward chain of 'Ms. Marvel' casting calls.

I have a brother who's six years older than me and we only ever watched stuff that he wanted to watch - 'Lord of the Rings,' 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and the MCU.

Ms. Marvel' came out of nowhere and so I decided I'm not going to plan my future. I'm just going to see where life takes me. If it's an indie thing then great, if it's 'Fast and Furious 29' then great.

When I'm sad I'll rewatch 'Iron Man.'

Any person who was wearing a hat with Marvel Studios' logo on it or a jacket, I would like... I just wanted any job there. I would've been so happy doing anything for free.

Oh God, Reddit was a huge outlet for me.

A lot of the time you forget that movies are entertainment, and they're just a couple fun hours of escapism.

The Marvels' is a fun movie, it's a good time.

We wrapped 'Ms. Marvel' and then in a couple weeks, I was in London for 'The Marvels.' Everything was still pretty fresh, I was in the same headspace coming from the TV show to the film. There was no in-between time. I was Ms. Marvel for like, two years straight. Can't complain!

On 'The Marvels,' we had like almost two hours worth of content in 80-something days.

I hope that we're able to shift the perspective on how we see Muslims in mainstream media.

From time to time, people find my Letterboxd and they make their own opinions about my opinions.

I went to a very diverse school and its so important to showcase a child of immigrant parents who is proud of their culture, doesn't neglect it and doesn't feel that they need to separate themselves from religion, their family or their culture to become their own person.

My parents used to give me a $20 allowance and I'd spend it all on McDonald's and 'Iron Man' comics. It was an unhealthy obsession.

I don't know if superpowers would have taken away from the awkwardness of my coming of age.

I think 'Ms. Marvel' always understood fan culture on such a cellular level and it just really elevated the storytelling in a really unique way.

In elementary school, there was a teacher who would always call me an Apple product - like I-Man, iPod. I hate it when people emphasize the 'man' because my name means 'Faith;' it's a very important Arabic word, especially in the Quran.

I had some acting experience; I studied theater in high school, but high school theater does not compare to Marvel Universe, let me tell you that.

Beyond representation on screen, seeing ethnic names in the credits matters so much.

It's super weird that the same people I look up to are now acknowledging my existence. Like, what do you do with that? I don't know.

I carry this little book around everywhere. It's like my journal, but also like ideas and drawings and everything.

On 'The Marvels,' I was the youngest and the newest and worked with established Oscar-winning actors. So that could be really intimidating, but they made me feel so welcome; they are so human, gave me good advice, and just held my hand throughout the entire process.

I felt like my culture was taboo, which is so wrong. And I, you know, I felt like everything that my family does was not normal, and then I had to conform to what being normal was.

I grew up with all four of my grandparents.

I grew up in Markham.

No one's just Muslim or just Pakistani or just a 16-year-old kid from Jersey City.