Hollywood Vibes: Amazon "Upload" Star Zainab Johnson On Her Road To Stardom

This piece was edited based on AMT’s formatting policies.

American Muslim Today: As one of the few female Muslim women in Hollywood, we would love to know how you got into this field.

Image Courtesy of Zainab Johnson

Zainab Johnson: What moved me to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment was a friend of mine at the time. We had just graduated from college with STEM degrees; she had an engineering degree, and I had a math degree. And she got this crazy idea like, “Oh I think I am going to go to LA and be famous,” and I said, “You can’t be famous without me.” So, I tied up some loose ends, I packed up my little BMW and I drove all the way across the country.

What specifically got me into comedy was working with someone who was producing live comedy shows. When I was helping, I found very little female representation and even less ethnic female representation. I think that that did a number on my psyche and I didn’t know it. And the day that I quit my job (as a teacher), I went to an open mic and I got on stage.

AMT: Did you face any pushback from your family or community?

ZJ: So, my family has always been my community and I didn’t really get any pushback because I don’t think they understood. For one thing, my mom has 13 children, so if I am not on fire or my arm isn’t falling off, she has other people to tend to. I think it did take her a while to understand what I was doing and how I was making a living. But very early in my stand up career, I think it moved nicely, so it moved at a pace fast enough for both my mom and my siblings to sort of be okay with it.

I do need to point out that my senior year of college, my dad passed away. So, that also was an indicator or motivator. It was a “time is of the essence.”

AMT: What advice would give to someone who might be in the same shoes as you?

ZJ: Well, I would say, do it. If you are a woman of color, a person of color, if you are a Muslim person of color or any other minority group, I would say do it. I would say now is the optimal time. When I moved here, we didn’t have women in hijabs on TV as like a lead. We didn’t have a show like Ramy. We didn’t have that when I first came here. So my identity is very strong but it’s also very personal. 

Image Courtesy of Zainab Johnson

AMT: You’re doing stand-up comedy, you’re on the show “Upload,” what do you hope to achieve from your current success?

ZJ: I really hope to share, empower, educate and hopefully entertain as far as I can reach. Through my story, I hope it allows someone to be open to someone else’s story. One of the most common responses that I get after a show is, “I just feel like I am your friend. Like I just want to be your friend.” And I think that if you asked someone if they would have thought they’d been a black, Muslim girl’s friend, they may have said, “I don’t know, that’s a crazy question.” But I am just a friend that they wish they had and I happen to be a black, Muslim girl.

AMT: Let’s talk about “Upload.” What sort of person would be drawn to your character specifically?

ZJ: The character I play on “Upload” is Aleesha and I think I’m attracting the person at work that is completely involved at work and completely unattached all at the same time. You might be the coworker that everybody thinks is cool, but there’s still a question mark over her head. I think I attract all the people that end up in their coworkers business that shouldn’t be. I attract people that need an ally at work and anybody that needs to laugh.

AMT: Did you face any sort of challenges trying to play this character?

Image Courtesy of Zainab Johnson

ZJ: I did have some challenges during the first season of  “Upload,” none having to do with the actual show. My castmates are absolutely wonderful. The crew was amazing, the creator was amazing, the producers and Amazon were all there to support us. This was my first big job on TV. When you haven’t done something, the fear is that you are going to fail. Also, what a lot of people don’t know about [my character] Aleesha is that she was kind of created with me. I came to audition for something else and Greg [Daniels] said, “Wait, I think I can do something with that.” And [the character] Aleesha was born. So, I just didn’t want to disappoint.

I could watch another actress in a scene and think, “Wow, she’s so good,” and then we’d check in with each other outside of set and we’d have the same fears. I realized that I didn’t even know that was happening for them, too. I had to apply that to myself, like, “If you think she’s amazing and having the same internal struggles, chances are you might be amazing, too.”

Note: Check out Zainab in Amazon Prime’s series “Upload,” as well as her other stand up routines.