When Black-ish’s final episode aired on ABC in April 2022, Marsai Martin, who had grown up on the ABC sitcom as the sharp-tongued Diane Johnson, found herself at a pivotal juncture. Exiting both high school and the comedy series that gave her her big break at age nine, Martin was contemplating her next steps—but with the added complexity of figuring it all out in Hollywood's spotlight.
“I was 17, so it was already that time for me anyways,” she recalls. “I watched different people growing up like Yara [Shahidi] and my other friends who decided to go different routes with college. I was just trying to figure out what was for me.”
