M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka just made her acting debut in her dad’s anticipated new flick Trap , which has just been released in cinemas. Horror film fans will already know the director, who is behind films like The Sixth Sense , Split , Glass and The Village , to name a few.
His movies have grossed over US$3.3 billion globally, per several sources. In Trap , Josh Hartnett plays a man called Cooper who takes his teenage daughter to a concert, but we soon realise something very dark is about to unfold.
Saleka plays the concert performer Lady Raven, who she said was partly inspired by the pop culture impact of megastar Taylor Swift. “I think in the world of Lady Raven, she’s not as big as Taylor Swift , but [there’s] the idea of how connected her fans feel to her and how going to her concert is such a big moment in their lives and how they feel in the room surrounded by other girls that are loving her songs,” she told Us Weekly. She added, “I think that idea was really powerful.
The effect that an artist, that a musician, can have on kids, especially and young girls – I think is a beautiful thing. And Taylor Swift is an amazing example of that.” {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Saleka is M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, who appeared in his latest film Trap. Photo: @saleka/Instagram","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/0df553b3-1082-4d1c-b2f3-6a3719e92e87_7390c88c.jpg"} Saleka is M.
Night Shyamalan’s daughter, who appeared in his latest film Trap. Photo: @saleka/Instagram Here’s what we know about M. Night Shyamalan’s budding actress daughter, Saleka: Saleka Shyamalan grew up in Bryn Mawr According to Saleka’s interview with Philly Mag, she grew up in Bryn Mawr, which is located just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue.
While we know her father is the legendary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, her mother also has an impressive background, having worked as a therapist in various counselling centres. {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Saleka Shyamalan’s mother grew up in Hong Kong and later went to the US. Photo: @saleka/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/d52a71c7-974f-438e-9f3e-e74265e031f0_7390c88c.jpg"} Saleka Shyamalan’s mother grew up in Hong Kong and later went to the US. Photo: @saleka/Instagram Saleka opened up about her family’s background in her conversation with Philly Mag, saying, “My grandparents came to Philadelphia in 1968, when they were in their late 20s, to be doctors.
My dad was actually born in India but raised here. And my mum’s side came over later. She grew up in Hong Kong and came here when she was 17.
” She’s from a “classic Asian Indian family” {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Saleka Shyamalan credits her parents with giving her a normal childhood. Photo: @saleka/Instagram","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/783d503d-952f-44ec-926c-d7496c1455f6_8a66ae79.jpg"} Saleka Shyamalan credits her parents with giving her a normal childhood.
Photo: @saleka/Instagram As per The New York Times, M. Night previously talked about how his family is traditional in many ways. “We’re a classic Asian Indian family, but maybe the difference slightly that’s interesting is rather than aiming it toward medicine, or engineering, or law – your only three options – we aimed toward the arts,” he said, per the source.
In Saleka’s interview with Philly Mag, she said that her parents helped create a “very normal life for me and my two sisters”. She added, “I got straight As, came home and studied, had a small group of friends who would all hang out at my house.” Her name holds a special meaning {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Saleka Shyamalan’s name is related to her family’s origins in Kerala, India. Photo: @saleka/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/766b2f5c-4465-4c65-b5e4-c1e0900e15b8_7390c88c.jpg"} Saleka Shyamalan’s name is related to her family’s origins in Kerala, India. Photo: @saleka/Instagram As revealed in Saleka’s interview with Philly Mag, her last name is based on her grandfather’s first name and where he comes from in Kerala, India, and the “y” is silent.
As for her first name, “All I know is that my family has always called me ‘Suh- lee -kuh.’ But there’s probably some traditional Indian pronunciation I don’t know about,” she noted. She is an American R&B singer-songwriter {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Saleka Shyamalan initially wanted to be a concert pianist before switching to writing her own songs. Photo: @saleka/Instagram","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/51d09285-458b-4da4-abfa-65fc06d7ca47_7390c88c.jpg"} Saleka Shyamalan initially wanted to be a concert pianist before switching to writing her own songs. Photo: @saleka/Instagram Before making her acting debut, Saleka was already exploring a career in the music world – and still is, with 14 of her songs being featured on Trap ’s soundtrack.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Saleka contributed 14 songs to her dad’s film Trap. Photo: @saleka/Instagram","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/3817be35-aca6-4fa0-9c41-0e41247ad8d4_8a66ae79.jpg"} Saleka contributed 14 songs to her dad’s film Trap.
Photo: @saleka/Instagram “I studied classical piano very seriously and was prepping to be a concert pianist and study at a conservatory,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “But then, when I was 16, I started feeling a desire to write and compose for myself and to use a different type of creativity, so I shifted my path.” In 2022, she released her debut album, Séance , adds the source.
M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka just made her acting debut in her dad’s anticipated new flick, Trap – the director is also behind films like The Sixth Sense, Split, Glass and The Village Besides acting, Saleka is also an R&B singer and said she grew up with a relatively ‘normal’ upbringing, despite her dad grossing over US$3.3 billion at the box office with his hit productions.
