Meet Ariana Neal, the Young Nicki Minaj on ABC Family's 'Nicki'
Turns out Nicki Minaj didn't go with any of our suggestions to play her in her upcoming autobiographical ABC Family series, but that's alright, because the girl who got the gig seems absolutely awesome.
Per today's casting announcement, the role of Nicki's Young Nicki has gone to Ariana Neal, who has appeared in Fruitvale Station, Get Hard, and, as the baby version of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, in VH1's CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story. The actress' chops are immediately evident from her résumé and a string of clips on both her website and YouTube account.
We'll dig in a little more in a moment, but first, watch above as Ariana Neal annihilates Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down" in a video posted in May 2015.
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