NATCHEZ — Connie Randall has already seen “Imagine That!” starring Eddie Murphy, but she probably can’t tell you much about the plot line.

She didn’t care much about Eddie either, really.

Sure he’s funny, but for Randall there was a much cuter star attracting her attention.

Nine-year-old Yara Shahidi was making her big-screen debut and grandma was in Los Angeles to see it.

“I was so into my granddaughter and what she was doing,” Randall said. “I’m going to have to go back and watch the movie this weekend.”

Randall, a 1965 graduate of Sadie V. Thompson High School in Natchez, is the mother of Keri Shahidi who is the mother of Yara.

And though Randall never predicted it, the Shahidi family has found quite a home in show business.

Keri is a model and an actress for TV commercials. Her husband shoots TV commercials. And Yara and her two younger brothers have done commercials as well.

But last summer, Keri took Yara to audition for the part of Olivia in the movie “Imagine That!” which opened in theaters Friday.

Yara beat out 3,000 other girls over the course of nearly 15 auditions spanning three months. It was the very first movie for which she has auditioned, and in the movie business, the newbies don’t always make the cut.

“From what I understand, it’s not common at all (to succeed in your first audition,)” Keri said. “But she has that kind of luck.”

In the movie, Yara stars alongside Murphy, playing his daughter. Olivia’s parents are separated, and her father’s financial career is falling apart. But Olivia’s security blanket allows access to her imaginary world where her friends have great business tips for dad.

“I thought it was a wonderful family movie that is interesting for grownups too,” Randall said.

But for Yara, the best part comes in the kitchen.

“My favorite scene is making pancakes,” she said. “I really got to make them and make a total disaster. I get to burn them on purpose.”

Of course Yara enjoyed every part of making the movie, she said, and working with Murphy was great.

“He was super-duper fun,” she said of her co-star. “He’s really, really nice, and all his energy keeps you happy.”

Yara worked five days a week for approximately four months to shoot the movie, her mom said. She is home schooled, so schoolwork came between shoots or early in the morning.

And now that her film career has begun, it may not end anytime soon. Yara will have upcoming roles in two movies with Samuel L. Jackson and Angelina Jolie.

Randall, who now lives in Atlanta, spent three weeks in California with her daughter’s family for the “Imagine That!” premier.

Randall has already sent e-mails to friends in Natchez promoting the movie, which is showing at the Natchez Mall Cinema.

“I’m just very proud of all of them,” Randall said. “(Keri and her husband) were trying to do everything they could to develop their children, and they’ve done a wonderful job.”

Randall’s parents, Charlie R. and Ella Mae Jones, now deceased, were long-time teachers in Natchez.

Her older brother is jazz musician Olu Dara, and his son Nas is a rapper.

Performing runs in the family, and though Yara loves acting, she has other plans for her future too.

“I want to keep acting, but I also want to be a historian and an inventor,” she said. “I want to make a red button that you click. You click it and it gives you whatever you want, like if you want a beach house you could click it and a beach house would appear.”