Emily Shah

Some Lesser Known Facts About Emily Shah

• Emily Shah grew up in a multicultural family in Edison, New Jersey.

• Her mother is an American with Scottish and Welsh roots from a small town in Missouri, while her father, Prashant Shah, is a Gujarati immigrant who settled in Queens, New York.

• Her parents’ love story began when her mother, a flight attendant, was transferred to LaGuardia Airport in New York, and met Prashant while shopping for appliances. Despite initially rejecting him, his witty response won her over.

• Emily began exploring various activities from the age of 2, as her parents encouraged her to try ballet, music, painting, soccer and acting.

• Over time, she developed a deep love for performance, starting with dance, then theatre, and eventually discovering acting as her true passion.

  

• Emily was 5 when she spent a summer in Mumbai with her grandparents and received training at the Madhumati Academy of Acting and Dancing.

• Shah has trained in different fields. She trained in screenplay writing at the UCLA Writers Program, learned Taekwondo at Cezar Galvao’s The Academy, and took acting training under Stuart Rodgers.

• She also trained in acting for television commercials and improv at Weist-Barron-Ryan Acting School and learnt ballet at the Princeton Ballet School.

• In 2002, she appeared as a student in a Hindi-language film titled ‘Kehtaa Hai Dil Baar Baar,’ starring Jimmy Sheirgill, Kim Sharma, and Paresh Rawal.

  

• In 2003, she played the role of a dancer in another Hindi-language film titled ‘Out of Control,’ which starred actors Riteish Deshmukh and Hrishitaa Bhatt.

• Emily has worked in many other films, including ‘The Great New Wonderful’ (2005) (English), ‘Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota’ (2006) (Hindi), and ‘November Rule’ (2015) (English).

• In 2014, while still in high school, Emily entered the main category of the Miss New Jersey USA pageant by mistake instead of the teen section. She went on to win the crown, becoming the youngest ever Miss New Jersey USA and the first Indian American to hold the title.

  

• After winning the pageant, Emily returned to acting. She gained experience in Hollywood as a production assistant and stunt team member on films such as Jersey Boys (2014), Fast & Furious 7 (2015), Run All Night (2015), and Captain America: Civil War (2016).

  

• Shah was among the Top 20 finalists at Miss USA 2014.

• Emily has been featured in a few music videos for songs like Mickey Singh’s ‘Phone’ (2016) and ‘Hold Me’ (2016).

  

• In 2018, she played the role of ‘Mona’ in the film ‘Fortune Defies Death.’

  

• In 2018, Emily Shah met actor Mena Massoud on a dating app. Over the next few years, the two grew close, and in 2023, Mena proposed to Emily.

• In 2021, she appeared as ‘Georgia’ in a short film titled ‘CheckMate.’

• She has also acted in stage productions, including Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It,’ where she played ‘Audrey’ at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.

• Emily is involved in her family’s company, ‘Bollywood Hollywood Productions,’ where she creates international content and develops feature film scripts.

• Emily is the co-founder of Dharma Gin, a brand she launched with Mena Massoud. Crafted with ingredients like amchur, black cardamom, turmeric, saffron, and coriander, it reflects her Scottish and Indian background and his Egyptian heritage.

  

• In July 2025, Emily Shah and Mena Massoud tied the knot in Tuscany, Italy. Their wedding brought together Egyptian, Indian, and American traditions.

• Mena and Emily first had a Hindu wedding, followed by a Christian ceremony.

  

• Emily is an avid traveller and often shares her travel experiences on social media.

  

• She is adventurous and enjoys engaging in activities like jet skiing.

  

• Emily consumes alcohol occasionally.

  

• Emily is fluent in Hindi and Gujarati languages and is skilled in a wide range of accents, including New Yorker, Midwest, Southern, Valley, Indian, and British.