Chris Rock’s daughter Zahra made her screen acting debut in ‘Roommates’ earlier this year
Credit: Robin Marchant/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Chris Rock and his daughter Zahra tell PEOPLE about their experience working together on Chris’ new movie Misty Green, his first as a director since 2014
- Misty Green made its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 12 and will hit theaters Oct. 9
- Rock shares Zahra, 22, and older daughter Lola, 24, with ex-wife Malaak Compton-Rock
Chris Rock wanted his daughter Zahra to see him at work on their new movie together.
Rock, 61, appeared at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, Sept. 12 for the world premiere of his new movie Misty Green, his first as a director since the 2014 release of his critically acclaimed movie Top Five.
Rock’s daughter Zahra, the younger of two daughters he shares with ex-wife Malaak Compton-Rock, appears in the new movie alongside Rosalind Eleazar, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace, Daniel Kaluuya and Adam Driver, after making her screen acting debut in Netflix’s comedy Roommates earlier this year.
“It was fun to direct her,” Rock tells PEOPLE at the PEOPLE / Entertainment Weekly and Shutterstock studio, adding that it made him think back to days he spent alongside his own father growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y.: “I used to work with my dad a lot. My dad drove a truck…but occasionally I would have to watch somebody tell my dad what to do, and that kind of stuck with me. So it was nice for my daughter to come in this atmosphere where her dad’s the boss.”
Credit: Cole Burston / AFP via Getty
The experience also allowed him to teach by example.
“It’s a real important thing,” he tells PEOPLE. “Just in my own career, I probably asked for permission way more than I had to, partly because my parents worked for people. You just think you need permission to do anything. So my daughter being in this atmosphere is very important to me.”
Zahra plays a casting receptionist in Misty Green, which follows star Eleazar, 48, as a talented actress whose career has stalled fighting for her comeback.
Zahra Rock caught up with PEOPLE on the red carpet before the movie’s premiere on Sept. 12. Being directed by her father was “amazing,” she said. “When he offered me the role I was just so excited. I was still in college and I was so excited to be able to get out there and show my stuff.” She and Chris are currently working together on the upcoming third entry in the Grown Ups series. “We’re having a great time and it’s great going to work with him every day.”
Lessons Rock has shared with Zahra?“I think it’s be true to yourself, and at least in comedy, humor comes from within,” she says. “All of that kind of stuff.”
Credit: A24
Following the film’s Sept. 13 premiere at the festival, Rock noted during the Q&A that his work has taken a different shape with a deeper focus at this stage in his life.
“I’m just at a different place in life,” he said onstage. “I’m more open just as a person. I read more, I write more. I’m 61 and…I realize there’s more work behind me than in front of me. I’m just getting it in.”
The director-actor then quipped, “You’re going to see a tap dance musical from me next. I’m going deeper as a person.”
Misty Green will also premiere at the New York Film Festival before it hits theaters Oct. 9. The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sept. 20.
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