-Welcome to "The Tonight Show." It is great to meet you.
-Yeah. Yeah. [ Laughter ]
This is weird.
-I want to know your story.
I want to know everything about you
because I know you now from "Ms. Marvel."
But this is your first acting gig straight out of high school.
-Hell yeah. [ Laughter ]
-How does it happen? And I love that it happened.
And I love that it happened to you.
But explain to everyone.
You got a -- Was it -- -WhatsApp.
-You got a WhatsApp. -WhatsApp.
I got a WhatsApp.
My aunt forwarded me a WhatsApp of the casting call.
Super sketchy.
I don't know what casting calls look like.
But I'm, like, obsessed with Marvel,
Obsessed with Ms. Marvel, read all the comics in high school.
Dressed up as her on Halloween.
-This is you on Halloween, by the way.
-Yeah.
[ Audience awws ]
-So, I mean, this is unbelievable that
it's actually real and happening.
-Yeah. [ Applause ]
-I mean, it's crazy. How cool.
And I love your aunt, by the way.
And sent you this thing. And this is it.
Casting search for "Ms. Marvel."
-Is that not a scam?
-I mean, it looks -- Yeah.
That kind of could easily be fake.
-Totally. -But it wasn't.
-No. I sent in a very academic résumé
and the only headshot I had.
I was like, "I did 30 hours of community service and --"
Because that's what gets you roles.
Yeah, and I sent them my self-tape at like 3:00 a.m.
Wasn't going to do it.
And then the next day, I get a call.
They're like, "Do you have a lawyer?
We want to fly you to L.A."
And I was like, "I have a math test.
But can we like -- We'll figure this out. Okay."
[ Laughter ] -Do you have a lawyer? Really?
Wow, that's official, yeah.
-They, like, do all this stuff before you even get the part.
-Did you know that you had a chance at getting the part?
Can you feel it when you're auditioning or you're like, no?
-I mean, now that I have it, I can say it, but...
[ Laughter ]
-But also your character is a big fan of the Avengers,
and so are you in real life.
You know comics. You know Marvel.
-I know everything.
I used to, like, make little Avengers nail art
before the movies would come out.
-Wow. -Very active on all
the reddit forums, still am.
-Yeah, you said you would, like, pause the trailers
at different frames and try to guess what's happening.
-I used to give my parents presentations before the movies
came out so that they were on track with everything
when the new ones came out, yeah.
-This could not happen to a better person.
And then we actually have a video of when they told you --
-I'd like to say I did not have consent.
They did not tell me they were recording that.
It was a Kevin Feige jump-scare on my phone.
Like, he's my third favorite person on the planet.
You're up there. -Okay, thank you.
[ Laughter ]
Wait, so, Kevin Feige -- You don't even know --
-It's Robert Downey Jr., Billy Joel, Kevin Feige.
No one takes up that little space except, like --
-Robert Downey Jr., Billy Joel, Kevin Feige.
-Yeah.
-Me? -Yeah.
-Okay. [ Laughter ]
-It is now. -I'll take number four, yeah.
-Great. -I'll take number four, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
♪ Some folks like to get away ♪
-First talk show, I've already offended --
-♪ Take a holiday from the neighborhood ♪
♪ Hop a flight to Miami Beach ♪
-Be still my -- -Thank you.
So I'm up the list? -Yeah.
-Alright, perfect. Thank you. Billy, watch out.
But we have video of the Zoom call.
Here's Iman finding out that she was cast as Ms. Marvel.
[ Cheers and applause ]
But him just coming on is cool.
Right? -Yeah.
Kevin Feige on my phone was bigger than me getting the part.
-Just him coming on your phone? -Yeah.
-"What is going on right now?"
Even if you didn't get it, you're like,
"This is just worth it for me."
-Yeah, I was literally on my friend's driveway.
It was the last day of school. We were gonna get burritos.
And then this happened.
-That's just unbelievable. I love this story so much.
And now that you're in the MCU,
do you know secrets and stuff that we don't know?
-I know secrets. -Wow.
-You know secrets. -I know secrets.
Well, I'd like to think that I know secrets.
I don't know how much they're, like, humoring me,
but I think I know secrets.
It's like power, you know?
The first time with people, it's like money and fame.
For me, it's like MCU secrets.
-Really? So, you know stuff. -I'm set. Yeah.
-Like, can you tell me a secret that you knew that is out now
that you couldn't tell? -No, but, like, Tom Holland --
First time I met him, that was embarrassing.
No, we were trying to get this to happen
'cause it was like my last day, you know, filming in the Atlanta
stages before we moved on to location.
And he -- I was like half dressed,
about to get on my super suit.
And they were like, "Oh, we need you in makeup."
And I was like, "Okay, okay. I'll just throw on
this giant puffy jacket."
And I'm in makeup and we get a knock.
And they're like, "Someone wants to meet you."
And I'm like, "No!"
I'm like, "Okay." And so Tom Holland came in
and I'm like this the entire time.
And he goes [British accent]
"So, what's this show even about?"
[ Normal voice ] And I'm like, "Oh, what's Spider-Man about?"
'Cause I'm trying to be smart with him.
And he fully just like shows me a photo of, like,
him with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire.
And I was like, "Dude!"
[ Laughter ]
-That's the spoiler right there.
That is "the" spoiler. Wow!
So then what -- Now you became best friends.
-I -- I don't know.
But yeah, I couldn't top that.
I was like, "Oh, I have -- Ours is a coming-of-age story."
[ Laughter ] "I guess."
-That was your spoiler? -That was my spoiler.
-Who else did you get to -- I know you're also in the Marvels
with Brie Larson, who's one of our pals.
-Yeah. -I love Brie Larson.
-I love her. -She works hard, man.
-She does. -She is fantastic!
I love her so much.
So what was it like meeting Brie?
-I'm really bad at meeting famous people.
-Why?
-Like Kevin Feige, I stopped speaking.
Tom Hiddleston, I fell to the ground just out of shock.
Tom Holland, in underwear.
Brie Larson, that was a lot better 'cause I met her
over FaceTime before I got to meet her in person.
So, like, the first time we met each other,
I was like, "Oh, my God, you're real,"
and she's like, "Oh, my God, you're real!"
And we just hugged for like a solid five minutes.
It was a good hug. -I love that.
[ Audience awws ] Can we talk about "Ms. Marvel"
and what the show is about?
I know it's a coming-of-age story about a girl
dealing with getting super-- -I can do more than that. Okay.
Kamala Khan, 16-year-old kid from Jersey City.
And she's obsessed with the Avengers.
Obsessed with the simplicity of a hero's life.
They fight crime. They look cool doing it.
And, you know, Captain Marvel doesn't really have to deal with
boys or religion or high school or growing pains
or culture or family drama. The list goes on.
-Of course not. -No. So, yeah, she kind of
pines for that life and now she has super powers.
So that's cool and -- -We get to see what happens.
-We get to see what happens. And she becomes this, like, badass
version of what a hero can look like.
-Well, it can't happen to a better person.
Congratulations on this. -Thank you so much.
-I'm so happy for -- Come back. Continued success.
-Yeah. -Here we go.
I'm going to show everyone a clip.
Here's Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel.
Take a look.
♪♪
-Hold on.
♪♪
-Please let me go.
You have to let me go.
[ Laughter ]
♪♪
Whoa!
♪♪
Yes!
-Well, if that's not fun, come on!
Iman Vellani, everybody! [ Cheers and applause ]
"Ms. Marvel" premiere's tomorrow on Disney+.