Malia Ann Obama has a stage name for Hollywood now

Malia Ann Obama is building up a new personality for her Hollywood career.

Barack and Michelle Obama's oldest daughter recently let go of her last name, prioritizing her middle name over it, and now officially goes by Malia Ann for her newest film The Heart.

When Malia's pen name—filmmaker Malia Ann—was revealed in the Sundance Institute's "Meet the Artist" spotlight video, fans couldn't help but notice that she was seemingly trying to detach herself from her influential parents, who have also started successful careers in entertainment with Higher Ground Productions.

Despite being movie moguls now, Michelle and Barack did not attend this month's 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where Malia, 25, had her red carpet debut at the opening of The Heart.

“An odd little story, somewhat of fable, about a man grieving the death of his mother after she leaves him an unusual request in her will," Malia described her short film in her Sundance spotlight.

Malia had previously written credits as a staff writer on his Amazon Prime series Swarm, but this was her first time directing a movie.

Swarm's co-creator Janine Nabers gushed about the Harvard grad in a January 2023 Vanity Fair interview.

"She's a very professional person," she said of Malia.