Zendaya

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman born September 1, 1996 is an American actress, singer and producer. She began her career as a child model and backup dancer, before gaining prominence for her role as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up (2010–2013).

In 2013, Zendaya was a contestant on the sixteenth season of the competition series Dancing with the Stars. From 2015 to 2018, she produced and starred as the titular spy, K.C. Cooper, in the sitcom K.C. Undercover. Her performance as a teenager struggling with drug addiction in the HBO drama series Euphoria (2019–present) led her to become the youngest winner of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Her film roles include supporting parts in the musical drama The Greatest Showman (2017) and the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and its sequel, Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019).

Zendaya began her career in music by recording songs independently and releasing the singles “Swag It Out” and “Watch Me” in 2011, the latter a collaboration with Bella Thorne. She signed with Hollywood Records in 2012 and later released her debut single, “Replay”, which reached number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. In 2013, her self-titled debut studio album debuted at No. 51 on the Billboard 200 chart. “Rewrite the Stars”, taken from the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman, was released as a single in 2018. It reached the top twenty of the United Kingdom and Australian national charts and was certified double platinum in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Early life

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born on September 1, 1996, in Oakland, California, to teacher Claire Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu Coleman. She has five older siblings. Her father is African-American, with roots in Arkansas, while her mother has German and Scottish ancestry. She attended Fruitvale Elementary School, where her mother taught for two decades. Zendaya, whose name derives from the Shona name Tendai, meaning “to give thanks”, grew as a performer in part at the nearby California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda, California, where her mother worked summers job as the house manager. She also trained at the theater’s student conservatory program. At age eight, Zendaya joined a hip-hop dance troupe called Future Shock Oakland, and was a member for three years. She also spent two years dancing hula with AHA, The Academy of Hawaiian Arts.

Zendaya attended Oakland School for the Arts and while still a student scored some roles in area theatres. At the Berkeley Playhouse, she played Little Ti Moune in Once on This Island and at TheaterWorks in Palo Alto, she played a male character Joe in Caroline, or Change. She also studied at the American Conservatory Theater. Her other stage credits include William Shakespeare’s Richard III, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It.

Career

2009–2015: Shake It Up and Dancing with the Stars

Zendaya began her career working as a fashion model for Macy’s, Mervyns, and Old Navy. She was featured in an iCarly toys ad. She also appeared as a back-up dancer in a Sears commercial featuring Disney star Selena Gomez. In 2009, she was a featured performer in the Kidz Bop music video for its cover of the song “Hot n Cold” by Katy Perry, which was released on Kidz Bop 15. She auditioned in November 2009 for the role of CeCe Jones in the sitcom Shake It Up (titled Dance Dance Chicago at the time), but she was selected as Rocky Blue instead. For her audition, she performed Michael Jackson’s “Leave Me Alone”. Shake It Up premiered on November 7, 2010, and it was watched by 6.2 million viewers, becoming Disney Channel’s second highest-rated premiere in Disney Channel’s 27-year history. In 2011 Zendaya released “Swag It Out”, a promotional independent single. The song was composed by Bobby Brackins and produced by Glenn A. Foster. She also starred in the book trailer for “From Bad To Cursed” by Katie Alender. In the same year, she released “Watch Me,” featuring Bella Thorne, on June 21. The song peaked at 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second season of Shake It Up was announced on March 16, 2011, and premiered on September 18, 2011. Zendaya hosted Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off 2011. In 2011, Target stores began selling D-Signed, a line of clothing inspired by the clothes worn by Zendaya and other cast members of Shake It Up.

Her first movie role was in the 2012 film Frenemies, a Disney Channel Original Movie. On February 29, 2012, “Something to Dance For” was released as promotional single for Live 2 Dance. For the soundtrack, Zendaya also recorded three other songs: “Made In Japan,” “Same Heart”, and “Fashion In Krytonite”, released as promotional single. On September 2, 2012, she signed to Hollywood Records. In October, Zendaya performed at the Teen Music Festival and at the Operation Smile benefit.

In February 2013, Zendaya was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 16 of Dancing with the Stars. At age 16, she was the youngest contestant ever to participate on the show, before Willow Shields succeeded her at age 14 on season 20. She was partnered up with professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy. In May, the couple finished as runners-up behind Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough. Her self-titled debut album was released on September 17, 2013. It was preceded by the single “Replay”, released on July 16, 2013, written by Tiffany Fred and Paul “Phamous” Shelton. In June 2013, Zendaya completed filming for the music video. On July 25, the Disney Channel confirmed that Shake It Up will be canceled after the end of the third season.

In August 2013, she was cast as 16-year-old Zoey Stevens, the lead character in the Disney Channel Original Movie Zapped, whose “smart phone begins to somehow control all the boys around her”. In November 2013, Zendaya was selected as Elvis Duran’s Artist of the Month and was featured on NBC’s Today, where she performed live her single “Replay”. That same month, she was cast as the lead in a Disney Channel pilot called Super Awesome Katy. It was ordered to series by Disney Channel in May 2014, with the series now under the title K.C. Undercover, and with Zendaya’s character now named K.C. Cooper rather than Katy Cooper. In 2017, Zendaya stated that she had a large influence over the renaming of her character and the retitling of the series, also deciding several key elements of the character’s personality. K.C. Undercover premiered on Disney Channel on January 18, 2015, and was renewed for a second season in May 2015.

In 2014, Zendaya was a guest judge on an episode of Project Runway: Under the Gunn. In the episode, the contestant designers were given the challenge of creating an outfit for Zendaya to wear in an upcoming concert performance.

In February 2015, after a joke made by Giuliana Rancic concerning Zendaya, in reference to her hair smelling of “patchouli oil” and “weed” at the 87th Academy Awards, Zendaya promptly took to Instagram to address the remark and point out that many successful people have “locs,” a hairstyle that has nothing to do with drugs. Mattel honored Zendaya with her own Barbie, replicating her Oscars look.

The following month, musician Timbaland confirmed that he was working with Zendaya on her second album, following her switching record labels from Disney to Republic. “Something New”, featuring Chris Brown was released on February 5 via Hollywood Records and Republic Records. The song also marks it as her first official release since signing to Republic Records.

2016–present: Film breakthrough and Euphoria

In December 2016, she appeared as a guest judge in the season finale of the 15th season of the reality television series Project Runway. Zendaya made her feature film debut as Michelle in the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was released in July 2017. The film grossed $117 million in its first weekend, ranking number one at the box office. John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter praised her as a “scene stealer,” while David Ehrlich of IndieWire called her the film’s “MVP,” despite her brief screen time. In August, she appeared in the music video for the song “Versace on the Floor” by Bruno Mars. In December, she co-starred in the musical film The Greatest Showman. She portrayed a trapeze artist who falls in love with Zac Efron’s character during a time when interracial romance was taboo. Owen Gleiberman of Variety praised her chemistry with Efron.

Zendaya was ranked one of the best dressed women in 2018 by fashion website Net-a-Porter. That September, Warner Bros. released the animated film Smallfoot, in which Zendaya voiced the yeti Meechee.

In June 2019, Zendaya began starring in the HBO drama series Euphoria, an adaptation of the Israeli series of the same name, as Rue, a 17-year-old drug addict and the narrator of the series. Ben Travers of IndieWire found her “exceptional at every turn” and wrote that she “adds heartbreaking levity to moments when her spiraling character feels invincible instead of fragile”. The Guardian‘s Rebecca Nicholson called her performance “astonishing” and “mesmerizing”, while The New Yorker‘s Doreen St. Félix deemed her “the best part” of the series. For her performance, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, becoming the youngest winner of the award. Also in 2019, she reprised her role as MJ in Spider-Man: Far from Home, which emerged as a commercial success.

Zendaya will portray Chani in the upcoming science fiction film Dune, a first part of adaptation of the 1965 novel of the same name. She also starred in Malcolm & Marie, which was filmed during first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in compliance with extensive safety protocols and lean crew to minimize health danger. Film co-stars John David Washington, and was directed by Sam Levinson, with whom she had collaborated on Euphoria. The actress allocated shares to the film to all those who were involved in its making, as a way of offering a financial bonus when the movie is sold. A portion of the proceeds was shared with Feeding America.

Upcoming projects

Zendaya will produce and star in A White Lie, as Anita Hemmings, a light-skinned, African-American woman who was the descendant of slaves and passed as white so she could attend Vassar College during the 1890s. She is also set to appear in the crime thriller film Finest Kind. Zendaya will portray Ronettes frontwoman Ronnie Spector in a biopic adapted from Spector’s memoir Be My Baby.

Other ventures

Zendaya was the face of Beats Electronics, “X-Out”, “Material Girl”, CoverGirl, and Chi Hair Care. On August 2013, she released her debut book, Between U and Me: How to Rock Your Tween Years with Style and Confidence to “help girls through the tougher parts of the tween years”. In August 2015, she debuted her shoe collection, Sole of Daya, which was her childhood nickname. In November 2016, Zendaya’s clothing line Daya by Zendaya went on sale, this collection was gender-fluid and included full range of sizes. In October 2018, she became Tommy Hilfiger brand’s ambassador and co-designed Tommy x Zendaya capsule collections. She took inspiration from the ’70s, namely the decade’s “strong, iconic women”, and her shows at PFW and NYFW has been praised for celebrating diversity and inclusivity including women of colour, plus-size and models aged up to 70, the shows were also a tribute to the pioneering icons. In 2019, Zendaya became a spokesmodel for the Lancôme, in 2020 for Bulgari and Valentino.

Philanthropy and advocacy

In 2012, Zendaya became an ambassador for Convoy of Hope. She recorded John Legend’s 2013 song “All of Me” with a portion of the proceeds going to the organization. She celebrated her 18th birthday with a campaign to help feed at least 150 hungry children in Haiti, Tanzania and the Philippines through feedONE, and in 2016 she celebrated her 20th birthday with a campaign to raise $50,000 to support Convoy’s Women’s Empowerment Initiative. Zendaya was UNICEF Trick-or-Treat 2014 campaign spokesperson. In July 2015 she visited South Africa with UNAIDS, the United Nations organization dedicated to preventing and creating access to treatment for HIV and AIDS. Then she also held a fundraiser with CrowdRise with proceeds going to non-profit, community based, Ikageng charity in Soweto for a family of AIDS orphans. When Malcolm & Marie movie filmed during pandemic was sold in 2020 a portion of the proceeds was shared with Feeding America.

Zendaya identifies as a feminist. She has previously discussed her experience as a black female in Hollywood. Zendaya has shown support for the Black Lives Matter movement; she attended the George Floyd protests in June 2020 and temporarily lent her Instagram account to Patrisse Cullors to share anti-racism resources and media.

Personal life

Zendaya owns a home in Los Angeles. She is a vegetarian. Her interests include singing, dancing, and designing clothes.