Inside Zendaya’s double blockbuster year

WASHINGTON:

From film to fashion, former teen actress Zendaya has emerged as one of the few bona fide A-list superstars of her generation, thanks to a stunning recent string of successes both on screen and on the red carpet.

The 27-year-old American stars in two of Hollywood’s highest-profile films of the year so far – Dune: Part Two and challengers – while also finding time to co-host New York’s Met Gala earlier this week. Her appearance in two separate dazzling outfits at the annual showbiz summit in Manhattan set social media ablaze and wowed critics who are increasingly referring to Zendaya as a “fashion icon.”

This is just the latest accolade in a career that has seen Zendaya become the youngest star in an Emmy-winning drama, with Euphoria, release a music album, star in multiple Marvel superhero movies, and move into production. “To me, Zendaya is a thousand years old. He has already lived many lives before this one. And yet, she is as young as spring.” Dune said director Denis Villeneuve Time magazine in 2022.

“She’s timeless and she can do it all,” Villeneuve said, calling Zendaya “a cultural icon in the making.” Born Zendaya Coleman in California in 1996, the future star initially struggled with excessive shyness, according to her parents, who are both teachers. After trying her hand at sports, including basketball, Zendaya discovered a passion for the stage. Claire’s mother worked a second job at a theater in Oakland.

“She would beg me to bring her to rehearsals,” her mother recalled in a 2021 interview. Noting her transformation on stage, Zendaya’s parents decided to take her to Los Angeles for auditions. At the age of 14, she landed a role in the Disney Channel series Shake it up.

More success quickly followed, releasing a self-titled pop album in 2013, before making her big screen debut in superhero blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming. She played the role of MJ, the girlfriend of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, played by English actor Tom Holland. As the film spawned sequels, the pair became – and remain – a real-life couple.

‘Euphoria’

But it was Zendaya’s role in HBO’s dark teen drama Euphoria which established her as a formidable, adult star. She played the series’ main character Rue, a troubled youth plagued by addiction and self-destructive behavior.

The role earned her a Distinguished Lead Actress in a Drama Emmy at age 24, and she repeated the award two years later. In between those wins, Zendaya appeared in Villeneuve’s first Dune film, in a small part that was nevertheless highlighted in the film’s marketing.

Villeneuve praised Zendaya’s “authenticity” as “a new superpower” and features heavily in the sequel, which was released in March and has earned $700 million worldwide. Her other major role this year, challengersputs Zendaya as a tennis prodigy at the center of a love triangle in which rivalry, friendship and lust intertwine.

Zendaya also produced the film, after receiving the script during filming Euphoria and “falling in love” with Tashi’s character. She dazzled the red carpet at the premieres for both films in a sci-fi cyborg outfit Dune and wearing chic in the yard for challengers.

Sincere

For now, Zendaya has stepped away from her music career. Asked last month, she expressed her distaste for the business side of the music industry, before adding that she would “maybe put out a little song” in the future. She remains focused and outspoken on issues of diversity and representation. During her late teenage years at Disney, Zendaya pushed for the inclusion of a Black family in the series KC Undercover.

“I’m the … accepted version of a black girl in Hollywood, and that has to change,” Zendaya, whose mother is white and whose father is black, said in an interview. “As a light-skinned black woman, it’s important that I use my privilege, my platform, to show you how much beauty there is in the African-American community.”

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