Zendaya - Face of the future

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FACE OF THE FUTURE

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A STAR WAS BORN

A SLICE OF REAL HOLLYWOOD

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Z SWAGGERS

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BEST MOVIES OF ZENDAYA LET’S GET EUPHORIC RUE’S LETTER

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ZENDAYA

I’ve really found the power in just doing what makes me happy.”

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Where it all started - 1

Zendaya shares what it’s like to work in the film industry and how she prepares for major Hollywood.

Disney is one of the best platforms for any aspiring child actor to get their start in Hollywood. They are working in one of the world’s biggest entertainment platforms showcasing their skills to millions of people. Actress Zendaya, who started her career on the show Shake It Off as a teenager, explains that working in the film industry is filled with challenges even when she is given great opportunities.

Zendaya explains that despite being known for many different things, she is currently focusing on improving her acting skills. She says, “Right now, acting has been a great outlet. It’s definitely been a process, especially because I’m coming from this very different world of Disney. Having been consistently on a television show, I felt stagnant. Not having that anymore, I am being seen as a real actress, doing what makes me feel pushed and motivated. I don’t necessarily think comfort is always the best place to live in. I’m kind of excited as I decide what projects I want to take on or if I want to produce. I’ve really found the power in just doing what makes me happy.”

FACE OF THE FUTURE

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“There’s going to be a lot of different opinions and a lot of people telling you what you should do and what you shouldn’t do, but I had to home in on what Zendaya wanted and drive straight toward that. There’s something liberating about making decisions for yourself.

Zendaya says she has received a lot of advice suggesting what direction she needs to go in with her career. But, she says she is committed to focusing on what she wants to do in her career. She explains, “There’s going to be a lot of different opinions and a lot of people telling you what you should do and what you shouldn’t do, but I had to home in on what Zendaya wanted and drive straight toward that. There’s something liberating about making decisions for yourself. A huge part of it was to take my time. I wanted to create who I was as a person outside of my Disney character.”

The role of Michelle Jones in Spider-Man: Homecoming didn’t seem to fit her but she ended up getting it. he recalls, “I definitely went into it like, ‘Hopefully they’ll’—as they call it in the industry—’go ethnic.’ I remember making the decision to straighten my hair. I didn’t know that they were going to be more diverse in their casting. I didn’t know that I was walking into a situation where they were already breaking the rules. You get so used to having to break the rules for people.”

Even though she is a famous actress, that did not mean landing acting jobs was easy for her. Zendaya says, “There was a lot of not getting the audition that I wanted and often going out for parts that weren’t written for a girl who looks like me and just saying, ‘Hey, see me anyway,’ until the right thing stuck. Whenever I’ve been persuaded or trying to do something to please somebody else or because there’s pressure from people in general to make a decision, it always blows up in my face. So I have been in this zone of only doing shit because I want to do it and because it feels right all the way through.”

I have been in this zone of only doing shit because I want to do it and because it feels right all the way through.”

“I have my African first name

“And then you have Stoermer, and then you have Coleman.

So, it’s literally me in a name,” she says.

I have a middle name, that is [my mom’s] middle name which is French, but we did an African spelling

I literally have a timeline in history in my name.”

There are clues that her father, who moved with her to Los Angeles when she was thirteen, may be a key piece of the puzzle. There is, for instance, a certain refrain running through the stories from her childhood. She lowers her voice into a spot-on imitation of Ajamu when she says it “We’re going home.” It’s what he would say whenever Zendaya misbehaved. The time she carried on at her grandparents’ Thanksgiving table “We’re going home.” The time she “acted like a diva,” as she puts it, on a Sears job “We’re going home.” But while in person Ajamu does inspire the instant respect one reserves for, well, a supremely cool P.E. teacher if he told me to run laps around Soho House right now, I’d abandon my glass of Malbec and strive for record time he tells these same stories with a different emphasis. “Man, she was two,” Ajamu says of the Thanksgiving incident, marveling at his daughter’s iron will even then. “Got a block away from home before she finally gave up.” Of the Sears episode, he recalls her obstinate pleading “Dad, I can’t go home a failure! I can’t not do this!” He shakes his head.

Zendaya explains it herself when she arrives at Soho House, unnoticed in sweats and a cardigan. She is tall, five feet ten, with curly hair that she’ll soon pile into a topknot. If I didn’t know that minutes ago she was swinging from a chain, I might take her for a stylish first-year med student. She sits down on a tufted sofa next to Ajamu and orders cauliflower rice and a ginger ale. Zendaya often plays the clown, teasing her dad, her assistant, Darnell, and especially her stylist, Law Roach, with uncanny impressions. Now, for the first time, I get a glimpse of the take-no-prisoners, suffer-no-fools businesswoman her family and inner circle frequently describe.

“I got in a room with the heads of Disney Channel,” Zendaya says, recounting a meeting that took place four years ago, when she was sixteen. By this time she had already completed her first Disney show, Shake It Up, in which she costarred as an aspiring dancer alongside Bella Thorne. For her to sign on to K.C. Undercover, she decided, Disney would need to meet demands. First they would need to make her a producer. Next she objected to the show’s title, which at the time was Super Awesome Katy. “I was like, ‘The title is whack. That’s gonna change.’ ” She then rejected her character’s name (“Do I look like a Katy to you?”) and insisted that the show feature a family of color.

There were other conditions: “I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t good at singing or acting or dancing. That she wasn’t artistically inclined. I didn’t want them to all of a sudden be like, ‘Oh, yeah, and then she sings this episode!’ No. She can’t dance; she can’t sing. She can’t do that stuff. There are other things that a girl can be.” Zendaya issued some final requirements: “I want her to be martial arts–trained. I want her to be able to do everything that a guy can do. I want her to be just as smart as everybody else. I want her to be a brainiac. I want her to be able to think on her feet. But I also want her to be socially awkward, not a cool kid. I want her to be normal with an extraordinary life.”

In using her leverage to seize control in this manner, Ajamu says, “she broke all the rules.” To Zendaya, it was a no-brainer. “A lot of people don’t realize their power,” she says. “I have so many

friends who say yes to everything or feel like they can’t stand up for themselves in a situation.” She is now pounding a fist on the dining table at Soho House. “No: You have the power.”

THIS SELF-ASSUREDNESS—this innate, unwavering belief in her own value and that of others—is exactly what Zendaya projects to her young fans, both through the Disney character she helped create and in real life. Right as the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and so many more were sending the message that black lives did not matter, Zendaya was bringing a strong character of color into the world of children’s television, and in doing so became a kind of beacon—one who continues to say, over and over, “I know your worth.” It’s why she’s trailed by more than 41 million

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followers on Instagram. And it’s why, her Spider-Man costar Laura Harrier says, recalling the weeks they spent shooting in Georgia last summer, “we’d be getting our nails done in Atlanta, and people would come up to her, crying.”

The moment Zendaya sealed this bond with her fans was unplanned. In 2015, at eighteen, she attended the Academy Awards in a white off-the-shoulder goddess gown by Vivienne Westwood, paired with thick, long, flowing black dreadlocks. The fashion world took notice. “One part Lisa Bonet, one part Venus de Milo,” said this magazine’s website. Then, in an Oscars segment the following day, the E! host Giuliana Rancic remarked of Zendaya’s look, “I feel like she smells like patchouli oil or weed.”

After yelling at the TV, Zendaya recalls, “I went to my room, gathered my thoughts, and wrote something down, which is what two teachers would have wanted me to do.” Her response came that night, uploaded to Instagram. “There is a fine line between what is funny and disrespectful,” she wrote. “I’ll have you know my father, brother, best childhood friend, and little cousins all have locs.” The Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay and Harvard professor Vincent Brown do, too, she noted, along with many other luminaries. “My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to

Oakland was defined by scrappy outsiders long before it was infused with Berkeley politics. Jack London grew up there, as did Gertrude Stein. (Stein was refer-

Zendaya and Ajamu got to Hollywood, in 2010, they had an edge. (Stoermer stayed in Oakland and worked two jobs to support the family.) Ajamu didn’t buy into the stage-parent culture, and Zendaya didn’t care about money or feel pressure to accept roles she didn’t respect. “We weren’t used to dealing with people in a Hollywood way,” she says. “There’s just a certain layer of fake bullshit.” Navigating issues of race and casting could be trickier, says Stoermer, who is white. She cites an uproar that erupted in 2014, when Zendaya signed on to star in a biopic about Aaliyah and a vocal contingent took the position that she wasn’t “black enough” to play the R&B singer. (Zendaya pulled out of the project, though she says she did so over concerns about its production value.) “It’s a hard thing in Hollywood when you’re mixed,” Stoermer says. “You’re not white enough to be white, and you’re not black enough to be black.” Zendaya forged a strong identity in those years. At first she tried to cultivate a Disney-girl persona. “Slowly I realized that was stupid. People think I’m cool when I’m Zendaya.”

ON A SLEEPY SATURDAY MORNING, I tag along with Zendaya for a visit to Catwalk, a vintage shop on Fairfax where Law Roach goes for inspiration. The store’s owners, Renee Johnston and Michelle Webb, maintain a fabled archive of couture, known as the “back room,” to which few gain access. Parked near a case of cat-eye glasses is a rack of Versace print jeans—a loud, baroque denim animal kingdom they’ve pulled for a film that’s being made about the designer. Another nearby rack holds selections for Frances Bean Cobain’s Coachella wardrobe. Roach and Zendaya aren’t looking for anything in particular, but with the Spider-Man

promo two months away, they are starting to gather references. (Together they also design Zendaya’s clothing and shoe line, Daya.) Zendaya gravitates to a long Dolce & Gabbana skirt, a layered vision of swirling paisley and black fringe. She has on her own bodysuit by the Italian designers, along with Forever 21 jeans and Vans. A pendant in the shape of a black-power fist hangs from a delicate gold chain around her neck.

Roach first dressed Zendaya six years ago for a Justin Bieber event, after they met through a friend of Ajamu’s, and they’ve been working together ever since. Five years ago, he closed his vintage store in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles. He is known for an editorial approach to the red carpet—he seeks to create characters—and in Zendaya he has the ultimate chameleon. For instance, a month after David Bowie died, Zendaya attended the Grammys wearing a double-breasted tuxedo by Dsquared2 and a Ziggy Stardust–inspired mullet. To convey how he persuades her to try a daring look, Zendaya adopts Roach’s voice: “It’ll be a mo-ment,” she says, drawing out the second syllable just as he does. This is one of Roach’s bywords. Dreadlocks Goddess was a moment. Intergalactic Cher was a mo-ment. There are other maxims, such as “It’s supposed to be polarizing” and “Everybody’s not supposed to like it.”

It’s Zendaya’s remarkable ability to shapeshift that caught the attention of Spider-Man director Jon Watts. Watts was looking for someone to play Michelle, one of Peter Parker’s high-school classmates, an eccentric outsider type who speaks in sarcastic one-liners and is always reading what he calls “clove-smoking books” (e.g., Invitation to a Beheading). “My frame of reference was Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club,” he explains. In her screen test, Zendaya stood out immediately, but though he had seen her Disney show, Watts had no idea who the girl in the audition tape was—without makeup, he says, “she looked like a completely different person.”

She proved to be “an amazingly technical actor,” says Watts. She added flourishes to her character, suggesting Michelle wear no makeup and carry around her own mug of strange herbal tea. “It

“We weren’t used to dealing with people in a Hollywood way,”

a completely different person.”

“she looked like

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If there’s one thing we know about Zendaya, it’s that she’s got a *lot* of fans (147 million of them, if we’re going off Instagram). And in a new interview, the Euphoria star has opened up about how she navigates this relationship with her fans, including how she manages to maintain healthy boundaries. Zendaya noted that the way people interact with her has changed as her fame has grown. She explained, “For so long I’ve been able to maintain a little bit of anonymity in a way where I could go off and do things and still live a pretty normal life. Of course it comes with new sets of challenges and pressures, but I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I started when I was quite young.

“So thankfully I’ve had a little bit of time to ease and grow my experience in a way that wasn’t just completely an overnight change. I’m always adjusting to it and trying to be grateful for it all in the end, because it means that people are clearly resonating with the work that I’m doing, and that means a lot to me.”

Discussing her relationship with her *many* fans, Zendaya added that they’ve been growing with her since her Disney days and therefore are very similar in a lot of ways (apart from maybe the teeny tiny fame thing). “They’re really understanding that I’m human, even the hardcore ones and they want me to be happy and I genuinely feel that from them,” she went on. “They’re really respectful of my boundaries and the things that I choose to keep a little bit more private and keep for myself.”She discussed the power that her work has had on her fans, saying, “Sometimes I feel kind of silly being an actor. Because it’s like I make-believe for a living, which may seem ridiculous, but then I remember the stories that I’m telling & the reasons behind them.”

Zendaya said Euphoria had a particularly big impact on her followers, with many of them getting in touch to let her know how much they connected with the powerful series as well as their own experiences with its themes, including grief, mental illness, loss and addiction.

Z SWAGGERS - 4

Zendaya’s Fans Don’t Have An Official Fandom Name

Zendaya’s Fans Don’t Have An Official Fandom Name The Z-swaggers have a lot to complain about; after almost being stuck with an unsatisfactory name, now they’re saddled with a no-name fan base. Whatever the name will be, we’re sure the word ‘swag’ won’t be in it because Zendaya laughingly said, “I’ve done some growing, you know. I don’t use swag as often in my vocabulary, which I am grateful for.” This time Zendaya doesn’t mind leaving the naming in the more capable hands of her fans.

“Have we brainstormed some new ideas?” She asked in the interview. No new ideas have popped up, but

YOU GUYS LET ME KNOW.”

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7.4 Spider-Man Far From Home 2019

Even though Spider-Man: Far From Home is a superhero movie, it’s the closest to a romantic comedy of all the three Tom Holland Spider-Man solo movies. Peter spends a better time in the movie trying to figure out how to tell MJ he likes her.

6.7 Malcolm And Marie 2021)

One of Zendaya’s latest and also most civil roles see her act opposite just one actor, John David Washington. Zendaya plays Marie, Malcolm’s much younger girlfriend. When the couple returns home from the premiere of Malcolm’s successful movie, a conflict arises between them because Malcolm didn’t thank Marie in his speech. From there on, the relationship between them grows even more complicated over the course of a single night.

8.8 Spider-Man No Way Home 2021)

In the latest record-breaking Spider-Man movie, No Way Home, Zendaya’s Michelle Jones has an even bigger part than in the previous two movies. The audience finally learns that her full name is Michelle Jones-Watson, making her the ultimate MJ.

Michelle is instrumental for the story since she not only helps Peter but is one of the few people who stand by him when the young hero faces difficult times. MJ shows a unique determination and courage in the movie, and Zendaya’s performance makes her both civil and sympathetic.

7.6 The Greatest Showman 2017

Zendaya doesn’t often appear in musicals, despite the fact that she’s a talented dancer and a singer as well. So watching The Greatest Showman is a unique opportunity to hear her sing. Based on the life of a real man, P.T. Barnum, but changed to a large degree, the movie is a colorful and captivating story with many great actors and wonderful music.

Hugh Jackman gives an unforgettable performance in the leading role, but Zendaya as Anne Wheeler and her on-screen love interest, Philip, played by Zac Efron, is also impossible to overlook in the movie.

8.1

Dune 2021

Based on the novels by Frank Herbert, Dune is one of the greatest classics of the sci-fi genre, close to the likes of Star Trek and Star Wars, importance-wise. The story has been first filmed in 1984 by David Lynch but the 2021 version got even better reviews.

8.4 Euphoria 2019-Present)

Those viewers who only knew Zendaya from her Shake It Up! role must have been surprised by her portrayal of Rue, a young girl who struggles not only with love but also with her drug addiction in Euphoria. Playing Rue would be a challenge for any young actress, and Zendaya took it on in stride, proving her immense acting chops in the process.

With the second season recently premiering, the audience can learn even more about Rue’s uneasy life and enjoy Zendaya’s memorable performance in the show, one that won her an Emmy in the process.

“

I think something that many actors have, which is something you learn, is that you can’t be afraid to look stupid, you can’t be afraid to mess up, you can’t be afraid of anything,” I’m trying to apply that to other parts of my life, because I’m always afraid to do things in fear of not being great. But the only way to get great is to be fearless and try.”

“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has shared their story with me. I want you to know that anyone who has loved a Rue, or feels like they are a Rue. I want you to know that I am so grateful your stories.”

“I carry them with me and I carry them with her, so thank you so much,”

Zendaya Thanks ‘Euphoria’ Fans for Sharing

LET’S GET EUPHORIC

1. Congratulations on the show’s Emmy noms! Where were you when you found out?

I was shooting in Boston and then I took a little time in New York to chill before Budapest [to shoot Dune: Part Two]. I got a nice phone call from my mom who was watching it, and from Sam as well, which is funny because that’s the same way it happened the first time.

2. This season, you also served as an executive producer. How did that conversation start and why did you want to take on a bigger role like that?

On the first season, I was already doing it without having the title. Sam was giving me the space to be creative and to learn, and so when it came down to the second season — and also the in-between [special] episodes — it just felt like the right thing to have it in a more official capacity. The show has allowed me to come out of my shell as an actress, but also behind the camera, being in a place where there are no bad ideas and you feel safe enough to speak up and say, “Hey, what if we tried this?” Personally, I’m very self-critical, but I’m also very shy sometimes, so I won’t say anything. [But here], I’m given my own responsibilities. I’m there every step of the way, even through editing, and that’s really, really special. You don’t usually get that kind of hands-on experience, and everybody is different with how they choose to produce. It’s a labor of love for all of us.

3. How collaborative are you in building out the stories for the characters, especially Rue’s?

It’s super collaborative. This season had so many iterations because it had been so long since season one]. Through quarantine, [with the in-between episodes,] we were like, “We want to make

Let’s get Euphoric -3

something, and we can revisit these characters,” and we felt like there were a lot of stories that we didn’t get to tell. So we did that, and then from there, it opened up a whole new way of looking at Euphoria. Just with the way those episodes moved, it allowed us to give a little bit more time and [get] a little bit more inside the characters. When the second season came around, I think we were a little bit influenced by that. But also, we had conversations about Rue, and it’s changed a million times. I’ve talked about how the ending of the season was supposed to be very different. Sam and I talked on the phone after getting a chunk of episode five done, and we both felt that what we needed — what we felt a lot of people in the world needed, or at least anybody who relates to Rue — was a hopeful ending. We needed something positive to hold on to in this Euphoria universe, and it was important to find a way to drive it back to love and forgiveness and friendship and end the season with this hopeful note of her finally being ready to embark on her sobriety journey and choosing herself for the first time. That was a major change, and that happened midway through the season.

4. What are you as a producer and an actor hoping to see in season three?

I think it’ll be exciting to explore the characters out of high school. I want to see what Rue looks like in her sobriety journey, how chaotic that might look. But also with all the characters, in the sense where they’re trying to figure out what to do with their lives when high school is over and what kind of people they want to be. What was special about this season was that we got to dive into [the other characters] in a much deeper sense. I think we can do that again with the third season. There’s so much talent, you want to make sure everybody has the chance to have that.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine

Zendaya open’s up on euphoria and share what’s its like to work as a producer

A LETTER FROM RUE

It’s me! Your rue!

I promise you. If I could be a different person, I would. Not because I want it, but because they do. But here's the thing. One day, I just showed up without a map or a compass, and at some point, you have to make a choice ... about who you are and what you want. And therein lies the catch.”

Will see you in next season!

Ruby Bennett

To all the people who carried me with you, who were me , who loves me, who