Zendaya

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, known professionally as Zendaya, was born September 1, 1996, in Oakland, California. Her mother, Claire Stoermer, worked at the California Shakespeare Theater, and Zendaya performed there while growing up. She attended Oakland School for the Arts and appeared in stage productions, including Once on This Island and Caroline, or Change. Before television, she modeled for Macy's, Mervyns, and Old Navy and appeared in a Kidz Bop music video. In 2010, Disney Channel cast her as Rocky Blue on Shake It Up, opposite Bella Thorne. The sitcom ran for three seasons and made her a widely recognized young performer. She competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2013, finishing second with professional partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy. In 2015, she headlined K.C. Undercover as K.C. Cooper, a high-school student recruited into her family's spy organization; she also served as a producer on the series. Her film breakthrough came as Michelle "MJ" Jones in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), reprising the role in Far From Home (2019) and No Way Home (2021). She then played Anne Wheeler in The Greatest Showman (2017), singing "Rewrite the Stars" with Zac Efron. In 2021, she voiced Lola Bunny in Space Jam: A New Legacy that year. In 2019, Zendaya began portraying Rue Bennett in HBO's Euphoria, created by Sam Levinson and adapted from an Israeli series. Rue, a teenager returning from rehabilitation while struggling with substance use, anchors the drama's first two seasons. Zendaya won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the role in 2020, becoming the youngest winner in that category at the time. She won again in 2022. Her performance also brought her Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild recognition. In 2021, she played Chani, a Fremen warrior and Paul Atreides's ally, in Denis Villeneuve's Dune adaptation. She returned as Chani in Dune: Part Two (2024), where the character's perspective becomes more central as Paul rises to power on Arrakis. Also in 2024, Zendaya starred as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach, in Luca Guadagnino's Challengers. The film follows the pressure between Tashi, her husband Art Donaldson, and his former friend Patrick Zweig around a Challenger tournament. Zendaya has worked beyond acting as a singer, releasing her self-titled debut album in 2013; its single "Replay" reached the Billboard Hot 100. She has been Lancôme ambassador and co-designed Daya by Zendaya with stylist Law Roach.