Leading role Zendaya in tennis film Challengers: where do we know her from? | Movies & Series

Met rollen in onder meer een sciencefiction-, musical-, actie-, en dramafilm kun je Zendaya Stoermer Coleman, bekend onder alleen haar voornaam, bijna niet gemist hebben. De 27-jarige actrice heeft in de veertien jaar dat ze in de filmindustrie werkt al twee Emmy’s, een Golden Globe en nog veel meer awards gewonnen. In 2022 kreeg ze een plek in de Time 100, een lijst van de honderd invloedrijkste mensen ter wereld.

Zendaya begint haar carrière op veertienjarige leeftijd bij Disney Channel. Vanaf 2010 is ze in verschillende films en series te zien. Een jaar later brengt ze ook haar eerste muziek uit. Swag It Out en Watch Me worden in Amerika bescheiden hitjes.

The actress does not only look back on this period with a rosy outlook. “I don’t know how much freedom of choice I really had,” she reflected last month Vogue back to the beginning of her career. “I have complex feelings about children and being famous. We’ve seen many times how damaging it can be. As an adult, I’m only beginning to realize that this is all I know.”

Zendaya says she had to grow up at a young age to earn money for her family. “With us there were a lot of reversed roles,” she says Vogue. “It’s almost like I’ve only now entered the insecure teenage phase because I didn’t have time for it before.”

Although Zendaya is now mainly known as an actress, there was a time when she focused more on music. In 2013 she released her album Zendaya out. She ends up with the number Replay in the charts. She now only makes music when it is combined with an acting project, such as the soundtrack for the series Euphoria.

“I like making it for myself,” she says about her music in an interview with Jennifer Hudson last month. “If there’s a good time, I might like to release something small again.”

It’s unlikely the singer will ever tour, even if she releases a new album. “I have bad memories of live performances from when I was little,” she says. “I can’t do it, I’m too nervous. I don’t want to give a bad performance and disappoint people.”

Luckily for Zendaya, she doesn’t have to rely on performing as a singer. Her acting career took off in 2017 when she was seen in cinemas for the first time. She then plays in Spider Man: Homecoming, the first film in a trilogy about the superhero. Zendaya plays the role of Michelle Jones-Watson (aka MJ). She gets into a relationship with main character Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland.

The films also have a great influence in her private life. Out of sight of the cameras, the spark between Zendaya and Holland also ignites and the two are still together.

In the same year, the actress also appeared in a cinema musical: The Greatest Showman with Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron. She sings the hit together with Efron Rewrite the Starswhich has almost a billion streams on Spotify.

Rihanna also notices Zendaya’s success. The singer posted a photo of Zendaya in her 2017 Met Gala dress, captioning it “Goddess.” The then twenty-year-old actress responds in an enthusiastic video on SnapChat: “Rihanna just posted me. I repeat: this is not an exercise, it’s real! Guys, I didn’t know a post could mean so much to me, in my entire life .”

In 2019, Zendaya deepened her acting career with her role as a drug-addicted teenager in the drama series Euphoria. She wins an Emmy for both seasons of the series. This makes her the youngest and the first black actress ever to receive two statues.

“All we wanted was for people to feel seen through our work,” Zendaya counters Variety about the drama series. “And that is what I want to continue to do: show the human side of what addiction does to a person.”

In 2021, she will take another role in a successful film franchise. In the science fiction film Dune she plays the role of Chani, a desert rebel who defends her planet against other peoples who are after a precious resource. In the 2024 sequel, her role is a lot bigger. Both films become box office hits. A third part is now in the making.

Her latest film, Challengers, can be seen in cinemas from May 2. In it, Zendaya plays a fictional famous tennis player. When she has to end her career due to a knee injury, she becomes her husband’s tennis coach. He will compete in an important match against his former best friend, who is the former partner of Zendaya’s character.

On Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show, the host asks Zendaya how her family reacted to her intimate scenes from the film. “It was hilarious. I saw my nieces getting more and more uncomfortable, with their hands over their eyes. It was my favorite part of the evening,” the actress says, laughing.