Zendaya at the Challengers premiere in New York on April 24, 2024. Photo: Getty
In desperate times, we always turned to Hollywood. to give us stars that will save us from our problems. Whether it was Busby Berkeley dance routines from the 1930s, big-budget adventures from the early 1980s, or fantasy plays about the dot-com crash, we managed to get lost in their dreams. Faced with the current global collapse in everything we care about, it's easy to look at this current crowd of latex-wearing slackers or moody, contemplative angst-mongers and feel like we're sorely missed. But the hour comes, Zendaya comes.
The Gen Z multi-hyphenate actress/singer/model is featured in two of this year's most talked-about films, at least among people under 40. In Dune: Part Two, she plays Chani, a warrior who was the narrator and love interest of Timothée Chalamet's character Paul Atreides in the first film, but became the main character in the sequel.
In Challengers, she plays the spoiled, manipulative but desperately sexy former tennis prodigy Tasha, who seduces two men at once, marries and trains one, and—just when he's out of the game—punches. to another. If Dune has proven its movie stardom, Challengers will take it to the next level; Zendaya is now Gen Z's leading voice of cool.
But cool doesn't always translate into box office success—it took Ryan Gosling years before his name was enough to open a movie. However, according to Box Office Mojo, Challengers earned $25 million worldwide in its opening weekend (and polls showed that 55 percent of that audience was there simply for Zendaya).
According to industry website The Numbers, Zendaya's total box office earnings are $2,655,993,496. The biggest total came from her role as MJ in the Spider-Man trilogy, but The Greatest Showman earned $429,054,204 and Dune Part Two earned an extremely respectable $704,243,000. All this from five films. And where are you most likely to find this Auckland-born multimillionaire? Shopping in New Malden Waitrose.
How did we get here? If you take her early resume at face value, by the time she's 27, Zendaya should have a few car crashes, some high-profile drama, and some awkward public drug use under her belt. Her parents Claire Stermer and Kazembe Ajamu Coleman are teachers, she has five older siblings, and she grew up in the theater rather than in a showbiz home; her mother Claire took on an extra job as manager of the California Shakespeare Theater when Zendaya was eight years old, and she saw all the performances.
The reason her parents enrolled her in an acting club was to help her overcome her shyness, so she began dancing and acting in amateur troupes and colleges, and at age 16 she was cast in the Disney film Frenemies. Soon after, she got her own Disney. Channel Series, K.C. Under cover. She played a high school math genius whose parents are spies and need her help to save the world. For those familiar with the canal, this is standard fare. What is not standard fare is to survive.
By 27, Disney alum Miley «Hannah Montana» Cyrus had been caught smoking hallucinogenic salvia in a bong, dancing on stage in a short denim miniskirt and causing outrage by twerking with Robin Thicke. Britney Spears of The Mickey Mouse Club has endured two marriages, shaved her head, been hospitalized, lost a custody battle for her children and filed a restraining order against her previous manager.
The closest Zendaya has come to a public drug scandal was her sharp and subdued response to leering accusations when she appeared on the 2015 Oscars red carpet with dreadlocks. Giuliana Rancic, who hosted E!'s red carpet coverage of the cable gossip channel, was not impressed. “This hair is consuming her. I think she smells like patchouli oil.” The voiceover added: “Or weed.”
Zendaya in The Greatest Showman Photo: AP
Zendaya abandoned the traditional social media feud in favor of a carefully worded and well-informed statement, saying her anger was not due to her vanity, but because she said that «an 18-year-old woman with loci must smell like patchouli oil or Grass is not only a stereotype, but also outrageously offensive.” She listed scientists, directors and writers with dreadlocks, «none of whom smell like marijuana…» Celebrities rallied around her, Rancic apologized on air, and later that week Mattel announced a Barbie based on a sample of her Oscar look. A way to gain height. From then on, she owned every red carpet she stepped on.
For example, on the Dune carpet, her silver Thierry Mugler bodysuit paid homage to both Barbarella and Metropolis. Meanwhile, her press tour for «Challengers» even started a fashion trend: tenniscore.
Zendaya at the film's world premiere» Dune: Part Two in London Photo: Pennsylvania
So yeah, she looks good. But Zendaya can also act at her best, as she proved beyond a doubt in the sensational HBO drama Euphoria. Sam Levinson's series is this generation's The Catcher in the Rye and the Skins team's Alex Garland's Beach. Zendaya played Ruby «Rue» Bennett, who ticked all the Gen Z boxes as a weird drug addict back from rehab trying to get sober, in a wild tale of (deep breath) sex, drugs, domestic violence, human trafficking, infidelity, rape, gender transition, mental health… The list goes on.
Euphoria is the fourth most popular series in HBO's history behind Game of Thrones, The Last of Us and House of the Dragon, and it introduced the channel to a whole new generation. HBO thought Levinson was the secret — his sequel, Idol, flopped. It turns out the audience was there for Zendaya.
Zendaya started the show as a glamorous young actress and emerged as a star. According to Matt Zoller Seitz, New York magazine's film critic, she suddenly became famous thanks to «musical montages» — the focus of scenes where «the star tries on clothes or masters skills that were less about advancing the story and more about making an announcement.» «Look who we have!» Additionally, her Instagram following has grown to 184 million, making her the 23rd most followed person online. (Although number one is her own Instagram account, technically she is 22 years old.)
It also gave her an unusual level of power in an industry where most actors simply take the roles they can get. Some — Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Reynolds, Margot Robbie — get their hands on the means of production, but rarely at such a young age. At 16 years old, Zendaya was making decisions about the production of K.C. Under cover. She became the main advertising character in projects from Spider-Man to Dune, and in Challengers she is involved in every stage of the project: from searching for locations to selecting a team.
Producer Amy Pascal sent her the script by Justin Kuritzkes and Zendaya. chose director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) as director. She then hand-picked her co-stars: Josh O'Connor, whom she loved in The Crown, and Mike Feist, whom she saw on Broadway in Dear Evan Hansen several years ago.
Meanwhile, she is selective in her role as a brand ambassador. LVMH almost hired her, tying her up with Bulgari jewelry and Vuitton Capucines bags. Since she used her in advertising campaigns, both companies' sales have increased: Vuitton by 21% and LVMH jewelry by 13%.
Somehow she has always combined an outrageously professional approach with an almost obscenely refreshing down-to-earth character. Speaking to Vogue about learning to play tennis for this year's Challengers, she admitted that she had never played before and during lessons, «the first time was all about the fundamentals, trying to just hit the damn thing.» /p> 
Tom Holland and Zendaya in 2021 Photo: Getty
And for patriotic Brits, it's comforting to know that her time spent drinking in Kingston-upon-Thames may have helped her keep it real. She was first spotted near Kingston Station in 2018 while hanging out with her pal Tom Holland. They met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017 and became very good friends. They're dating now, but their journey — and their relationship — is so incredibly healthy that it seems… well, I'll be honest. I live near Kingston. Looking at pictures of Zendaya and Holland at Hampton Court Palace or the Waitrose Hotel in New Malden makes me think I'm living in the real Notting Hill.
The romance could be immediate or slow. Since the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, the duo has been the subject of gossip, fueled by their easy closeness at photo shoots, on the red carpet, during interviews and even online. They gently poked fun at press speculation on social media — at one point Zendaya tweeted to Holland: «Wait, wait… my favorite part is when it says we're on holiday together, ha! I haven't been on vacation in years! Hbu @TomHolland1996???' His answer was quite dry: “Does the press tour count?”
Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in the movie “Dune” Photo : Niko Tavernise
Holland, of course, is the son of stand-up comedian Dominic Holland. As Dominic said in his stand-up show about being Spider-Man's father, they are a very happy family. There are plenty of laughs in the few photos of Holland and Zendaya that can be found online, taken at various Kingston pubs since the couple went official in 2021. Surprisingly, you're more likely to find people refusing to post such photos—as if the Internet had somehow unilaterally decided to respect their privacy.
It will be interesting to see if this holds up, especially since she promised to be among the audience of the upcoming screening of “Romeo & Romeo» in the West End of Holland; Juliet (it sold out in seconds and promises to be a real crowd pleaser). If Challengers is successful, she will become one of the biggest stars on the planet and certainly one of the most untouched. As none other than LL Cool J once said about Zendaya, “She's awesome. You can create fame… You cannot create cool.”
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