Zendaya

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman (born September 1, 1996), known mononymously as Zendaya, is an American actress. Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. In 2022, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Born in Oakland, California, Zendaya began her career as a child model and dancer before gaining prominence for her roles on the Disney Channel sitcoms Shake It Up (2010–2013) and K.C. Undercover (2015–2018), the latter of which she also produced. For her performance as Rue Bennett, a struggling drug-addicted teenager in the HBO teen drama series Euphoria (2019–2026), Zendaya won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Zendaya made her feature film debut as MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). She reprised her role in its sequels Far From Home (2019), No Way Home (2021), and Brand New Day (2026). She has since starred in the musical film The Greatest Showman (2017), Denis Villeneuve's Dune trilogy (2021–2026), Christopher Nolan's epic The Odyssey (2026), and earned praise for her performances in the romance films Malcolm & Marie (2021), Challengers (2024) and The Drama (2026).

The Euphoria chapter deserves its own accounting. Her first Emmy, in 2020, made her at 24 the youngest winner of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in the award's history; her second, in 2022, made her the youngest two-time winner of any acting Emmy and the first Black woman to win the Lead Actress drama prize twice. She added a Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice Award for the role in 2023 — and, crucially, she produced the series, shaping Rue's story from behind the camera as well as in front of it. The final season, airing in 2026, closed one of the most decorated runs in modern television.

On film, the strategy has been just as deliberate. Challengers (2024), Luca Guadagnino's tennis love-triangle drama, cast her as Tashi Duncan — a ferocious, calculating power broker — and she produced it too, turning a sports romance into a cultural event. She expanded Chani into the emotional center of Dune: Part Two (2024) and carried that arc through Dune: Part Three (2026); shot the two-hander Malcolm & Marie (2021) with John David Washington during lockdown; and joined Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (2026) and A24's The Drama (2026) opposite Robert Pattinson — the kind of auteur-heavy slate most actors spend a career chasing.

Off-screen she is a fashion institution. With longtime stylist Law Roach she turned every red carpet into an event — the 2021 CFDA Fashion Icon Award made her its youngest-ever recipient — and in 2024 she co-chaired the Met Gala. Lancôme, Bulgari, and Louis Vuitton ambassadorships followed. The music career that started it all (the 2013 debut album Zendaya, the platinum single 'Replay') resurfaced in her Labrinth collaborations for Euphoria, including 'I'm Tired.' In January 2025, a ring at the Golden Globes confirmed her engagement to Tom Holland, her Spider-Man co-star — the rare mega-famous couple that has kept its private life genuinely private. The throughline of all of it is control: Zendaya doesn't chase the moment, she manufactures it.

Zendaya is the defining star of her generation, and she did it the hard way: by being undeniable at everything. She came up through Disney Channel — Shake It Up, K.C. Undercover — and then detonated the child-star playbook with Euphoria, winning two Emmys for playing Rue Bennett, an addict in freefall, with a rawness nobody saw coming. At 24 she was the youngest Lead Actress drama winner ever; at 26, the youngest two-time acting winner in Emmy history and the first Black woman to take the drama prize twice.

The film career's been just as strategic: MJ in the Spider-Man films, Chani — expanded into the soul of the story — across the Dune trilogy, and Challengers, where as both star and producer she played a tennis power broker with a ferocity that proved she could carry an adult drama on pure presence. Then the auteur run: Nolan's The Odyssey, A24's The Drama opposite Robert Pattinson.

She's also a fashion force — the youngest-ever CFDA Fashion Icon, a 2024 Met Gala co-chair, the Law Roach partnership that turned premieres into events — and a producer building the kind of multi-hyphenate career that used to take decades. Even the engagement to Tom Holland was handled on her terms: confirmed by a ring at the Golden Globes, no statement, no circus. The throughline is control — Zendaya doesn't chase the moment, she manufactures it.