Who is Zendaya? Early Life, Career, Movies, Songs, Husband & Net Worth
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, an American actress and singer, was born on September 1, 1996. She has received various awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.
Her films as a leading actress have earned more than $3.9 billion globally. Zendaya released the singles “Swag It Out” and “Watch Me” in 2011, the latter of which she collaborated on with Bella Thorne. She signed with Hollywood Records and released her self-titled debut studio album in 2013, which had moderate success.
Its lead track, “Replay,” reached the top 40 of the US Billboard 200. Her collaboration with Zac Efron on “Rewrite the Stars” from The Greatest Showman soundtrack (2017) peaked at number 20 on numerous record charts and got multi-platinum sales certifications around the world. She has also written and performed numerous songs for Euphoria.
Who is Zendaya?
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born September 1, 1996, in Oakland, California. Her name comes from the Shona name Tendai, which means ‘to give thanks’. Zendaya’s parents were both teachers; her father, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, is African-American with Nigerian descent, while her mother, Claire Stoermer, is German and Scottish.
She has five elder half-siblings from her father’s prior engagements. Zendaya went to Fruitvale Elementary School, where her mother taught. At the end of the school year, her parents had her repeat kindergarten to assist her gain confidence.
Zendaya’s parents enrolled her in a local basketball team because her father enjoyed the sport. She joined Future Shock Oakland, a hip-hop dance company, at the age of eight and performed there for three years. She also spent two years performing hula with the Academy of Hawaiian Arts.
After deciding to pursue acting, Zendaya helped her mother, who worked as a house manager at the California Shakespeare Theatre, over the summer.
She began attending Oakland School for the Arts at the age of eleven and, while still a student, was cast in various roles in local theatres. In 2015, she graduated from Oak Park High School.
Career
While at the latter, Zendaya appeared in a number of theatre productions, including Once on This Island at the Berkeley Playhouse and Caroline, or Change at Palo Alto’s TheaterWorks.
Her other stage credits include William Shakespeare’s Richard III, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It. She has also modelled, starred in television commercials, and danced in a Kidz Bop video.
Zendaya was cast as Raquel (“Rocky”) Blue, one of the key characters in Disney Channel’s Shake It Up, a comedy about two Chicago adolescents who want to be professional dancers. The show continued until 2013, and during that time Zendaya released her first song, “Swag It Out” (2011), and her first full-length album, Zendaya (2013), which features the hit song “Replay.”
She also appeared in several Disney-made-for-TV films, including Frenemies (2012) and Zapped (2014). Zendaya had amassed a sizable fan base through her acting and singing, and in 2013, she released a book of advice, Between U and Me: How to Rock Your Tween Years with Style and Confidence, geared at her preteen audience.
Zendaya also competed in Dancing with the Stars’ 16th season (2013), putting her dancing skills to the test. Despite having the top scores for the majority of the season, she finished in second place.
Zendaya featured in Disney’s K.C. Undercover from 2015 to 2018, playing K.C. Cooper, a clever and sassy high schooler who lives a double life as a slick undercover.
The actor also produced several episodes of the show. Zendaya’s first non-Disney work came in 2015, when she guest-starred as Resheida in season two, episode four of the TV comedy Black-ish.
Around this period, she appeared in several music videos, including Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” (2015), Beyoncé’s “All Night” (2016), and Bruno Mars’s “Versace on the Floor” (2017).
Zendaya made her big screen debut in 2017 as Michelle (“MJ”) Jones in Spider-Man: Homecoming, a Marvel Cinematic Universe film starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker. That same year, she portrayed Anne Wheeler, a trapeze artist, in the musical picture The Greatest Showman, where she demonstrated her various abilities, including singing one of the film’s most talked-about songs (“Rewrite the Stars”) alongside Zac Efron. Zendaya appeared as a guest on the TV program The OA in 2019.
Zendaya made her big screen debut in 2017 as Michelle (“MJ”) Jones in Spider-Man: Homecoming, a Marvel Cinematic Universe film starring Tom Holland as Peter Parker.
That same year, she portrayed Anne Wheeler, a trapeze artist, in the musical picture The Greatest Showman, where she demonstrated her various abilities, including singing one of the film’s most talked-about songs (“Rewrite the Stars”) alongside Zac Efron. Zendaya appeared as a guest on the TV program The OA in 2019.
She followed up with her role as Tashi in Challengers (2024), a love drama about the relationship of three tennis players. She also acts opposite Robert Pattinson in The Drama, which is set to be released in 2026.
Zendaya played Rue Bennett, a high school student dealing with anxiety and drug addiction, in the HBO series Euphoria. The role marked a considerable shift from her Disney days, and in interviews, the actress discussed playing such an emotionally taxing character.
She was praised for her “haunting, painful, and affecting performance” in Euphoria, earning two Primetime Emmy Awards (2020 and 2022) for outstanding lead actress in a drama series and a Golden Globe (2023) for best actress in a television drama.
Both of her Emmy victories were remarkable. Zendaya was the youngest actor to win in that category when she received her first Emmy in 2020, and she became the first Black woman to win it again in 2022. She was also the youngest person to win two Emmy awards.
She was also the youngest person to win two Emmy awards. The actress also received a BET Award for Best Actress (2022) for her roles in Euphoria and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Zendaya has won numerous more honours, including an MTV Movie & TV Award for best performance in a show (2022) for Euphoria and a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for favourite female TV star (2017) for her work in K.C. Undercover.
She was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2016. Zendaya, in addition to acting, singing, and dancing, is well-known for her love of fashion. She has regularly struck heads on the red carpet with her daring, whimsical outfits, like at the 2015 Academy Awards ceremony, where she wore an amazing off-the-shoulder ivory gown with dreadlocks.
Zendaya established her fashion business, Daya, in 2016. She then partnered with American designer Tommy Hilfiger on Tommy x Zendaya, which was released in 2019. That year, the collection received attention for its autumn show in New York, which included all Black models aged 18 to 70, including Pat Cleveland, Beverly Johnson, Veronica Webb, and Grace Jones.
In 2021, the actor received the CFDA Fashion Icon Award. Zendaya was named cochair (together with Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, and Jennifer Lopez) for the 2024 Met Gala, an annual benefit for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
She has been named the worldwide brand ambassador for luxury fashion companies Valentino, Louis Vuitton, and Bulgari, as well as the athletic brand On.
Filmography
Some of her well-known movies include
- Super Buddies
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- The Greatest Showman
- Duck Duck Goose
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
- Malcolm & Marie
- Space Jam: A New Legacy
- Dune
- Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Dune: Part Two
- The Drama †
- The Odyssey †
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day † MJ
- Dune: Part Three †
- Shrek 5 †
Zendaya Tom Holland: Are they Married?
According to Zendaya’s stylist, Law Roach, actors Zendaya and Tom Holland married in a covert wedding ceremony. On the red carpet of the 2026 SAG Actor Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, Roach told media site Access Hollywood that “the wedding has already happened.”
Zendaya and Holland, both 29, met in 2017 while filming “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and their connection during the film’s press tour fuelled speculation that they were romantically linked. However, their relationship was not officially acknowledged until July 2021, when the couple was spotted kissing in Holland’s car.
Since then, “Tomdaya” has kept their relationship mostly out of the public eye, only infrequently disclosing glimpses of it in interviews or on social media.
Despite becoming two of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Zendaya has lately participated in blockbuster films such as “Dune: Part Two” (2024) and “Challengers” (2024), while Holland plays Peter Parker in the Marvel franchise “Spider-Man.”
The sight of a diamond ring on Zendaya’s finger during the Golden Globes in January 2025 fuelled speculation that Holland had proposed, which he later confirmed in an interview in September of that year. Then, in February of this year, rumours spread that the couple had secretly married after Zendaya was seen wearing a gold band instead of a diamond ring.
Now it appears Roach has let the proverbial cat out of the bag, but neither Zendaya nor Holland has responded to his statement.
Zendaya Net Worth
Zendaya’s net worth is expected to be about $30 million. She has amassed riches from her successful careers in acting, music, fashion, and endorsements, particularly for her performances in blockbuster films such as Spider-Man and Dune, as well as her music and fashion enterprises.
Social Media
Instagram: @zendaya