Growing up as a child actress check The future plans
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HOLLYWOOD. Here is the actress lining up big project after big project in Hollywood.
But despite the success, Euphoria star Zendaya is torn about the success.
– I started supporting my family very early on, she says.
California-born Zendaya is currently in Swedish news in the movie “Challengers”, a sexually charged triangle drama that takes place in the world of tennis.
She launches it in the wake of the acclaimed sequel to “Dune”.
As if that wasn’t enough, she is seen as a fashion icon and has been contracted by Louis Vuitton.
“Haven’t finished high school”
In other words, the career is on track for the two-time Emmy-awarded 27-year-old who began his investment in the world of entertainment as a child.
Today, with more than 185 million followers on Instagram, she has already reached further than she ever dared to hope.
Still, it’s only now that everything seems to be starting to sink in. And it’s not only positive for the actress, who was taken out of school early to fully focus on Hollywood.
– I haven’t even gone to high school, she says.
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Her parents, both teachers, set her on the current path early on. There were drama and dance lessons, participation in the dance group Future shock Oakland. When an agent advised the family to move to Hollywood, she and her father struck out on their own.
Remaining in Oakland outside San Francisco for financial reasons were her mother and the couple’s two other daughters.
– It was hard. I became a woman during that period and dad didn’t understand what was going on, Zendaya has told.
Had a career as a singer
But the investment paid off when, as a 13-year-old, she got a role in the Disney series “Shake it up”.
Since then, she has worked steadily and has already managed a career as a pop singer.
In other words, Zendaya is a gigantic American success story.
That’s why it’s so interesting to hear her talk about life behind the glassy facade.
– I have complicated feelings about children and fame, about being in the public eye, about being a child actress, she says in Vogue.
When she was in the middle of it, it wasn’t something she reflected on.
– I’m almost going through the angst-filled teenage years now because I didn’t have time to do it before.
So much was at stake then. Several were dependent on her.
– I feel that I was thrown into an adult position very early on. I became the breadwinner early on. There were many changed roles and I sort of became an adult.
Was very stressed
She states that she needed to be “the perfect thing, the one that everyone depended on me to be – and live up to all the expectations”.
She states that it has taken away some of the joy and that it makes it difficult to appreciate great things that happen – like having the lead role in a movie.
– I am very stressed. I think I carry that with me from when I was a kid when I didn’t have the opportunity to just try a lot of things. And I wish I had gone to school.
She can take solace in glowing reviews for “Challengers”, the film directed by Oscar winner Luca Gadagnino.
“Just as ‘Call me by your name’ did for Timothée Chalamet, ‘Challengers’ is one of those rare, original big-screen delights that firmly announces the arrival of a new generation of movie stars,” writes the AP news agency.
The plot revolves around a teenage tennis pro who, after a career-killing injury, tries to match her husband to a Grand Slam trophy. To break a losing streak, she forces him to play a smaller tournament where he is pitted against his best friend, also the coach’s ex-boyfriend.
– I was still filming “Euphoria” when the script came, says Zendaya at a press conference in Hollywood.
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Normally, on such occasions, she only focuses on the next day’s recording. But recommendations made her break her habits this time.
– The script was brilliant. But given how complicated the characters were, it made me nervous about how they would be tackled.
Had no idea about tennis
She says she couldn’t even put a label on the story.
– It’s funny, but it’s not a comedy. It’s dramatic, but I wouldn’t say it’s just that drama. It contains tennis, but it is not a sports film.
She was grateful for the latter because she had never tried the sport before.
– I had no idea about tennis. I knew nothing.
Before filming, she received tennis lessons for six weeks from a former tennis pro.
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She states that she was driving herself crazy with learning.
– It was only when I started seeing it as a dance, when I started copying mannerisms and footwork, that things got better.
Moreover, she realized that her first effort had been over the top.
– The ball was still put in afterwards. Then why would I be so stressed about hitting or it hitting me?
“Taught me to say no”
Given the boom surrounding the film, “Challengers” is further fueling her fame.
As early as 2022, she complained that she could hardly leave home.
Today, she sees celebrity differently but still doesn’t quite know where to draw the line.
– I grew up with the attitude that I had to pose when someone asked for a picture. I had to say yes because I have to be grateful to have made it this far. I still feel that way, she tells Vogue.
– I have also learned to kindly say no when I have a day off or try to be myself. I don’t have to perform all the time.
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In the back of her mind are also thoughts of another life – if she gets a family.
– I don’t necessarily want my children to have to deal with this.
But there are benefits, too, like when Zendaya and boyfriend Tom Holland went to the Louvre in Paris two years ago.
When it closed, the couple had to stay.
– It was the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of, she says.
