Chances are, you’ve likely been hearing the name Zendaya tossed around. But just who is Zendaya?
Zendaya is a well-known American actress, singer, and model. After her breakthrough role on the Disney Channel show, Shake It Up, Zendaya has gone on to land large parts on screen in movies such as Dune, Spiderman, and the Netflix hit show, Euphoria. Still, people still want to know more about her, so let’s take a look.
Zendaya’s Birthday
Zendaya was born on September 1st, 1996 in Oakland, California to her parents who already had 5 children.
She learned to love the stage at the young age of 6 when her mother allowed her to attend theater classes and performances while in elementary school. Additionally, Zendaya’s mother helped sell tickets at a local theater during the summer to help earn extra money for the family.
From this point forward, she knew she wanted to be an actress and a model.
Zendaya’s Zodiac Sign
According to Zendaya’s birth chart, the singer is a Virgo sun with a Taurus moon. This mean that the singer/actress has traits like being patient, reliable, and kind, but also with a wild streak. This seems to describe Zendaya’s personality perfectly.
Zendaya’s Real Name
Zendaya’s real name is Zendaya Maree, Stoermer Coleman. However, it has only ever been just Zendaya on the stage, which is a smart choice on her end because her full name would take a lot longer to catch on than her nickname did.
The name Zendaya is derived from the Shona name Tendai, basically meaning “to give thanks.”
How tall is Zendaya
Zendaya isn’t near as short as some other popular singers, but she isn’t quite as tall as Taylor Swift either. Reportedly, Zendaya is 5 feet 9 inches or 175 centimeters tall. She weighs 117 pounds or 53kg, respectively, making her quite thin and light for her height. This likely explains why she was able to do her own stunts in the movie The Greatest Showman which involved trapeze work from the young actress.
Where is Zendaya from?
Zendaya is from the United States, as she grew up in Oakland for the early years of her life. But remember, Zendaya hit it big early and by the time she was fifteen years old she was already making regular trips to LA to be featured in shows like Shake it Up.
It was also around this time that the singing career of the young actress began as she was featured on Kidz Bop.
Where does Zendaya live?
Because there is very little acting work in Oakland, it should come as no surprise that the actress currently lives in her sprawling house in Los Angeles, California, United States.
And this isn’t some small little hut we are talking about either as Zendaya’s mansion, complete with a pool and its own Garden of Eden, is worth $4 million.
Zendaya’s Nationality
It may surprise you to find out that Zendaya is American as she certainly looks as if she is from somewhere exotic. Zendaya gets her unique look and coloring from her parents, who are from vastly different backgrounds.
Zendaya’s Parents
Zendaya was born to a teacher’s family of Claire Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu Coleman. Her father is of African-American race and was born in Arkansas, while her mother has German and Scottish ancestry.
Zendaya is the youngest of six children; she has three older sisters; Kaylee, Katianna, and Annabella, and two older brothers, Austin and Julien.
All of these siblings however are from her father’s previous marriage. Zendaya is the only child of her mother.
It is reported that her older brother Austin is also involved in acting, but he hasn’t yet had his big break. Most of her older siblings are married and have children, to who Zendaya enjoys being a role model for. She even frequently picks up some of her nieces and nephews from school.
Who is Zendaya Dating?
Zendaya’s boyfriend is Tom Holland. Rumors of a relationship between the two had been circulating since they first met at the shooting of the film Spider-Man.
They didn’t make the relationship official until September 1st, 2021 when Zendaya finally laid the rumors about their relationship to rest.
Of course, this is a new relationship overall, and there aren’t wedding bells ringing for the couple just yet, but you have to admit, they do look cute together.
Through the course of her career to date, Tom Holland isn’t the only man who has been on Zendayas arm.
Zendaya has also been romantically linked to several celebrities, including allegedly dating her “Euphoria” co-star Jacob Elordi and NFL player Odell Beckham Jr.
Is Zendaya Gay?
Because of her bi-sexual and sometimes gay role in Euphoria, many people question Zendaya’s sexuality.
Well, the girl is a good actress because according to multiple interviews, Zendaya is not a lesbian or bisexual. She identifies as straight and is currently dating Tom Holland as previously mentioned.
Zendaya Career:
Zendaya’s successful career began when she was a model for Macy’s, Mervyns, and Old Navy in the early days of her career. She also appeared in iCarly toys advertisements when she was still in elementary school.
As she grew, so did her love of dance, and she eventually appeared as a backup dancer in Sears commercials featuring Disney star Selena Gomez. The two apparently became friends and remain friends to this day.
In 2009, Zendaya began the music side of her career by working for a Kidz Bop music video for its cover of Katy Perry’s song “Hot n Cold,” which was later released on Kidz Bop 15.
Since she was achieving so much success, the actress decided to audition in November 2009 for the role of CeCe Jones in the Disney sitcom Shake It Up (titled Dance Dance Chicago at the time of the audition). Michael Jackson’s “Leave Me Alone” was the song she performed for her audition.
The producers of the show loved her, and she was chosen to play Rocky Blue. This is when her career really began to take off as the premiere of Shake It Up was seen by 6.2 million viewers, making it Disney Channel’s second highest-rated premiere ever in the channel’s 27-year history. If only some of these 6.2 million viewers had been adults!
As Shake it Up came to an end, Zendaya furthered her music career by releasing “Swag It Out” as an independent promotional single in 2011. She was also part of the book trailer by Katie Alender for “From Bad To Cursed.”
In 2021’s Dune, Zendaya plays Chani, the love interest of Timothee Chalamet’s Paul Atreides.
Zendaya revealed that she didn’t have a significant role in the first film of the Dune franchise before its release in October 2021.
Despite all of this, Zendaya’s most recognized performance to date is on HBO’s Euphoria.
The show Euphoria features Zendaya as Rue—a 17-year-old drug addict fresh out of rehab with no intentions of staying clean—and the troubled teens in her social network, the drama aired from 2019 to 2022 with rumors of another season to some. In the first season, she was a breakout star, earning her an Emmy Award for Lead Drama Actress.
But if Euphoria isn’t your cup of tea, during COVID Zendaya worked hard (dealing with all the restrictions) to film a movie called Malcolm and Marie. This film is out now and is available on Netflix.
Zendaya has also been featured in the Zapped series (2014). In this film, a young woman named Zoey Stevens (Zendaya) is an excellent dancer at her high school who discovers that a program on her phone has superpowers.
She then uses her abilities to make her brothers more obedient and to make high school life easier for her.
Sound interesting? You can watch Zapped for yourself on Amazon Prime.
Zendaya Movies
If you can’t get enough of Zendaya, the full list of movies and TV series’ that Zendaya is in is below.
- Euphoria
- The OA: S2
- Spider-man: No way home
- Dune P1
- Space Jam: A new legacy
- Malcolm and Marie
- Spider-man: Far from home
- Smallfoot
- Spider-man: Homecoming
- The Greatest Showman
- Shake it Up
- K.C. Undercover
Zendaya’s Music Career:
Zendaya also tried her luck in the music industry. In 2011, she released her first album of “Swag it out” and in the same year she collaborated with Bella Thorne and released another song, “Watch Me” which got her some well-deserved fame.
She also did a duet of Rewrite the Stars with Zac Effron for the Greatest Showman soundtrack before pausing her Music career due to the bad contracts and privacy reasons. She said in one of her interviews that “I stepped away from music on purpose because of bad contracts, to be honest with you.” Therefore fans can rest easy knowing while Zendaya isn’t in music right now, she may grace the stage with her singing voice sometime in the future.
Zendaya’s Net Worth:
Current estimates of Zendaya’s net worth is around $15 million. With an average salary of $2.5 million each year from the movies and TV shows she performs in.
This net worth includes her Los Angeles home (remember, it’s worth $4 million) as well as her many royalties paid from people continuing to buy her movies and listen to her soundtracks.
How Much Did Zendaya get Paid for Dune?
Show Biz Galore estimates that Zendaya earned about $300,000 from her role in Dune. That may seem small, but keep in mind that the film’s main character, Timothee Chalamet, made only about around $2 million.
Still, it’s only a matter of time until Zendaya earns even more money from the Dune franchise. As Dune director Denis Villeneuve said, Zendaya would play the main protagonist of Dune 2, which will be released in the near future.
