SHE has reached such a stratospheric level of fame that Zendaya is exclusively referred to by her first name only.
But the Hollywood beauty is not at risk of falling into the trappings of superstardom — as she has swapped sunny California for good old Blighty.
Since shacking up with British Spider-Man actor Tom Holland in South-West London, the 27-year-old is more likely to be spotted shopping at Waitrose than at an A-list party.
Despite her scene-stealing role in Dune: Part Two — the highest-grossing film of 2024 at the worldwide box office — the actress is now said to spend her free time on guided tours of Hampton Court Palace and popping to trendy London bakery Gail’s.
As if to hammer home her soft spot for England, Zendaya stepped out in a Wimbledon-themed dress at the UK premiere of her new movie, Challengers, last week.
Released on April 26, she plays Tashi Donaldson, a former tennis player turned coach, who finds herself in a love triangle with The Crown’s Josh O’Connor and Tony Award-nominee Mike Faist.
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The trailer sent the internet into meltdown with a steamy scene of the trio getting intimate in a hotel room.
A source who has worked with Zendaya says the star picks her roles carefully to avoid being typecast.
Now worth an estimated £17million, the former Disney Channel star was 19 when she played MJ in the first of three Spider-Man movies alongside Tom as the superhero.
The source told The Sun: “Once she signs on to a job, she gives it her all.
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“On Challengers that means graphic sex scenes and some heavy and emotionally complex dialogue as well.
“She’s earning a reputation for never ‘phoning it in’ and always giving 110 per cent, and that’s going to make her a lot richer if she keeps picking hits at the rate she has.”
At the premiere, Zendaya revealed it was a “challenge” to play Tashi.
She said: “She is so complex, complicated and messy, and I appreciate that about a character.
“I don’t think you always love her. I don’t think you always hate her either, and that was my challenge — to make sure that she has the fragility and sensitivity as well as harshness and directness.”
Zendaya added: “I don’t necessarily always play the good guy.
“I like to believe I have characters that are multi-faceted and multi- dimensional in some kind of way, and I think she is the most unapologetically cruel and direct character I’ve ever played.”
The starlet, whose full name is Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, grew up in Oakland, California, with her parents Kazembe Ajamu Coleman and Claire Stoermer, both teachers.
Asked why she chose to drop her last name, she said in 2016: “I just thought it was cool, like Cher or Prince.”
Zendaya was 14 when she shot to fame in the Disney Channel’s Shake It Up, playing Rocky Blue.
Yet she has escaped the so-called “Disney Curse,” which has seen many former stars, including Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, battle mental health issues, meltdowns and addictions.
Zendaya credits her parents for instilling “core values” that helped her to avoid a “wild” phase so often associated with young stars.
I have complicated feelings about kids and fame and being in the public eye, or being a child actor
Zendaya
On growing up in the public eye and becoming the family’s main breadwinner, she told Vogue: “I don’t know how much of a choice I had.
“I have complicated feelings about kids and fame and being in the public eye, or being a child actor.
“We’ve seen a lot of cases of it being detrimental.
“I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming the breadwinner of my family very early.
“There was a lot of role-reversal happening, and just kind of becoming grown, really.”
It gave the teenager the courage to stand up for herself on set, bravely telling producers she would not have her first kiss on screen.
Zendaya recalled: “I remember being on Shake It Up and being like, ‘I’m not gonna do this.
“I’m going to kiss him on the cheek because I haven’t been kissed yet, so I don’t want that kiss to be on camera’.”
And during talks for Disney’s 2015 spy series, KC Undercover, the actress — whose dad is African-American — fought for more representation on the channel, insisting producers cast black actors to play her on-screen family.
She has said: “That was my first time realising that I could have a little bit of power and request things that I wanted.
“It was hugely important to me that it was a black family being showcased.”
Already a successful TV star in the US when she signed up to Marvel reboot Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, Zendaya watched boyfriend Tom catapulted to superstardom.
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She has said: “We were both very, very young, but my career was already kind of going, and his changed overnight.
“One day you’re a kid and you’re at the pub with your friends, and then the next day you’re Spider-Man.
“I definitely watched his life kind of change in front of him.”
Greatest Showman star Zendaya is said to have been a positive influence on Tom over the years as he played the superhero in two more stand- alone films and Marvel’s Avengers.
On the couple — who kept their romance under wraps for four years until a fan caught them kissing in Tom’s sports car in Los Angeles — our source says: “Tom’s head got a little swollen after he started having all these huge superhero hits and, ultimately, it’s been Zendaya who has brought him back down to Earth and really transformed him into a humble, grateful and mature person in the process.
“They’re together all the time and extremely supportive of one another, but you can tell that it’s Zendaya who’s steering the relationship in this steady, stable direction.
“She just hasn’t let childhood success turn her into a damaged monster in early adulthood and is very good tempered and agreeable.
“People love working with her for the calmness, professionalism and integrity she brings to every project she signs up for.”
It is this professionalism that led to Zendaya making history in 2020.
At 24, she became the youngest recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series for her role in HBO’s Euphoria.
The teen drama saw Zendaya play drug addict Rue Bennett, who hits rock bottom as she goes through the painful physical and mental effects of withdrawal.
Two years later, after the release of the second series, Zendaya won another Emmy, making her the youngest two-time winner and the first black woman to win the award for lead actress in a drama series twice.
In her acceptance speech, she said: “My greatest wish for Euphoria is that it could help heal people.”
She has since starred as Chani in the hugely popular film versions of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi Dune novels, alongside Timothee Chalamet, Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa.
The second movie, Dune: Part Two, has taken £480million at the box office since its release in March, breaking several box office records.
Following its success, director Denis Villeneuve has signed up to shoot a third movie.
The films have helped Zendaya’s Instagram following jump to a whopping 184million.
Despite her megastar status, she remains humble — and that means doing her own grocery shop.
Locals have spotted Zendaya with wet hair and wearing a casual jumper and jeans at Waitrose, in New Malden, South-West London.
She lives with Tom in a £2.5million house in nearby Richmond, a few miles from Kingston-Upon-Thames, where Tom grew up.
I don’t necessarily want my kids to have to deal with this fame
Zendaya
And the actress has even been trying to get to grips with Cockney rhyming slang.
She told us: “I love the British accent, but as much as Tom tries to explain it to me, I will never understand rhyming slang.
“Like I understand the concept — but what do apples and pears have to do with stairs?
“It’s cute when he tells me all the different phrases — but I really don’t get it.”
Having remained coy about their relationship over the years, in a recent joint interview with the US and British versions of Vogue magazine, Zendaya did discuss the prospect of starting a family.
She said: “I don’t necessarily want my kids to have to deal with this fame.
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“And what does my future look like? Am I going to be a public- facing person forever?”
No doubt whatever she does next, it will be game, set and match win for the talented star.
