Zendaya’s rise has been nothing short of remarkable. In just a decade, the 27-year-old actor has gone from dancing in ball gowns on the Disney Channel to becoming the youngest person to win an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for her elemental performance in Euphoria. Now, her career is set to reach new heights once again with her barnstorming leading role in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, which comes hot on the heels of Dune: Part Two, in which she reprises the part of desert warrior Chani opposite Timothée Chalamet.
As she appears on the cover of Vogue’s May issue, we revisit her most memorable films and TV shows to date.
Shake It Up (2010 to 2013)
At the tender age of 14, the actor came to prominence opposite a fresh-faced Bella Thorne in Chris Thompson’s buoyant Disney sitcom about two best friends who earn spots as background dancers on a local show. She nails every routine and every cutting one-liner.
KC Undercover (2015 to 2018)
When a teenager discovers that her parents are spies, she, too, begins moonlighting as a secret agent in Corinne Marshall’s zippy comedy. Zendaya is delightfully zany in the lead role as she dons disguises, chases down criminals, and effortlessly beats them to a pulp.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
In Jon Watts’s thrilling reboot and its subsequent sequels (2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home) the actor soars as snarky loner MJ, a foil to Tom Holland’s earnest Peter Parker. Their romance is as awkward as it is adorable.
The Greatest Showman (2017)
With candy floss-pink hair and jewel-toned leotards, Zendaya transforms into a trapeze artist working for P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) who enchants a playwright (Zac Efron) in Michael Gracey’s crowd-pleasing musical. It’s an ideal showcase for her voice and athleticism.
Euphoria (2019 to present)
Rue, the endearing but erratic recovering addict at the center of Sam Levinson’s sensational high-school saga, remains the actor’s most complex creation. You laugh with her, cry with her, and hope against hope that she survives. The third season can’t come soon enough.
Malcolm & Marie (2021)
Shot in lockdown and brimming with suppressed resentment, Sam Levinson’s portrait of a relationship in turmoil follows a former actor (Zendaya) and a high-flying filmmaker (John David Washington). From their screaming matches to tense silences, she’s extraordinary.
Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024)
Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi franchise casts Timothée Chalamet as a fighter who travels to an inhospitable desert planet and Zendaya as one of its inhabitants, hellbent on protecting it. Captivating though she is in the first installment, it’s in the second that she fully comes into her own, becoming the heart of the film as our other heroes are slowly corrupted.