From Shake It Up to Challengers, 5 roles that built the Zendaya phenomenon

Sultry star of Luca Guadagnino's film this week at the cinema, the American actress is now able to carry all projects, all roles, from the most indie to the most blockbuster. And it is not a hazard.

Sublime poisonous heroine of Challengersthe new film from Luca Guadagnino – a love triangle against a tennis backdrop – Zendaya is still an event in theaters, this Wednesday, just a few weeks later Dune 2. At 27, the young American is already one of the most prominent actresses in Hollywood and one of the most popular stars on the planet. And she owes this to her carefully constructed career.

1. The good friend Disney

Thanks Mickey! She is not the first to have cut her teeth on Disney Channel. From Miley Cyrus to Zac Efron, many have been discovered on children's small screens. The sitcom of Zendaya is called Shake It Up (2010-2013), where, alongside Bella Thorne, she gradually stands out as a budding dancer who makes little girls dream. But while her classmate immediately wants to move on to adulthood and play in much saltier productions (Amityville, The Babysitter or the series Scream), Zendaya does not hesitate to return to Disney to establish her image as the new bride of America. She becomes Officer K.C. in a good-natured spy comedy. A job that she will keep warm for three seasons (2015-2018), while her film career is already starting to take off.

2. The multi-talented artist

From 2017, we find her starring in the big musical The Greatest Showman. If Hugh Jackman takes up all the space and she only has a supporting role, the film of Michael Gracey allows her to display the extent of her palette, as a talented dancer, singer and actress, capable of twirling with grace in the skin of this young trapeze artist hired by Mr. Barnum. A performance which earned him a Teen Choice Award and which showed that Zendaya has the potential to be more than a TV starlet.

3. The generational icon

It's with Euphoriaobviously, that Zendaya will confirm the quivering. In the shoes of Rue Bennett, a high school student addicted to drugs, she changes dimension. No more Disney solar girl. She now embodies the teenager of the 2020s, with her anxieties and her demons. A job that she transcends with astonishing depth. Here she is crowned at the Emmys, at the Golden Globes… In two short seasons, Zendaya has already moved to the next level.

4. The “arty” actress

To further establish her stature as an actress, she follows Sam Levinson – creator ofEuphoria – in its intimate closed door for Netflix, Malcolm & Marie (2021). A sublime black and white drama with an austere theme, saturated with introspective dialogue – light years from the Disney Channel – and thought of as a mise en abyme of the rising Hollywood star. Quickly. Too fast ?

5. The Blockbuster Superstar

Entry through the back door into the MCU, playing a supporting role in Spider-Man: Homecoming (It's good Laura Harrieraka Liz Toomes, who plays the leading female role), Zendaya will quickly establish itself in the franchise. Of the Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), she shares the top billing with Tom Hollandbefore making Michelle “MJ” Jones shine in No Way Home (2021), one of the biggest hits in box office history. Here she is now a cinema superstar. Like any Hollywood icon, her ultra-glamorous couple in the city (with Tom Holland) contributes to nourishing the legend Zendaya. And it's not the enormous worldwide success of Dune 2, this winter, which will deny the “hype”. Whether at Disney, at Warner Bros. or at Netflix, Zendaya cardboard. All that's missing is an Oscar nomination to validate this spectacular rise. Thanks to Challengers ?