Zendaya‘s most prolific roles to date in HBO’s “Euphoria,” which won her two Emmys for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, and three of Marvel’s “Spider-Man” films have something in common: High school. But she’s leaving the classroom behind for her new film, Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” which casts Zendaya as a tennis phenom and finds her at one point during the movie playing a mother in her early 30s.
“I’m always in a high school somewhere,” Zendaya recently told Vogue magazine about her career thus far. “And, mind you, I never went to high school.”
The actor said breaking away from high school roles in “Challengers” was “refreshing. And it was also kind of scary, because I was like, ‘I hope people buy me as my own age, or maybe a little bit older, because I have friends that have kids, or are having kids.'”
Zendaya never went to high school herself. Her career took off when she was the 14-year-old star of Disney Channel’s “Shake It Up,” which led into another Disney hit, “K.C. Undercover,” and then an entire acting career that had no time to slow down for a proper classroom education.
“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,” Zendaya told Vogue. “And I think only now, as an adult, am I starting to go, ‘Oh, okay, wait a minute: I’ve only ever done what I’ve known, and this isallI’ve known.’ I’m almost going through my angsty teenager phase now, because I didn’t really have the time to do it before. I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming the breadwinner of my family very early, and there was a lot of role-reversal happening, and just kind of becominggrown,really.”
As acting took over, Zendaya said she felt this need to be “this perfect being, and be everything that everyone needs me to be, and live up to all these expectations.”
“Now, when I have these moments in my career—like, my first time leading a film that’s actually going to be in a theater [with ‘Challengers’]—I feel like I shrink, and I can’t enjoy all the things that are happening to me, because I’m likethis,” Zendaya said while balling up her first. “I’m verytense,and I think that I carry that from being a kid and never really having an opportunity to justtryshit. And I wish I went to school.”
While she skipped school, Zendaya did emerge as one of the most popular young stars on the planet. She already has one hit film under her belt this year with “Dune: Part Two,” which has earned $665 million worldwide and counting, and the buzz on the upcoming “Challengers” is through the roof. Amazon MGM Studios is releasing the film in theaters April 26.
Head over to Vogue’s website to read Zendaya’s latest cover story in its entirety.
