Generation Z

This article is published in number 41 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until 12 October 2021

It’s lunchtime on a clear day in Los Angeles and zendaya and I find ourselves in a booth in the private room of a hotel in West Hollywood talking about his tendency to workaholic. “I hate wasting time,” she says, just wrinkling her nose. “When I’m not working, I don’t know what I’m doing. I feel almost uncomfortable », he insists waving his hands. Unlike most in their twenties, Zendaya (his surname is Coleman, but like Rihanna or Adele, who cares?) already has a long and varied career behind him.

Veteran of two Disney series, she has worked “from nine to five, since I was 13”. His extracurricular activities include participation in Dancing with the Stars (she was ranked second at 16) and the collaboration in the creation of a capsule collection for Tommy Hilfiger (she was also the face of Lancôme, Bulgari and Valentino). They made a Barbie-Zendaya and he was able to meet all the women he admires most: Beyoncé (“always ready to support you”), Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama. With 110 million followers growing steadily on Instagram, her next stop, presumably, is world domination.

In the meantime, let’s look at the autumn she has planned, which will see her present both on the small and on the big screen. In December, he will reprise the role of MJ in Spider-Man: No Way Home (what can you tell us about it? “Nothing!”) signed by Marvel, but not before appearing alongside Timothée Chalamet in the highly anticipated remake of Dune, from the legendary science fiction novel of 1995 (in the halls, ed). Then it will be the second season of Euphoria, the Sam Levinson series that portrays Generation Z, in which Zendaya plays the young drug addict Rue, a role that, last year, made her the youngest actress to win an Emmy. Award.

We meet during a tiring week of night shooting just for the latter. If you didn’t recognize her instantly (the charming eyes and the mouth with the slightly bent down corners that betray her), you’d think that with her six-foot-eight Zendaya certainly can’t go unnoticed, but she slips into the room so quietly that you hardly notice that it has already arrived at the table. She wears a white tank top without a bra, like all cool girls today, Tommy Hilfiger pants, Converse Chuck Taylors shoes and, at least so it seems, no makeup. Half of her long hair falls over her face, the rest falls in soft curls up to the middle of her back. His smartphone lights up for a call from Levinson, and as he grabs it, I see a ring with a Bulgari yellow diamond (I think five carats, maybe six). “It’s my madness, the gift I’ve given myself,” she smiles. “I got a little discount as an employee,” he laughs slightly.

(The full article is published in the issue on newsstands until 12 October).

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