The talented girl started out as a fashion model for various stores like Macy's, Old Navy, Sears, and Mervyn's. Fame entered Zendaya’s life after she played a role in the Disney Channel television sitcom ‘Shake It Up’ in 2010. The songs that the lovely girl did on the show were released as singles, which included ‘Watch Me’ that took the 86th spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. The promotional single ‘Swag It Out’ was also released around the same time. In 2013 Zendaya became the youngest contestant of the ‘Dancing with the Stars show.’ The same year her debut album ‘Zendaya’ was released. The album's lead track ‘Replay’ received 99 million views in a short time and became an online hit.

She got her first movie break in the 2012 television film, ‘Frenemies.’ In 2015, she got the title role in the sitcom, ‘K.C. Undercover.’ The young lady won the 2014 Radio Disney Music Awards for ‘You’ve Got Swag’-Artist with the Best Style award and the Choice Style Icon award.

Despite facing racial discrimination often, she doesn’t lose her calm and behaves in a positive manner. Her attitude towards such behavior even inspired a new Barbie doll. When the multi-talented lass graced the Oscars red carpet in dreadlocks, she gave out the message that such moves should be taken positively and should not be attached to racial behavior. With this move Zendaya pointed towards a change in the way red carpet reportage is done. The young girl indulges in a lot of charity work. She is the ambassador for Convoy of Hope organization and celebrated her 18th birthday by participating in feedONE initiative. The Good Samaritan has also worked with UNICEF, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Keep A Child Alive organization and was an ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network.

In 2015 the ‘Shake It Up’ star came down heavily on cyber bullies for targeting her parents. A post that called Zendaya’s parents ugly grabbed a lot of attention and made her very upset. The actress became the center of a racial controversy after she became the first black actress to be chosen for the role of Mary Jane Watson in the movie ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming.’ Many did not approve of her for the role because of her biracial origins. The actor faced racial discrimination at other instances too. She claimed that a Vons employee didn’t help her because of her skin color. The girl faced racist comments about her hairstyle when she attended the 2015 Academy Awards in dreadlocks.

Zendaya has a mixed ethnicity, her father Kazembe Ajamu Coleman is an African-American, while her mother Claire Stoermer, who is white, has German, Irish, English, and Scottish ancestry. Her father is Zendaya’s manager and her mother was a House Manager at the California Shakespearian Theatre. The girl’s parents filed for divorce in 2016 and are set to separate after eight years of marriage. Zendaya attended the Oakland School for the Arts but left as she was offered the part of ‘Rocky Blue’ on ‘Shake It Up’ and had to shift to Los Angeles. There were rumors in 2010 that when Zendaya was 13 years old she was dating 12-year-old Adam Irigoyen and they were together for two years. In 2012 the actor was believed to be dating Trevor Jackson. The girl, however, denied the claims. She was also linked to Spencer Boldman in 2014 but the relationship was very short-lived. The NFL player Odell Beckam Jr. was also rumored to be in a relationship with the actress but that was also not confirmed by her. During an interview to a radio station Zendaya accepted that she was seeing football star Odell Beckam Jr. but her father still needs to approve of him. Her name has been linked to James McVey, Val Chmerkovskiy, Jay Howden and Jaden Smith too.

Zendaya means ‘to give thanks’ in Shona language, Zimbabwe