n September 1st 1996, Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born to two teachers, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman and Claire Stoermer. The youngest of six children she was raised in Oakland, California. At eight years old, she started taking dance lessons, spending three years as a member of the Future Shock Oakland dance group and two years studying hula dancing at the Academy of Hawaiian Arts. She attended the Oakland School for the Arts, trained at the California Shakespeare Theater’s student conservatory and the American Conservatory. During that time she performed in countless productions like “Once on This Island”, “Caroline, or Change”, “Richard III”, “Twelfth Night” and “As You like It”. Zendaya then moved onto modeling, getting gigs with Macy’s, Mervyn’s and Old Navy. Thanks to her dance training she landed a gig for a Sear’s commercial where she was a back-up dancer to another Disney star Selena Gomez.

In 2010, at just twelve years of age, Zendaya landed a lead role of Rocky Blue in “Shake It Up” on the Disney channel. This new role lead to guest roles on TV shows like “A.N.T Farm” and “Good Luck Charlie”, along with voice work for the TV movie “Pixie Hollow Games”. A couple years later, Zendaya and her “Shake It Up” co-star, Bella Thorne, starred in the TV movie “Frenemies”. By 2013, Zendaya was a household name by making it to the finals as contestant on ABC’s hit competition show “Dancing with the Stars”. That same year she published her book “Between U and Me: How to Rock Your Tween Years with Style and Confidence” along with releasing a self-titled, pop and R&B influenced album to much success; her single “Replay” went platinum.

In 2015, after some time away from the Disney Channel, Zendaya popped back onto the screen to not only headline but produce “KC Undercover”, where she plays a teenage secret spy. While staring in her own show, Zendaya then appeared in Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” video, ABC’s hit show “Blackish” and in “Beyoncé: Lemonade”. 2016 started out as quite the year for Zendaya with the announcement that she would be the newest face for make-up giant CoverGirl. Next up, she was cast in the upcoming Spiderman reboot, which will be hitting the big screen in 2017. Then in June, Zendaya’s shoe line she co-designed with stylist Law Roach, Daya by Zendaya, showed at FFANY (Fashion Footwear Association of New York) and will be available for Spring ’17. And most recently it was reported that she would be joining Hugh Jackman’s movie musical “The Greatest Showman on Earth”. She is also in the recording studio working on her second album with the likes of Timbaland, Babyface and Diane Warren. Looks like this young lady is growing up and exploring new venues, showing us her many layers and is a force to be reckoned with.

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