When you get both feet in the door of the entertainment industry as a youngster, you’ll inevitably have to contend with those who struggle to recognize you beyond your time as a child actor; even Tom Holland — who broke in at 17 and has taken up a number of mature roles in recent years — won’t shake his Spider-Man reputation any time soon.
It’s been an even tougher uphill battle for Zendaya, who began bossing the Disney Channel at age 13 with Shake It Up and hasn’t exactly received a wealth of roles that would help her break her teenager ethos since then; Malcolm & Marie is probably her greatest boon in that department, with the next closest being the Dune duology.
In any case, Zendaya is determined to make such roles the norm for her rather than the exception. In a recent interview with Elle, Zendaya remarked on how she quite literally won’t be able to portray teenagers for the rest of her career, and just as well – considering her drive to find roles that stretch the boundaries of what she’s used to doing.
“From a character perspective, I want to find things that will push me. As I get older, you know, I can’t play a teenager for the rest of my life.”
She would go on to note how her upcoming film Challengers — a romantic dramedy in which she plays a subtle but ruthless tennis coach caught in a love triangle between her husband and former lover — is a real opportunity for her to step into the leading lady space, which is exactly the sort of challenge she seems hellbent on meeting.
“…first time really being a leading lady, if you will. I felt like it was a good step into a more, I guess you could say, ‘grown-up’ role and into that next phase. It was a little bit scary to take on, which I think is a good feeling. To be like, ‘Ooh, can I do this?’ You could run from that feeling and stay safe and comfortable, or you can go, ‘You know what, fuck it.’”
Indeed, Zendaya’s not a little girl anymore, and it’s high time her future filmography got with the program and honored that with weightier roles that she’s more than capable of knocking out of the park.
Challengers is scheduled to release to theaters on April 26, 2024.