Who are Zendaya’s parents?

Zendaya might be one of the biggest stars on the planet right now, but she has somehow retained, at least publicly, a kind of grace that can be rare in someone with such a meteoric rise to fame. She’s previously credited her parents with helping her stay grounded amid the chaos and blinding lights.

The Emmy-winning actress grew up in Oakland, California in a home of educators. Both of her parents were public school teachers, but their daughter’s acting future was always a priority. In a 2016 appearance on Ellen, Zendaya acknowledged the central role her mom and dad played in her life and career, saying “I gotta give it up to my parents. I’m really lucky to have the parents that I have. They just have always instilled in me those core values that I think I have to carry with me through everything.”

Recently, however, the 27-year-old has reflected on the pros and cons of childhood fame and how confusing it can be when the child becomes the breadwinner of the family. In a 2024 Vogue interview, she confessed to feeling the weight of expectations to be “this perfect being, and be everything that everyone [needed her] to be” very early on in her life.

Despite the understandable conflicting feelings she has about her journey so far, Zendaya is very close with her parents, often bringing them as dates to award shows and other events.

Zendaya’s parents are Claire Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu Coleman

Zendaya is of German-Irish descent on her mother’s side and has Nigerian roots on her dad’s. “I get a mixture of all the worlds,” she said in 2015. 

When Zendaya and her dad first moved to L.A. to bet on her screen career – her father becoming her manager – her mother stayed behind in Oakland, unable to leave her job as a teacher. Before that, she had begun working at the California Shakespeare Theater to make some extra money, an environment that contributed to Zendaya’s love for acting. She would record performances, put them into DVDs, and sell them in exchange for the tuition of the summer programs her daughter attended.

These days, Stoermer is a jeweler, creating her own brand of crystal jewelry, Kizzmet Jewelry, and Coleman is a bit of a jack of all trades working in the entertainment industry. Per his Instagram, he’s the CEO of his own company, KZC Entertainment, as well as a managing consultant, performance coach, and music producer.

The two divorced in 2016, though had been separated for longer. At the time, Zendaya tweeted, “my parents ain’t been together for a long time, y’all didn’t know cause we private+they still homies,” alongside a photo of the trio looking cheerful atop a mountain. Zendaya also has five siblings from her dad’s previous marriage, and is a proud auntie to her nieces and nephews.

Stoermer and Coleman are both gushing parents, posting about their daughter often, and with good reason. At 27, Zendaya is one of the most accomplished actors in Hollywood, starring in some of the most exciting movies produced in recent times, including career-defining turns in 2024’s Dune: Part II and Challengers.