Zendaya

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born on September 1, 1996, in Oakland, California. Her name derives from the Shona name Tendai (meaning 'to give thanks'). Both of Zendaya's parents were teachers; her father, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, is African-American, with Nigerian ancestry, and her mother, Claire Stoermer, has German and Scottish ancestry. She has five older half-siblings from her father's previous relationships. Zendaya attended Fruitvale Elementary School, where her mother taught. She was described as energetic and outgoing at home but reserved and shy at school. At the end of the school year, her parents had her repeat kindergarten to help build her confidence. Because of her father's passion for basketball, Zendaya's parents enrolled her in a local basketball team. After losing interest in the sport, she switched to soccer and track, but both also turned out to be unsuccessful. Around this time, Zendaya, aged six, and two of her friends performed a play at school for Black History Month. At eight years old, she joined a hip-hop dance group called Future Shock Oakland, where she performed for three years. She also spent two years dancing hula with the Academy of Hawaiian Arts. After deciding to pursue acting, Zendaya assisted her mother, who spent the summer working as a house manager, at the California Shakespeare Theater. There, she assisted patrons with their seats and sold fundraising tickets, but her primary interest was in the theatrical performances. Her first acting role was as a silkworm in her school's production of James and the Giant Peach. Aged eleven, she began attending Oakland School for the Arts and, while still a student, was cast in several roles in area theaters. At the Berkeley Playhouse, Zendaya portrayed Little Ti Moune in Once on This Island, and in TheaterWorks' Palo Alto production of Caroline, or Change, she played Joe, a role originally written for a male performer. By sixth grade, Zendaya played Lady Anne in Richard III and Celia in As You Like It and took part in a production of Twelfth Night. When Zendaya was in seventh grade, she and her father relocated to a small apartment in downtown Los Angeles; her mother continued to stay in Oakland. Retrospectively, she said of the experience that her father "knew what I wanted more than anything in the world", though she admitted she "missed a lot of fun things while I was pursuing my dreams and it was difficult not being able to be with my mom and my dog". In 2015, she graduated from Oak Park High School.