Zendaya is Very Good at Being Famous

The Drama is the latest A24 movie, about a newly engaged couple whose seemingly perfect relationship crumbles drastically when one of them makes an unexpected confession. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, the leads, have been on the promotional trail getting the word out about the movie and doing so with gusto. It’s a very fun combination of people: the charming and poised Zendaya versus the chaotic gremlin RPattz. In interviews, they bounce off one another with immense charisma, cracking jokes about their work and reputations, and being all-round darlings with every fun game or quip. It’s been another reminder that Ms. Coleman is exceedingly good at being a very famous individual.

Not many people are good at being famous. I’d argue most celebrities aren’t experts at it, or at the very least, they are hesitant to engage more enthusiastically with the system. A lot of major stars avoid the spotlight whenever possible or drag their feet about fulfilling promotional duties. Many aren’t well suited to the cycle of talk-show banter, red carpet showboating, and tight-lipped tolerating of the press. Across all levels of celebrity, from the meme makers to the blockbuster headliners, being famous kind of sucks. Wanting fame doesn’t necessarily make you good at having it, and being famous while publicly rejecting the worst parts of it seldom improves one’s situation. And being famous now is a treacherous journey dominated by social media flare-ups, intrusive paparazzi, culture war nonsense, and hate movements powered by bots, deluded fans, and petty grievances. Blessed be the star who can float across that bottomless pit and do it with style.

Zendaya has been famous for a long time. She’s a former Disney Channel star who competed on Dancing with the Stars and worked her way up to being a two-time Emmy winner with headlining credits in some of the highest-grossing movies of the decade. She’s not the only one of her generation who has shown immense prowess in navigating the career ladder and defining herself as a true star (Timothee Chalamet is another good example, so was Sydney Sweeney before, you know, all of that other stuff happened.) But she is the one who’s done so without putting a foot wrong. It’s rare to see someone be this adept at celebrity, especially as the classic system of A-Listers is dying off and the industry scrambles to find people to replace the old guard.

Zendaya made her way into the mainstream with particular savviness. Through her fashion partnership with stylist Law Roach, she became the most anticipated star of ever red carpet she traversed. It wasn’t simply that she was well-dressed, although she certainly almost always was; it was that she knew how to balance theme and style with a certain kind of daring. Yes, she could wear a classic floor-length gown but mostly she’d be in something fresh off the runway that many stars would be too timid to try. And she tried everything, from robot chic to tennis couture to her current wedding fare for The Drama. It was exciting to see what she’d done next, and that thrill has never gone away, even as she’s grown in visibility. Of course the designers soon flocked to her. Wouldn’t you?

Her approach to style is but one piece of evidence of her savviness. It’s also there in the roles she picks: big eye-grabbing blockbusters, family-friendly animations, and dramas of impeccable indie cred where she is front and centre. As a young Black woman, she’s been pretty sharp in picking roles of immense visibility, including some that probably would have had “white” as their main descriptors at the audition stage. But she’s not all about colourblind casting. Check out the dynamics of Challengers, where she plays a biracial tennis prodigy who becomes the focus of obsession and co-dependency from two white men.

As much as I enjoy Zendaya’s acting and style, what fascinates me the most about her is how she navigates being very famous. One wouldn’t blame her had she decided to be a cagey presence, someone who gives as few interviews as possible and avoids attention like the plague. Remember how all those gross racist nerds acted when they found out she’d be playing M.J. in the Spider-Man movies? Her relationship with co-star Tom Holland has also attracted a lot of invasive attention from fans and the press alike, and we’ve seen how Black women who dare to date internet boyfriends are treated. Yet Zendaya has found a way to be visible when she wants to, controlled in the face of nosey questioning, and highly professional in her ability to navigate personal and professional.

Again, this isn’t easy, especially when you’re as famous as she is. But watch or read any interview she gives and you’ll see a master at work. Check out how she dealt with those creepy AI generated images of her supposed wedding to Holland. She cracked jokes about it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! then immediately turned it into promo for The Drama. And that and she never actually confirmed she’d gotten married. Yeah, we all know she has, but she didn’t have to blurt it out or be coaxed into it by Kimmel. Any time someone has asked her a leading question about marriages or weddings where they hope she’ll reveal something about her own life, she seamlessly weaves things back to her job.

It’s pretty remarkable how little we know about Tomdaya. Once upon a time, not that long ago, Spidey and M.J. dating would have been milked for all its worth by Disney and the celebrities involved. Every promotional junket would be focused on that pairing. There would be sexy photoshoots, joint interviews, and million-dollar exclusives of the wedding day. Yet they are incredibly low-key, seldom seen together outside of big events, and they keep that divide between work and real life clearly defined. They are not exempt from the likes of TMZ trying to dig up dirt on them, but the degree of privacy they’ve maintained in the always-online age is a reminder that it can be done for those with the resources and motivation.

In that regard, Zendaya is a thoroughly modern star. Privacy is the ultimate currency in the influencer era. Maintaining it without being too jaded, and finding a way to charm audiences without giving away so much of yourself, is a precious ability. And it’s tough to do well. I would argue that Zendaya is maybe the smartest young movie-star of her generation in that regard. The work is good, the style is impeccable, and she has shown that celebrity need not be an endless parade of parasocial madness. Dare I say it, but she possesses that which so few famous people have in 2026: mystique.