Zendaya

From an early age, Zendaya—also known professionally as Zendaya Coleman—pursued performance through Future Shock Oakland and the California Shakespeare Theater while enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts and the CalShakes Conservatory Program.

During her early teens she moved from print campaigns for Macy’s and Old Navy to an on-screen appearance in the Kidz Bop video for Katy Perry’s hit single “Hot n Cold.” Late in 2009 she won the role of Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel series that became Shake It Up.

Several numbers performed on the program were issued as singles, among them the 2011 duet “Watch Me” with co-star Bella Thorne, which reached number 86 on Billboard’s Hot 100. That same year she released the promotional single “Swag It Out.”

Building on the show’s momentum, she hosted Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off 2011 and appeared in the 2012 Disney Channel Original Movie Frenemies. Additional tracks from the second season of Shake It Up appeared on the soundtrack Shake It Up: Live 2 Dance.

After signing with the Disney label Hollywood Records, she began recording her first solo album. Early in 2013 she joined the sixteenth season of Dancing with the Stars as its youngest contestant.

Shake It Up ended in July of that year; in the months that followed she published the book Between U and Me: How to Rock Your Tween Years with Style and Confidence and delivered her self-titled debut album. The lead single “Replay” quickly amassed more than twenty million video views and was certified platinum.

In 2015 Zendaya starred in the title role of the Disney Channel television movie K.C. Undercover. The following year she returned to music with the mature R&B single “Something New,” which featured Chris Brown and sampled TLC’s “Creep.”

She continued releasing music through guest appearances on tracks by Prince Royce and Bobby Brackins while introducing her own clothing line, Daya by Zendaya.