Zendaya opens up about moving away from 'high school' roles, says it is "refreshing"

Emmy-winning actress Zendaya has aced several roles in her expanding career, but most of them have been high school students. She has portrayed a teenage girl in some of her most popular projects, including HBO's Euphoria series and Sony's latest Spider-Man trilogy.

With her upcoming film Challengers, Zendaya is stepping away from the typical high school roles. She will be playing Tashi Duncan, a tennis coach, who is caught in a love triangle between her husband and their former friend.

In a Vogue article published on April 9, Zendaya was asked about breaking away from high school roles. She replied:

"[It] was refreshing. And it was also kind of scary, because I was like, I hope people buy me as my own age, or maybe a little bit older, because I have friends that have kids, or are having kids."

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Challengers also stars Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist. Additionally, Zendaya is one of the producers of the film.

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Zendaya is set to play a mature role in Challengers

Zendaya, who started her career as a child actor on the Disney channel, marks her first role as lead actor in a theatrical film with Challengers. She portrays a thirty-something woman who is also a mother in the movie.

Her youthful appearance has been the reason for her to be cast as a teenager in multiple projects. She said in the Vogue interview:

"I’m always in a high school somewhere."

She further said:

"And, mind you, I never went to high school."

Zendaya at the "Challengers" Premiere In Rome (via Getty/Vittorio Zunino Celotto)

The Spider-Man actress also talked about growing up in the spotlight and how that affected her as a child. She revealed in a conversation with Serena Williams during the same Vogue interview:

"I don’t know how much of a choice I had. I have complicated feelings about kids and fame and being in the public eye, or being a child actor. We’ve seen a lot of cases of it being detrimental... I felt like I was thrust into a very adult position: I was becoming the breadwinner of my family very early, and there was a lot of role-reversal happening, and just kind of becoming grown, really."

Being an earning child actor and having to "live up to all these expectations" clearly affected Zendaya's beliefs and behavior. Talking about Challengers, she continued:

"Now, when I have these moments in my career—like, my first time leading a film that’s actually going to be in a theater—I feel like I shrink, and I can’t enjoy all the things that are happening to me, because I’m like this.. I’m very tense, and I think that I carry that from being a kid and never really having an opportunity to just try shit. And I wish I went to school."

Josh O'Connor, Zendaya and Mike Faist (via Getty/Vittorio Zunino Celotto)

This is not the first time that the actress has expressed her intentions to step away from high school roles. In a 2023 interview with ELLE magazine, she said:

"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 later said about Challengers, "I felt like it was a good step into a more, I guess you could say, ‘grown-up’ role and into that next phase."

A synopsis for Challengers by IMDb reads:

"Tashi, a former tennis prodigy turned coach is married to a champion on a losing streak. Her strategy for her husband's redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend."

After being delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike last year, Challengers is set to be released theatrically on April 26, 2024.