Zendaya's Quotes in Elle's Women in Hollywood Issue 2019
Zendaya Says Her Euphoria Character, Rue, Felt Like "Me in Another Version of My Life"
![On how she relates to her character, Rue, on Euphoria: "Rue is just a combination of my sh*t and [Euphoria creator] Sam [Levinson]'s sh*t, and together we created her. I don't feel too dissimilar from Rue. It didn't feel fake to me; it felt like she was me in another version of my life."
On how Euphoria pushed her to be a better actress: "I think Euphoria taught me a lot about myself. It made me more confident in my own abilities, because I doubted myself a lot. I was looking for something to prove I can do it. Euphoria served as that, in the healthiest way. I never want to plateau as an actress — I always want to be able to explore and push myself. [Being an actress] brings me to places and makes me do things I'd probably never do because I'm such an introverted person. I know, I'm super hard on myself. People actually saying I did a good job at my craft . . . it's like, 'Damn, I did work hard. I'm glad you see that.' I should finally own that; it's liberating. I feel lucky."](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/WtTnu6YlVJVHr6QjZpJQ5Tjr_jE/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2019/10/09/636/n/1922398/bfc0a81b00d56f93_ELM110119WLZendaya0005logo/i/On-how-she-relates-to-her-character-Rue-on-Euphoria-Rue-is-just.jpg "On how she relates to her character, Rue, on Euphoria: \"Rue is just a combination of my sh*t and [Euphoria creator] Sam [Levinson]'s sh*t, and together we created her. I don't feel too dissimilar from Rue. It didn't feel fake to me; it felt like she was me in another version of my life.\"
On how Euphoria pushed her to be a better actress: \"I think Euphoria taught me a lot about myself. It made me more confident in my own abilities, because I doubted myself a lot. I was looking for something to prove I can do it. Euphoria served as that, in the healthiest way. I never want to plateau as an actress — I always want to be able to explore and push myself. [Being an actress] brings me to places and makes me do things I'd probably never do because I'm such an introverted person. I know, I'm super hard on myself. People actually saying I did a good job at my craft . . . it's like, 'Damn, I did work hard. I'm glad you see that.' I should finally own that; it's liberating. I feel lucky.\"")
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