From Disney to the Big Screen, Every Role Zendaya Has Played

Zendaya's career officially kicked off when she landed the coleading role on Disney Channel's "Shake It Up" as Rocky Blue. On the show, Rocky and CeCe (Bella Thorne) are two best friends living out their dreams as professional dancers on a local show. Of course, their dream gig isn't always smooth sailing, and their day-to-day lives as growing teens also bring along unexpected challenges.

In this cute half-hour Disney special, Zendaya voices the garden fairy Fern and officially joins Tinker Bell's Fairies universe. The bulk of the story follows fairies Rosetta (Megan Hilty) and Chloe (Brenda Song) as they participate in the titular Pixie Hollow Games. As a supporting character, Fern is known for being very practical and organized as she cheers on Rosetta and Chloe.

Disney Channel's "Frenemies" brings together multiple plots "Love Actually" style with storylines following various students in the same high school. Zendaya and Thorne team up once more as Halley and Avalon, two friends who launch a magazine called GeeklyChic. The magazine gets picked up by a fancy New York City publishing company, but the catch is that only one of girls will get to be senior editor. Inevitably, the two former best friends duke it out to get the role, and antics ensue.

Although best known for her dramatic roles these days, Zendaya effortlessly flexes her comedic chops on Disney's "K.C. Undercover," a sitcom that follows a goofy family of spies. While saving the world with Kim Possible's savvy and Raven Baxter's ridiculous costumes, K.C. (Zendaya) also balances her job with the trials and tribulations of high school life. Despite being awkward and clumsy, she's got the love of her devoted family and her very normal BFF Marisa, who's in on the whole spy situation.

"The Greatest Showman" might be all about Hugh Jackman's P.T. Barnum, but we've got to tip our hats to Zendaya's Anne Wheeler, a Black trapeze artist who strikes up a relationship with Zac Efron's Phillip Carlyle, Barnum's business partner. Despite society's hostility against them, the pair wind up getting together. And yes, this is the movie that features "Rewrite the Stars," the catchy Zendaya and Zac Efron song that you're probably subconsciously humming right now.

It's immensely difficult to pan any movie that involves baby ducks and Zendaya, so "Duck Duck Goose" is just one of those films that the entire family can enjoy. Zendaya voices Chi, a duckling who, along with her brother, Chao (Lance Lim), gets displaced from the rest of her flock. The siblings befriend a freewheeling goose named Peng (Jim Gaffigan), who gets abandoned by his flock while migrating to China.

In this animated flick, Meechee, voiced by Zendaya, is the daughter of a yeti chief. Gracing the screen with her formidable purple stature, Meechee's no damsel in distress. Fun and curious, she's also the fearless leader of the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society, which is all about proving Smallfoot's existence.

"Spider-Man: Far From Home" is when Zendaya's role in the MCU really starts to get meatier. Following the devastating Thanos blip, Peter and his classmates go on a trip abroad to Europe. As Peter mourns the death of his mentor, Tony Stark, he also plans on letting MJ know his true feelings for her. MJ is already a few steps ahead of Peter, though, and knows more about his secret life than she lets on.

These days, Zendaya's probably best known in most circles for her performance as Rue Bennett on the teen drama "Euphoria." Rue is, to make the understatement of the year, a high school student plagued by many troubles. She struggles with substance abuse, and the series focuses greatly on her tumultuous relationship with Jules (Hunter Schafer), another high schooler who's dealing with her own set of issues.

The core of "The OA" is all about Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling), an adopted young woman who mysteriously returns after going missing for seven years. After returning home, Prairie refers to herself as "the Original Angel," or the OA, and refuses to talk to her parents and the FBI about what had happened to her. In the second season, Zendaya takes on a three-episode role as a gamer named Fola Uzaki, who assists detective Karim Washington in trying to find a missing person.

MJ and Peter are officially dating in the third Spider-Man installation in the MCU, but the lovebirds face trouble in paradise. Peter's now framed for Quentin Beck's murder, and the whole world knows that he's Spider-Man. With help from Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), he's hoping to use magic to fix the situation. Without veering too much into spoiler territory, messing with the laws of the multiverse ultimately shifts Peter's relationship with MJ.

Icons will be portraying icons, so naturally, Zendaya voices Lola Bunny in the "Space Jam" sequel. Lola Bunny's part in the film isn't too prominent, but she does help LeBron James come up against an evil AI that traps him and his son in a digital space. While panned by many critics, the film is a fun watch for those who have "Space Jam" nostalgia.

Zendaya stars across John David Washington in "Malcolm & Marie," a romantic drama helmed by "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson. She plays Marie, a young woman who feels deeply underappreciated by her filmmaker boyfriend, Malcolm. Though Marie believes herself to be the inspiration for the main character in Malcolm's new movie, he denies that she's his sole inspiration, and the cracks in their relationship emerge. The small, black-and-white project came about when Levinson and Zendaya came up with the idea of creating a feature film during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. The duo decided that Levinson would direct while Zendaya and Washington would produce.

While Zendaya's role in "Dune" is brief, it's certainly a memorable one. Based on the book of the same name, "Dune" centers on Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), a member of the ruling family of planet Caladan. Zendaya portrays Chani, an enigmatic Fremen warrior who pops up in Paul's dreams throughout the film. With the sequel in the works, we can expect Zendaya's character to play a bigger role in the upcoming film.