How much is Zendaya worth?
| Net Worth: | $18 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actress |
| Date of Birth: | September 1, 1996 (age 26) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
About Zendaya
Zendaya’s name comes from the Shona name Tendai which means “to give thanks”. She was born in Oakland, California on September 1, 1996. Her parents are Claire Maire, who has both German and Scottish roots, and Kazembe Ajamu, who is African-American.
Zendaya has five elder siblings on her father’s side but she is the only child on her mother’s side. She attended Fruitvale Elementary School, where her mother was a teacher. From an early age Zendaya was taken with acting and appeared in a few plays. She was in a play for Black History Month and after her mother began working summers at the California Shakespeare Theater, Zendaya appeared in more plays like her role as Little Ti Moune in Once on This Island.
She was also interested in music and at age eight she became a member of the hip hop dance troupe, Future Shock Oakland. She showed an aptitude for dance and performed with The Academy of Hawaiian Arts. In 2015 Zendaya’s family relocated to Los Angeles and Zendaya attended Oak Park High School, graduating in 2015.
Although she had acted in different productions, her professional career started as a model for Macy’s. Right after that, she had the opportunity to appear in an ICarly toys ad and in a commercial with Selena Gomez. However, it wasn’t until 2009 when she was cast in a role for “Dance Dance Chicago” (later known as Shake It Up) that she reached fame. Initially, she had auditioned for CeCe Jones but she was given the role of Rocky Blue instead. The sitcom premiere had more than six million viewers becoming one of the most successful Disney Channel premieres at the time.
Two years later, Zendaya debuted in the world of music with her single “Swag It Up” and four years after that, in 2015, she featured with Bella Thorne in “Watch Me”. The song was a hit and charted at 86 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Since that time, she has participated in famous films such as The Greatest Showman (2017) and she is most well known for her appearances as Michelle “MJ” Jones in Spider-Man, the love interest of Spider-Man played by Tom Holland. As well as her role as Rue Bennet on the drama series, Euphoria.
Zendaya was not told what movie she was reading for when auditioning for Spider-Man: Homecoming. She found out through her agents afterwards but still did not know for which character. Only after the screen test did she find out for the first time that it was not for a background character, but rather for the role of MJ.
It was ideal because she had been looking for starring roles. Zendaya previously passed on the role of Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), because she felt the role was not big enough and may negatively impact her future career as a lead and co-starring actress. Something that she achieved with Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, and in 2019, reprised the role in Spider-Man: Far from Home and again in 2021, for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
In music, Zendaya’s ‘Euphoria’ singles have brought her back to the billboard charts in 2022. For the previous few years Zendaya’s career has been focused on acting and she notably starred in the self-produced Netflix’s Malcolm & Marie (2021).
While Zendaya had also been battling trouble in her personal life saying “I’ve had a problem with people not taking me seriously because of my age.” This is old news for her, because in 2020, it was her young age that made the record books. The Euphoria star became the youngest Emmy winner for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series”, at 24 years old. The previous record was held by by Killing Eve star Jodie Comer, who was 26 years old when she won the Emmy award in the same category.
From the moment that Zendaya was given the chance to Shake It Up, the actress, singer and dancer began earning around $35,000 to $65,000 per year. One report suggests that she earned $140,000 for the three seasons. She may have earned more from the TV movie, Frenemies (2012) around $150,000 and she added more in 2013 after being hired for Dancing with the Stars and appearing in multiple music videos.
“‘Shake It Up’ was a chance for me to do two things I really love: acting and dancing,” she has said. The American sitcom series aired for three seasons with a total of 75 episodes. In 2011, she also appeared as the same character, Rocky Blue, in Good Luck Charlie.
It was not just her talent at acting that contributed to her early fortune but also her incredible voice that earned her money through her concerts and music releases. By the end of 2014, Zendaya is estimated to have already earned a net worth of $1 million dollars.
From her music Zendaya has earned from multiple songs attached to movies, such as “Rewrite the Stars” for The Greatest Showman (2017). Most recently, in 2022, her songs “I’m Tired” with Labrinth, and “Elliot’s Song” with Dominic Fike, were a marked success. She originally released her debut album Zendaya, in 2013. In 2009, she was one of the backup dancers in the Sears Arrive music video, featuring Selena Gomez. In 2008, she was in the Kidz Bop music video Hot N Cold.
Zendaya’s Total Net Worth
Most of Zendaya’s career earnings have come from her movie appearances. She appears as Michelle “MJ” Jones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film franchise. As Rue Bennett in Euphoria. As Chani in Dune. As Anne Wheeler in The Greatest Showman. Not to mention many other lesser known roles like Lola Bunny in Space Jam: A New Legacy (2001) where she starred alongside LeBron James.
Zendaya has earned far more from her acting work than she has from her songs, however in the music industry she has still earned a small sum. It has been her role as MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has been her highest earning role, although she has earned well from her collaboration with Netflix for Malcolm & Marie as well.
From these roles combined with around 45 other appearances in films and TV series, she has earned total career income of around $38 million dollars. That is, when factoring in her work in music, as a producer and in soundtracks, as well as all of the appearances that she has made as herself, including in advertising. In 2019 she became endorsed by the French luxury perfumes and cosmetics brand, Lancôme, and in 2020, by Valentino and Bulgari.
In 2020 she also began collaborating with CoverGirl, she has said, “I am so honored to join the company of a roster as celebrated and diverse as Covergirl’s.” Zendaya has earned around 15-20% of her earnings through her work with various brands. She has worked with a number of smaller brands and has had a previous working relationship with CoverGirl, since 2016.
Of her $38 million dollars income, $3-4 million is expected to have been paid in business related costs. The remainder, $34.5 million, will have been taxed at around 49% as Zendaya has been residing in the state of California. After tax, it is estimated that her career earnings are at around $17.59 million dollars, having paid $16.91 million dollars in taxes.
Zendaya has never married and does not have any children, therefore has not been through any costly divorce or had to pay to support a family. On the contrary, she was living with her family up until 2017 when she finally decided to buy her own place.
Zendaya bought a $1.4 million dollar house in Northridge, Los Angeles, in 2017. Even though some people expected her to buy a property years before, the actress and singer had expressed how comfortable she had felt at her parents’ house “with home cooking and someone to wake her up in the mornings.” Her decision to buy a home of her own came after her dream of having a spiral staircase house, just like Cinderella’s. The property is more than 4,000 square-feet and it has an incredible pool, a fireplace and five bedrooms but, undoubtedly, the thing that she appreciates the most, are the stairs.
Also in 2020, Zendaya bought a 5,000 square-foot property including four acres of land in Encino, California for $4 million dollars. She has also spent some of her career earnings on a selection of luxury cars including a Lexus GS and a Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
In her personal life Zendaya likes to workout and keep herself in shape, as well as stick rigidly to her health and beauty routines. Aside from her dancing Zendaya is also a vegetarian. The story goes that she and her father passed a slaughterhouse on a road trip when she was about ten years old and ever since then she has not eaten meat. Today she is on a plant-based diet and the reason was not originally her health and physical appearance (and flexibility), but because she loves animals!
While Zendaya is still young she has likely already invested some of her earnings into securities, including stocks and bonds. It being such early days for her however, and with the likelihood of early losses, any gains from her investments, the returns are calculated to have been small.
In her personal life Zendaya has likely spent $900,000 of her career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at around $325,000, not including investment assets. In her investments, she may have earned investment returns of $1-2 million. Therefore, it is estimated that Zendaya has a net worth of around $18 million dollars.
One of the things that has made Zendaya so successful is her great ability to utilize her different talents; acting, dancing, singing. Since she was a little girl, she felt motivated by acting but she did not stop there, she was also curious about dancing and so she decided to develop that talent by joining Future Shock Oakland. This decision contributed to her captivating performance of Michael Jackson‘s “Leave Me Alone” which was such a success at her Shake It Up audition that it may have tipped the casting agents and won her the part.
While she already had reached some measure of fame with Shake It Up when she was just 13 years old, she did not stop there. Zendaya expressed a desire to transition into an adult actress and continued looking for different opportunities to make that happen. It didn’t take her long to demonstrate what she was capable of, which included singing.
In 2015 when she appeared at the Oscars, an event that occurred on the red carpet resulted in more fame for the up and coming actress. When Italian-American reporter, Giuliana Rancic, said that Zendaya’s hairstyle made her look like “she smells like patchouli oil…or maybe weed.” The controversy that followed allowed Zendaya an opportunity for her to defend her roots.
“There is already harsh criticism of African-American hair in society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl of their hair,” she explained via Instagram. “My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough.” Zendaya has visually expressed her heritage and culture through her career, notably in her hit song “Replay” in 2003.
“When I was younger, I went through a phase when I didn’t like my hair. Because the school I went to was primarily Caucasian, there wasn’t anyone who had my hair texture. I remember one day I straightened my hair, and that was the first day that people gave me compliments on it,” she has said.
Summing-Up
Zendaya is a versatile and determined young actress and singer who has not only become world famous from her role as MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but also become somewhat of a spokesperson for various key issues and causes.
