📍Oakland, California, USA
1996 – 2010“Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman was born in Oakland, California, in September 1996. Both her parents were teachers: her mother, Claire Stoermer, taught in Oakland's public schools, and her father, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, was also an educator. Her name comes from a Shona word meaning to give thanks. Oakland, the diverse, creative port city across the bay from San Francisco, was home throughout her childhood, and she has always been proud to come from it. She was a shy, quiet child, and theatre changed that. Every summer for twelve years her mother worked as house manager at the California Shakespeare Theater in nearby Orinda, and from about the age of seven Zendaya went along, handing out programmes and selling raffle tickets to the audience, watching the actors and learning from them. She took classes there from third grade, and later studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and at the Oakland School for the Arts. She also danced with a hip-hop dance troupe, and starred as young Ti Moune in Once on This Island at Berkeley Playhouse. When she was about thirteen, she moved to Los Angeles with her father to pursue acting, while her mother stayed in Oakland teaching. In 2010 she was cast in the Disney Channel series Shake It Up, and she went on to star in Euphoria, winning two Emmys, and in the Spider-Man and Dune films. She has credited the Bay Area's theatres, and her teacher parents, with giving her the confidence and discipline she relies on today.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today