Zendaya Reveals That She Aims for Roles That Are Written for White Women

Zendaya covered the September issue of Marie Claire. The 21-year-old actress isn’t one to shy away from topics that concern women or the Black community.

She discussed her process of selecting the acting roles that she auditioned for and made an interesting revelation. The Oakland native revealed “most things [she goes] out for” aren’t written for black girls, like her role in Spiderman: Homecoming.

She says she went into the audition with her hair straightened hoping that they’d go “ethnic.” “I didn’t know that they were going to be more diverse in their casting. I didn’t know that I was walking into a situation where they were already breaking the rules. You get so used to having to break the rules for people.”

“There was a lot of not getting the audition that I wanted and often going out for parts that weren’t written for a girl who looks like me and just saying, ‘Hey, see me anyway,’ until the right thing stuck.”

“Anytime it says they’re looking for white girls, send me out [to the audition]. Let me get in the room. Maybe they’ll change their minds.”

Despite her success and diverse resume, Zendaya is still conscious of the fact that as a young black actress, she has to work twice as hard to be half as good as her white counterparts.

“What my white peers would be able to get away with at this point in their career is not something that I will be able to do. I don’t want to jeopardize it at any point because I am not allowed the room to mess up.”