Zendaya insists she’s "not" an activist.
The 22-year-old actress has said she’s flattered people believe she is actively campaigning to bring political or social change, but disagrees and says there are other people "out there doing the work" who are more deserving of the praise.
Speaking about being called an activist, the ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ actress said: "It’s nice, but I’m not. What I’d really like is to reach out to my peers in the Bay Area. Like, there are kids I was in elementary school with, who are out there doing the work. Organising. Maybe they can help me figure out what to do."
But despite not calling herself an activist, Zendaya says she’d love to play one on screen, particularly Angela Davis, who was a prominent counterculture activist in the 1960s, as well as being involved in the Black Panther Party during the Civil Rights Movement.
Asked what her dream roles are, Zendaya told Vogue’s June 2019 issue: "I definitely want more work by young black artists, and I wouldn’t mind playing Angela Davis in a movie one day."
Meanwhile, the ‘Euphoria’ star recently said she feels "empowered" by strong women like her own mother Claire, as well as by natural beauty.
She said: "My beauty icons are the women in my life. [When I was growing up] my mom didn’t wear makeup; I don’t think she knew that, to me, it was empowering that she didn’t care. But I was super into it, so I would go to my grandma’s house, and she would have all the good makeup. I got to see how women are able to navigate within the space of beauty and [see that] it’s self-defined: it is equally beautiful, however you choose to do it."
And Zendaya has also hit out at Hollywood’s beauty standards, as she claimed it is wrong that she is "Hollywood’s acceptable version of a black girl".
Speaking last year, she said: "I am Hollywood’s acceptable version of a black girl, and that has got to change."
Zendaya: I’m not an activist
