Zendaya Is a Virgo, Through and Through | W Magazine

Who did I have a crush on growing up? Maybe I was a bit of a late bloomer. I'm trying to think. I did have a Beyonce poster on my wall because I went to her concert for like my 13th birthday. I was devastated that she didn't sing me happy birthday. I guess it was like close to her birthday and she was like singing to the audience or whatever. My dad was like, do you want me to put you on my shoulders? And I was like, no, it's so embarrassing. And then after I was like, damn, I should've let him put me on my shoulders so she would've seen me in the audience, you know? So yeah, 13-year-old me was very devastated that Beyonce didn't sing happy birthday to her. I'm trying to think. My celebrity crush as a kid. It's so funny, when you do these things, when people ask you like, what's your favorite food or what's your whatever, like I forgot what food is. I'm like, what are movies? Did I ever even see anything? All of a sudden your mind goes completely blank. One of the things I have noticed over the years is that you're always creating characters. I think it's just from being a shy kid. I think I really started to gain my sense of confidence and sense of self when I started auditioning and I'd create my own little outfits for the auditions, like do my own hair, do my own makeup and make my own outfits and cut t-shirts up. That experience of falling into these different characters I think helped me get out of my shell because I was a really shy child. Shy and tall. Not as tall as my mom though. She's been six-four since she was 16. So I have nothing to complain about. I find, at least with my job, the reason why I love it is it allows me the space to be less self-critical and try things and do things because I don't have to deal with the consequences of the character's actions. When I'm Rue or when I'm Toshi, for example, I can just be messy and let the instincts kind of come and not judge myself because I'm not judging them. And on the red carpet, I feel like you're always playing a character. And that helps, it really does. Because it's an odd thing to get up in front of people and pose in a crazy outfit, you know? And I think for me, if I create a character, it makes it feel less strange. The movies we're gonna talk about today are Challengers and Dune Part Two. Let's do Challengers, okay. Tennis is not a sport that you can just pick up and be great at. It's typically something that people start when they're like three years old. You have to really know what you're doing for a long time to be at the level Toshi is supposed to be at. So I kind of started the training process way in over my head because I never really played tennis before. I didn't really know how to hold the racket, didn't know the form, didn't know a thing. And plus, at the time, I wore glasses. So I could barely see the ball coming at my face. Midway through, I remember getting really frustrated because there would be some days where I would feel like, okay, I'm starting to get the hang of this. And then other days were like, I couldn't get a ball over the net. So I said, you know what? Let me try to return a serve. Like, let me see if I can do this. I ran. I ran out of the way. The speed at which it comes at you, I was like, I can't. Then I realized, you know, we're gonna be filming without a ball. It doesn't matter how great you are, you can't put it in the same place every time and every bit was written and thought through and choreographed. So I said, well, maybe I should learn it like choreography, because that's something that my body is a little bit more experienced with. And you're so fast. I watched you on Dancing with the Stars. Yeah, I'm like, if I could do a tango, if I can do a frost trot, I think I can learn tennis footwork. So that kind of became the new way of approaching it. I had a very talented tennis double who I just started shadowing. I wanted to just match her footwork. I wanted it to look like a mirror image, like seeing double. I'd record myself next to her and then replay it over and over and over again. And I'd look back and I'd say, okay, well, my feet could be quicker there or her arms a little, you know, her ball toss is higher, whatever the case may be. And just started learning it like a dancer and like choreography. And I think that may have worked. I didn't trick Serena though. She was like, yeah, I could tell there was not real balls. But she was like, but you did all right. You know what was so great is I had just come off of Challengers. So I had been training with the boys every day and was kind of like in probably the best shape that I had been in a really long time. We then went straight into Dune and the costumes alone, they're very heavy and very kind of restrictive. It kind of takes a couple of weeks for your body to adjust. Like the first day you wear the still suit, you're gonna be sore. And then your body gets used to like the weight of the suit and then it feels normal. But yeah, walking through the sand every day, my butt looked great. So that worked out. You know what I mean? For me, it was funny. I remember like one of the first days, like actually in the desert, I had this worry because you kind of had to hike to the locations. I think this was while we were in Jordan. And I'm wearing a still suit, which is very difficult to get out of. It's not like if you have to pee, like you need at least 10 minutes to get out of your costume. So I was like, damn, okay. Well, I don't wanna drink too much water because I'm gonna have to use the bathroom. And like, I had such a fear of like peeing myself, honestly, in the still suit on set because you don't have enough time to get back to the bathroom. And then when you get back to the bathroom, you have to then get your costume off. One day, like I didn't drink enough and it was super hot. And then I had like terrible like heat stroke. Oh my God. And went home and I remember calling my mom like on the bathroom floor, like, I feel terrible. She was like, did you drink water today? And I was like, no, I thought I was being smart. So lesson learned, just take bathroom breaks. I would say a pet peeve. I think it's more personal, but I always have this joke that like if my nail breaks, I break. Every time if my nail chips or breaks, I'm like, ooh, I'm on the verge of losing it. I don't know what it is. It just, every time it lines up with like me being exhausted or me being like, whatever. I'm like, I can't have my nail break because then I know that I'm about to like have a meltdown. I often do my own nails. Just because I don't like seeing my nails chipped or messed up for whatever reason. I'm a Virgo. Controlling, perfectionists, self-critical, loyal, loving. Those are some good ones too. But not like controlling, I mean like control freak in the sense of like, it's fine, I'll just do it myself. You don't need to help me. I can do it, I can do it. I actually got in trouble in class when I was a kid because it would be group projects and I would do all the work. So I was like, you guys are gonna mess it up. So don't worry, I'll do everything. Virgo, okay. You'll accomplish your aims with enough style to get an Instagram filter named after you. People will want to do it just like you did. Expect and enjoy your copycats. Oh, okay. Wait a minute. Okay, I know, I'll take it. I'll take it.