The Dreamlife of Zendaya

Up in fame's stratosphere, she considers what's next: more adult roles, like her new one in Challengers; a turn in the director's chair; a family one day.... Zendaya looks to the horizon with Marley Marius.

- Marley Marius

It ’s an amazing, almost inspiring thing, what happens when Zendaya gets in front of a camera.

Before visiting the set of her British Vogue cover shoot in late January, I imagined her regarding the whole ordeal with gracious indifference. (The model in my mind was Ingrid Bergman at the 1975 Academy Awards, dryly telling the audience after her third career win that it was “always very nice to get an Oscar.”) Zendaya has, after all, been working in Hollywood since she was 13; she’s served as an ambassador for Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Tommy Hilfiger, Bulgari, and Lancôme; and, at 27, she’s already won the Emmy for best lead actress in a drama twice. Surely, posing for a magazine would be, dare I say it, kind of boring to her by now? (Actually, two magazines: This month, she becomes one of the rare stars to cover British Vogue and Vogue US simultaneously.)