Zendaya

I’m a little smitten with Zendaya, if I’m being honest. It probably started with that Taylor Swift Bad Blood video—just her presence in that crowd, the way she moved. Something about her felt different from the standard Disney-to-fame kid.

She’d done the usual modeling gigs, then Disney put her on Shake It Up and later K.C. Undercover. But somewhere along the way she became something else. Spider-Man: Homecoming was when I really noticed it. She has this quality that makes every scene feel larger than it should. Not trying, just present.

I saw her in a Tommy Hilfiger campaign recently, styled all seventies and soft. She talked about fashion as self-expression, individuality, power. The standard thing to say, but she means it. You can tell.

What I’m watching for now is whether she stays interesting. It’s easy to have presence in a franchise. It’s harder to pick roles that don’t bore you, to have the judgment to turn things down. She has the skill. She has the look. But there’s something else—that thing that makes you pay attention. Most people her age don’t have it. I think she’s going to use it.