Zendaya Explains Importance of Playing Tashi in ‘Challengers’ As a Woman of Color

The actress, who stars in the upcoming sports-romance film, shared details about why representation matters.

Zendaya / Jack Gruber-USA TODAY

We know you’ve seen all the photos and deep dives into Zendaya’s Challengers press tour looks—from the homage to Serena and Venus Williams to the first night’s sparkly green tennis-ball detailed dress. Law Roach is a visionary and the dynamic duo’s work has been studied by the media for months.

But, the actress, who stars in the upcoming sports-romance film, releasing in theaters on April 26, knows that there are more important aspects to discuss about the movie. The 27-year-old, whose breakout role was in Disney Channel’s Shake it Up, plays Tashi Duncan, a former professional tennis player who now coaches her husband and turns him into a Grand Slam champ. Tensions arise when Duncan and Art Donaldson (played by Mike Faist) run into her ex-boyfriend and fellow talented athlete, Patrick (Josh O’Connor) on the courts. The two men play for the world’s attention, major titles and Duncan’s heart.

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Zendaya puts her acting skills to the test and plays Duncan in two very different phases and ages of life. She plays a girl and woman who is “powerful, strong, but also incredibly fragile and broken,” and just unapologetically herself—which isn’t always the case for leading Black female characters.

In a recent interview with Refinery29’s Unbothered series, the publication asked the Emmy Award-winning Euphoria star how it felt as a Black woman, to play the "villain" in this role. She shared that it’s one of the main reasons she wanted to take on the opportunity—because she had never seen a character like Tashi be portrayed on the big screen, especially by a woman of color.

She explains that female protagonists often have to be “demure” and apologize for their behavior, or if they aren’t in a lead role, they are always answering to a male character in order to get to where they need to be.

“Like that is literally the only purpose of the female character or especially the Black female character,” the Oakland, Calif. native explained, noting the nuanced, complicated personality of Duncan. “It’s also important to like represent all types of people. Not everyone is likable at the time, because we’re human beings and we deserve to be seen in all the varieties of the human experience, which doesn’t always look like rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes it’s complicated and messy and I think that we never tried to shy away from that with her, nor do we try to apologize for it. I think [Tashi] just is who she is. And we allow her to be like all the facets of who she is, I think that it is incredibly important for people to be able to see all versions of [the character.] ”

“haven’t seen it yet but i LOVE seeing a female villain and i just know i’m going to be gagged in that theatre! i’m team tashi already idc 😂,” Taylor-Dior Rumble commented.

“TEAM TASHI!!!! I will defend her ten toes down let’s fight!! Also I love this answer 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾,” Kathleen Newman-Bremang added.