History was made on Sunday by the ex-Disney star, Zendaya when she became the youngest woman to go home with the Emmy award for best actress in a drama series.
The award was for her outstanding portrayal of the teenage drug addict Rue in the HBO hit series Euphoria.
Hard competition
Her win did not come easy as she faced brutal competition from Sandra Oh, Jodie Sandra, Olivia Colman, Laura Linney, and Jennifer Aniston.
While celebrating her win, surrounded by her family, she said, “I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating.”
She went on to encourage other young actors to keep working hard. Also, she advised them to have hope in their work.
Praise for her role
Zendaya received praise from several writers and magazines.
According to Caroline Framke, “Though written with vicious precision by Sam Levinson, Rue’s only as effective as she is because Zendaya is so incredibly good at portraying her.” She added that “The character could have been – and sometimes is – a mess of cliched teenaged angst. Instead, Zendaya digs into every corner of her gnarled psyche to find the terrified kid hiding in the shadows.”
Big Little Lies actress praised Zendaya’s portrayal of Rue by saying that: “For me, I’ve always been very grateful for all the people who connect to Rue or feel that, through the show, they are able to attach words or find themselves within a scene or a moment where they otherwise felt alone.”
Zendaya added backstage that “To have that feeling that there are people that feel what [Rue] feels is huge and very important… She’s very important to me.”
Currently, a second season is in the works. However, no one is sure when it will be released due to the ongoing pandemic.
Zendaya made history by becoming just the second black actress to go home with a win in her category. Viola Davis became the first in 2015 for her role in How To Get Away With Murder.
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