At 19, Zendaya is wise beyond her years.
In her new, candid interview with Hunger magazine, the singer-actress eloquently demonstrates her maturity and self-awareness as she discusses hot topics like race and cultural appropriation.
"I don't like speaking about things that I don't know about," she clarifies. "But cultural appropriation is something that I can understand, and something that I can appreciate people being concerned about. You witness it all the time, and for me at least, being someone who's very proud of where I'm from, I think it's important to be vocal."
"Obviously, both my parents are American, and were born in America, but America is such a melting pot—everyone's from everywhere," she continues. "The only people who are native are Native Americans! So everyone's an immigrant in a sense. My mum has roots in Germany and Ireland, and my dad is African American. There's a big disconnect with African-American people, because we're not able to trace our roots as far back, so I think it was really important to my father to take the time to find out where he really comes from. I have that pride in knowing that I'm an African American. I think when you develop pride in where you're from then you have more respect and understanding in terms of where other people are from also."
Zendaya rather astutely sums up her observations in a single sentence, telling Hunger magazine, "No one's just white and no one's just black."
The K.C. Undercover star is very at ease when it comes to speaking her mind—sometimes to a fault, she admits! "I try and have as much [control over projects] as possible, because I'm a control freak" she says, "and I'm a perfectionist. It's just in my DNA."
She's not worried about the "child star" label holding her back from doing new things, either. "To me it's not a transition, it's just broadening my career and my fan base," she says. "Transitioning means you leave something behind and you start something new. I'm not leaving the Disney Channel behind, nor am I leaving behind the kid fans, because they still exist. I'm just opening up the door to all the other people that could be possible fans, or would maybe enjoy my music. If you think of it like that then it's more successful, because then you're not alienating any group of people."
For much more from Zendaya—including her exclusive fashion film directed by Rankin featuring key looks from Vivienne Westwood's collection—go to HungerTV.com.