All 13 Zendaya Movies, Ranked Worst to Best

It is clear that Zendaya is becoming a part of more and more significant films as filmmakers recognize what she brings to the table. All of this is making it increasingly clear that we will be seeing a lot more of the young actress from here on forward. As she enters into this new phase of her career, it is worth taking a look back on all her films up until now. While this is a retrospective, we'll be looking at films only, so this list won’t include her acclaimed work on the fantastic HBO series, Euphoria, for which she became the youngest recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. While her character, Rue, is certainly a high mark in her career, Zendaya is not just defined by any one role, as she has been in everything from animated comedy to more introspective drama. Thus, here are all of Zendaya's movies ranked from worst to best.

13 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' (2021)

Remember when we said there were a few movies on this list that weren't perfectly executed? This is the worst of them. A movie that struggles to justify its existence and relies so heavily on pop culture references that it collapses in on itself, Space Jam: A New Legacy is a regrettable low point in the careers of all who signed on to this misguided misfire. It focuses on LeBron James as himself, replacing Michael Jordan as the famous basketball player who gets sucked into the world of Looney Tunes. Zendaya is the voice of Lola Bunny and gives a competent enough performance that is still completely crushed under the forgettable nostalgia of the rest of the film. It is a film that may be interesting to children, though even then it would be preferable to stick to the original.

Every decision this remake chooses is for the worse, eventually taking away the more artistic animation of the original characters to insert them into every single Warner Bros. property they can drag out. Already running for far too long at nearly two hours, it is less a film and more an extended commercial for the studio's back catalog. It doesn't matter if the context of the stories they jam into the film makes sense, this story strips them of all meaning to just make them a shell of their former selves to attempt to give this lifeless film something resembling a soul. While remakes and revisiting of old material are commonplace in Hollywood, this is the rock bottom of this unfortunate trend. — Chase Hutchinson

12 'The Greatest Showman' (2017)

A musical that is carried by the commitment of its performers, The Greatest Showman has gained some degree of a cult following. It is understandable, as there are some engaging sequences and choreography that really make the film sing when it needs to. However, you just need to ignore and overlook basically everything else that the film attempts to pull off. It centers on Hugh Jackman's P.T. Barnum, a sanitized version of the real-life scam artist who started the famous Barnum & Bailey Circus. It follows his trials and tribulations, positioning his work in the circus as giving voice to the underdogs.

Zendaya plays one of those underdogs, the talented trapeze artist, Anne Wheeler, who faces racist discrimination and prejudice as she tries to form a relationship with Zac Efron's Phillip Carlyle. The actors have good chemistry and even get one number together that's a particular high point of the film. They are crying out to be in a better film. It isn't just them; the whole movie has its moments, and the cast really do give it their all, though it still leaves a fleeting impression when it could have been so much more. The songs are still often enjoyable, which sounds like it should be enough to salvage this musical. It's just that the rest of the story is much more by-the-numbers and shallow, dragging down the moments of joyous song into tepid tropes that get exhausting. — Chase Hutchinson

11 'Malcolm & Marie' (2021)

One of the more divisive films in her filmography, Zendaya's leading role in Malcolm & Marie is also one of her most committed. Playing the titular Marie to John David Washington's Malcolm, she navigates an increasingly messy relationship that is caught up in conversations about art and ambition. Set at the couple's home, she delicately takes us through a punishing series of arguments that resemble a boxing match in how much they beat the audience down. Unfortunately, the film gets bogged down into what can only be described as repetitively petty and embarrassing squabbles. It isn't just the characters themselves taking part in these cringeworthy moments, as that could be interesting, but the writer-director of the film itself.

Sam Levinson reaches a point where he uses his characters as a mouthpiece for his own insecurities and fears as a creator. While he has done good work on shaping these traits into interesting stories when working with Zendaya on Euphoria, the same can't be said here. It all gets so caught up in the filmmaker's ego that it just becomes terribly trite. While Malcolm's many ramblings against those who don't understand his work always come off as childish, it becomes much more fraught when it begins to seem like this is Levinson settling a personal beef. Though left unnamed, the repeated ramblings against the critic at the LA Times are perpetually groan-inducing and grating each time it gets brought back up. The added fact that it seems like it may be referring to a real person, which came out after its release, makes it feel like Levinson himself is derailing the story simply to be vindictive. It's a shame, as the characters themselves have potential, and both leads give kinetic performances. It still all begins to feel like an exercise in trying to launder Levinson’s own fights with critics under the guise of a character study. Zendaya's strong performance is the heart and soul of it all, though the film just becomes far more interested in using the story to settle scores, leaving the characters fading into the background. — Chase Hutchinson

A charming and surprisingly creative animated tale, Smallfoot regrettably has become less memorable than a song made about its marketing campaign. This is not meant to cast shade, as it provides context to what this film is and why it has largely been forgotten. It is a cute enough story that centers around a group of Yeti who live in hiding until one of their own discovers a human, whom they humorously refer to as a "Smallfoot." What ensues is not just hijinks but an upheaval in their way of life. This is primarily led by Zendaya's Meechee. Yes, the one from the previously mentioned hit song. It is her performance as Meechee that instills the story with a belief that the way of life the Yeti lead needs to change.

What ensues is a surprisingly deep and reflective type of film that offers a bit more for kids to chew on about what we hold to be true in our lives. By no means is it a masterpiece of social commentary, though it gives just enough emphasis to some of the deeper ideas about belief. It knows how to handle it all with a light touch while still maintaining a focus on its central premise and getting some rather solid jokes from that. If there was a downside, it would be the unfortunately significant role that is held by James Corden. He plays Percy, the human in question that Channing Tatum's Migo finds. You may end up wishing he had found literally anyone else, as Corden gives an unfunny and irritating performance. This includes him doing something resembling a rap cover of "Under Pressure" that you just wish would stop as soon as it starts. Somehow, despite all that, the film still manages to coast along. Even moments where jokes and bits don't land can't totally drag down the progression. It isn't going to be among the best animated movies of all time, though it remains unexpectedly entertaining and fun. — Chase Hutchinson

9 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' (2017)

An example of Zendaya at her most sardonic and remarkably efficient with next to no screen time, she plays Michelle Jones (MJ) in what was her first appearance in a Marvel property. The jokes she delivers in Spider-Man: Homecoming are dry, witty, and some of the best parts of a film that is already itself a rather fun ride. Even as she is given very little screen time to actually participate in the story itself, she still gives a refreshingly real performance. It ends up working with a story that is at its best when it is both grounded and detached from the rest of the expanding superhero universe. Just seeing Tom Holland's Peter Parker go on a school field trip and more low-stakes, character-centered scenes is much more compelling than a big-end-of-the-world story.

Zendaya is a big part of that, as she remains humorously unimpressed by much of the events of the story happening around her. Her character also has a lot of dimensions, as she has interests other than Peter, like "getting in some light protesting" when they're in Washington. Even in just the end scenes where it is clear that she is on to Peter, they are tenser than most of the bombastic conclusions of larger-scale Marvel finales. She is a character that still doesn’t get a lot to do in this film, though it works as a strong establishment of what can be expected next. — Chase Hutchinson

8 'The Drama' (2026)

Emma and Charlie, played by Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, are a giddy engaged couple whose wedding week unravels after a round of "worst thing I've ever done" confessions takes them somewhere neither of them expected. Kristoffer Borgli, the Norwegian director behind Dream Scenario, creates the tension of The Drama through a series of increasingly strained smiles, a wedding toast, and a dinner party game.

Zendaya spends much of the film underplaying Emma's unease, making her appear cheerful and self-assured until the revelation that nearly shatters the relationship, making the transition more difficult than a more theatrical performance would have allowed. It's a strange, prickly little film that spends most of its runtime exploiting the sheer, cringing discomfort of watching two people realize they might not know each other at all, and Zendaya and Pattinson's real-life ease with each other (this was the first of three films they'd share the screen in during 2026 alone) gives even the film's most uncomfortable scenes a strange, believable warmth underneath. The Drama is, fittingly, one of the best comedies of 2026, and Zendaya and Pattinson are a greatly unexpected comedic duo. — Anja Djuricic

7 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' (2019)

No matter what anyone says, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a superior sequel to its predecessor. Not only is Zendaya given much more of a role and character to get to explore, but she also fits in well with the story that works as a coming-of-age adventure. It is always funny to see how the superhero shenanigans get in the way of the dynamics between MJ and Peter. They are still very much kids, incredibly awkward and uncertain about how exactly to talk with each other about their feelings.

Zendaya remains especially biting in her subversion of the rules of superhero films, especially in a scene where she just straight up calls Peter out as being Spider-Man. She is 100 percent right, and it helps to break down the suspension of disbelief required to buy that no one would have ever noticed who he was. The way she just bluntly says how obvious it has been this whole time is a much-needed subversion of all the rules of the genre. She helps to ensure that the story doesn't fall too much into tropes even as it ends with an excessively gargantuan fight with robots flying around towards the end. — Chase Hutchinson

6 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' (2021)

No Way Home begins with the aftermath of MJ and Peter's biggest problem yet: Mysterio's (Jake Gyllenhaal) posthumous reveal of Peter's secret identity to the entire world, turning Zendaya's MJ into collateral damage in a scandal she never asked to be a part of, facing harassment and torpedoed college applications alongside Peter and Ned (Jacob Batalon). When Peter's plan to fix things, a memory spell from Doctor Strange, goes awry and rips open the multiverse, MJ is thrown into a fight with villains and, eventually, versions of Spider-Man himself from different timelines. It's the busiest film in the trilogy, and Zendaya must keep her emotional thread together amidst a plot that constantly introduces new characters and stakes.

That arc culminates in the film's most devastating scene, which features no supervillains. After Peter decides that the only way to protect everyone he loves is to completely erase himself from their memories, MJ has one final moment with him, telling him she loves him but asking him not to say it back until he can properly remind her who he is. It's a gut-wrenching note to end MJ's arc in the trilogy, robbed of a relationship she never got to properly mourn, and it's exactly the kind of heartbreak that makes the moment linger over a film otherwise stuffed with returning villains and multiverse spectacle. — Anja Djuricic

5 'Dune: Part One' (2021)

Yes, Zendaya's Chani is only briefly in Dune: Part One and yes, much of it is seen in Paul's (Timothée Chalamet) visions before she shows up in the flesh at the very end. Yet it still remains one of the best films she has been a part of, and she helped to make it so. In the very opening scene, it is Zendaya who gives a monologue that establishes the tone and focus of the world. She confidently tells of how it is her people, the Fremen, who have served as stewards of this planet even as it is being targeted for its resources.

Zendaya's Chani indeed begins to establish how power and control function in this universe, with the people of Arrakis seemingly at the bottom of the hierarchy. However, they are underestimated, and it is the monologue that she gives at the beginning that ensures that this becomes clear. We hear her voice first and last, serving as a necessary bookend to the story, and her character eventually becomes a central voice of reason in the ensuing fights and films ahead. Dune: Part One allowed her to lay the foundation for Chani, capturing the mystery and gravitas of all that she is as if lifted from the pages of Frank Herbert's book. Her performance, however brief, is an integral part of the cinematic vision that makes Dune such a truly outstanding piece of science fiction, a foundation that Part Two would go on to build into the emotional center of the entire saga. — Chase Hutchinson

4 'Challengers' (2024)

Zendaya's Tashi Duncan in Challengers is among the best performances of her career to date, as a former teenage tennis phenom sidelined by injury who has rebuilt her entire identity around coaching her husband, Art (Mike Faist), to Grand Slam success. When Art goes on a losing streak, Tashi enters him into a lowly "Challenger" event, only to find himself across the net from Patrick (Josh O'Connor), his former best friend and her ex-boyfriend. Luca Guadagnino tells the story out of order, jumping across more than a decade of the trio's tumultuous history, so that a single tennis match serves as the catalyst for years of unresolved jealousy, ambition, and desire to finally come to a head.

What makes it work is that Tashi is never pushed into likability; Zendaya portrays her as someone who genuinely sees relationships as a strategy, more comfortable directing those around her than being open about her own desires. It's a performance based on control, and watching Tashi's grip on Art and Patrick tighten and unravel throughout the film's fast-paced, sweat-soaked runtime is one of the most purely entertaining showcases she's ever received. Guadagnino's kinetic camerawork, which glides across the court as if it has its own stake in the match, allows her to make Tashi feel less like a supporting player in a two-man rivalry and more like the film's true main event. — Anja Djuricic