Zendaya felt 'very stagnant' after Disney success

Zendaya's portrayal of teenage drug addict Rue has been hailed as one of the best TV performances of all time. Photo / Supplied

Zendaya felt "very stagnant" when her time with Disney came to an end.

The 24-year-old actress shot to fame in the network's shows Shake It Up and KC Undercover, and she was thrilled when TV show Euphoria came along because she felt she'd lost her way.

She told OK! magazine: "When I finished my Disney show, I had been working since I was 13. I had never not had a job – but then, all of a sudden, it stopped and I was like, 'I don't know what I am going to do'.

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"I felt very stagnant, because I'd been doing the same thing for so long.

"But I knew I could do more and I knew there was a lot that people didn't know about me.
"Nothing really connected until I got 'Euphoria, which I landed the month before I was supposed to do Spider-Man.

"I was supposed to do a project before that, but it fell through and I was really feeling like c**p.

"But then I got a call about the script for Euphoria and I read it so quickly – and I immediately connected with it. I loved it."

The Malcolm and Marie actress thinks it's important not to be "intimidated" in Hollywood and doesn't want to be made to feel she is "difficult" just because she stands up for herself.

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"As a young woman in this industry, I think it's important not to be intimidated. I think that we're sometimes told to be a little bit afraid of our power.

"We're sometimes made out to be difficult or hard to work with, but we are just doing what everyone else is doing.

"I think it's about owning that power.

"It's about not being afraid to ask for the things that you know you are worth or are worthy of."