Zendaya Becomes Second Black Woman & Youngest Emmy Winner for Best Actress in Drama

Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman just won her first Emmy and created history in the process. The Spider-Man: Far From Home actress Zendaya took home the award for her role in the HBO’s drama series Euphoria (she plays Rue Bennet) by grabbing the title of the outstanding lead actress, drama.

Zendaya, at age 24, created history at the 72nd Emmy Awards by becoming the youngest winner of the best lead actress in a drama category. She accepted the award virtually.

Last year, Jodie Comer bagged the award for Killing Eve and became the youngest actress to win the best lead actress in a drama. She was 26. However, Zendaya surpassed her and beat the likes Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Olivia Colman (The Crown), Laura Linney (Ozark), and Sandra Oh (Killing Eve).

Zendaya also became the second Black woman to win in this category after Viola Davis, Deadline reported. Davis received her award for the record-breaking How To Get Away With Murder series in 2015.

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Zendaya makes history at the Emmys

During her acceptance speech, the 24-year-old Euphoria star thanked peers who are “out there doing the work in the streets” and stressed, “There is hope in the young people.”

Cheering and laughing out loud, see her full speech here:

.@Zendaya wins lead actress in a drama series for her role in "Euphoria," becoming the youngest-ever winner of the category at age 24. https://t.co/MBKs1IK0Ff pic.twitter.com/Pk5P75HbOI

— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 21, 2020

Singer and actress Zendaya's Euphoria became a huge hit in its first season. Her on-screen character, the 17-year-old drug addict Rue is struggling with her sobriety. “This is a really weird time to be celebrating but I just want to say that there is hope in the young people out there," she said while accepting the award virtually. “I know that our tv show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that but there is hope in young people. To my peers out there doing work in the streets, I see you, I admire you, I thank you,” the young actress noted.

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If Emmy was a real girl.... @zendaya wearing @christopherjohnrogers @louboutinworld and @bulgari

A post shared by Law Roach (@luxurylaw) on Sep 20, 2020 at 1:27pm PDT

Season 2 of Euphoria will be out soon.

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