Long before they met, Zendaya and Tom Holland already had something in common: neither seemed too concerned about what others considered “for boys” or “for girls”. ❤️As a child, Zendaya practiced several sports and played soccer, a discipline that for years has carried the stereotype of being primarily male.
Tom Holland experienced something similar from the other side. He began dancing as a child and later trained in ballet to play Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical. Doing so as a boy in an all-boys school was not always easy: the actor himself has said that he was mocked for dancing and that some classmates even teased him about it.
But Tom continued training, and that skill ultimately became an advantage for his career. Dancing gave him coordination, balance, and body control, tools that years later he would even draw on to play such physical characters as Spider-Man.
Zendaya also did not allow labels to determine what she could try. She played soccer, basketball, and practiced track and field before finding her path in dance, theater, and finally acting.
She grew up kicking a ball in a sport many considered “for men”; he, doing ballet despite those who believed it was “for girls”. Years later, photos of them remind us of something quite simple: talents do not come with gender.