ZENDAYA
ACTOR, SINGER AND PRODUCER
It’s rare to find an actor with as much range as Zendaya. Rarer still is when an actor whose formative years have been moulded by the Disney PR machine goes on to skillfully play a teenage addict with mental health issues, a retired tennis champ and a desert-planet warrior. But Zendaya has done it all in effortless fashion.
To understand the weight of the 27-year-old actor’s stardom, you need only look as far as this year’s colossal back-to-back press tours for her starring role in part two of the cult film Dune, and her first cinematic producer role in the anticipated flick Challengers. It was in Sydney on the red carpet that Zendaya came to life, stepping into the spotlight in custom Loewe for the Challengers premiere in March, and reviving an incredible archival Thierry Mugler robot outfit for the Dune: Part 2 premiere in London. Working with her famous celebrity stylist, Law Roach, Zendaya lends her voice to her clothes through fashion. After appearing in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Zendaya’s colour-changing Cinderella costume for the 2019 Met Gala marked her final exit from her Disney beginnings and into a slew of top-billed roles in HBO series Euphoria and Dune.
“I want more stories like this, things that are dynamic and entertaining but also emotional and complicated,” she told The Guardian. “With complicated, fascinating, kind of terrifying characters that are nuanced – and with great filmmakers and great actors and people that I enjoy working with.”
And if looks could talk, Zendaya’s double red-carpet outfit reveal at this year’s Met Gala tells us she’s well on her way.
EMMA MCKEON
SWIMMER AND UNICEF AMBASSADOR
“Be the butterfly,” Emma McKeon says to herself as she dives from the blocks and into the pool, chasing the black line. The 30-year-old swimmer is channelling her inner animal in preparation for the Paris Olympics, which are set to be her last. She’s going into the Games as Australia’s most successful Olympian of all time, having won an extraordinary 11 medals, including seven at the last Olympics – four of them gold – in Tokyo. On the last day of those Games she found out she had won the most Olympic medals of any Australian athlete. Ever. She is our GOAT – greatest of all time – and she’s going out on a high.
“Swimming will always be a part of my life, and has been for my whole life so far, but this will definitely be my last Olympics,” McKeon announced in April. “I’m excited for that.”
There’s a lot to be excited about. This year, McKeon was named Young Australian of the Year, a nice addition to her Member of the Order of Australia credentials. McKeon also holds a bachelor’s degree in public health and is a UNICEF Australia ambassador, dedicated to using her voice to help support the world’s most
