Short answer: No. Zendaya is not Jewish. Her mother, Claire Stoermer, is of German and Scottish descent, and her father, Kazembe Ajamu Coleman, is African-American. By her own account she grew up going to church, and no reputable source documents any Jewish ancestry, upbringing, or self-identification.
What the record actually shows
- Family background: Her mother Claire Stoermer has German and Scottish ancestry, and her father Kazembe Ajamu Coleman has African-American roots, with ancestral heritage traced to Nigeria, Macedonia, and Iceland after a DNA test, as detailed in a Blavity profile of her parents. No Jewish ancestry appears anywhere in the record.
- Her own words, June 2015: In an Immigrant Heritage Month PSA she said, "I have roots from Africa and I have roots from Germany, and I'm just proud of that," as covered by Mic. The Hollywood Reporter covered the same PSA.
- Religious upbringing: In an interview with Glamour, she described believing in God and growing up going to church, with a mother she characterized as deeply religious. That is a Christian churchgoing childhood, not a Jewish one.
- Late October 2023: She posted an Instagram story calling for urgent relief for Gaza's children, as reported by Roya News. It is her only documented public engagement touching the region.
- No record on Jewish identity: There are no documented statements by Zendaya about Jewish identity or antisemitism, and no antisemitism controversies involving her.
- 2026: TMZ reported the couple married earlier in 2026, with a private reception held August 6, 2026 at the Beaverbrook Hotel in Surrey, England, per TMZ. Tom Holland is not Jewish, and nothing about the wedding was reported as religious.
Why people ask
Part of it is her mother's maiden name. Stoermer reads as possibly Jewish to some searchers, but the documented answer is that the Stoermer side is German and Scottish, with no Jewish ancestry reported by any reputable outlet. One garbled claim circulating on low-quality sites, that her father was born to a Jewish mother, gets his name wrong and contradicts every reputable source. Ignore it. Her first name is not a factor either: Zendaya is a Shona-derived name, chosen out of her father's embrace of his African heritage.
The bigger driver is Euphoria. The HBO series that made her a two-time Emmy winner is based on the Israeli show of the same name, created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin, as JTA noted before the show's June 2019 premiere. Then in season 3, which aired April 12 to May 31, 2026, her character Rue wore a yellow tee reading "JERUSALEM" in episode two. The shirt went viral, with some viewers attacking it as pro-Israel messaging while others read it through Rue's redemption arc, a debate Primetimer covered at the time. It was a costume choice, not a statement by Zendaya, and she made no comment on it.
Zendaya and Israel
Her record here is thin. In late October 2023 she posted an Instagram story urging relief for Gaza's children, and there is no record of her signing the October 2023 Artists4Ceasefire letter, a point on which she is often confused with Jenna Ortega. She has made no documented statements about Israel itself, and no visit is on record. Full details in our companion piece Does Zendaya Support Israel?.
The bottom line
Zendaya is not Jewish. Her documented background is African-American on her father's side, German and Scottish on her mother's, and her childhood was a churchgoing Christian one by her own description. The question keeps surfacing because of her mother's surname and Euphoria's Israeli roots, not because of anything in her actual biography.
Celebrate your own story
Questions like this one usually start with someone thinking about heritage, their own or someone else's. If you wear yours proudly, our Star of David jewelry collection has pieces made in Israel that say it without a word.
Related
Does Zendaya Support Israel? · Is Sabrina Carpenter Jewish? · Is Evan Spiegel Jewish?
Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
