Zendaya has officially made history at the 2020 Emmy Awards after becoming the youngest-ever woman to take home the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for her work in Euphoria at the age of 24.

Not only that, but she is also the second-ever Black woman to win the category, following Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder), who won in 2015.

Accepting the award remotely due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, a beaming Zendaya, who wore a glitzy Giorgio Armani Privé for the occasion, thanked her family, team, and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson for giving her the role of teen drug addict Rue on the HBO drama.

“I appreciate you so much; you’re my family,” said Zendaya in regards to Levinson, who based the series on his own battle with drug addiction. “I’m so grateful for Rue. I’m so grateful that you trusted me with your story.”

“I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating,” she added. “But I just want to say that there is hope in the young people out there. I know that our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that, but there is hope in the young people. And I just want to say to all my peers out there doing the work in the streets, I see you, I admire you, I thank you.”

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Back in September, Zendaya spoke to InStyle about her time in quarantine, saying it was a “new chapter”.

“There are a lot of people learning how to be creative during this time and learning how to take a leap while doing it safely in quarantine. It was interesting to experience that with my film Malcolm & Marie, and I’m really proud of that.”

She added, “I also have so many beautiful projects to look forward to. How the world is going to be able to see them, I don’t really know. But that’s when it’s time to get even more innovative and figure out how we are going to exist in this industry with this new world.“

A well deserved win, we say!

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