Zendaya was willing to "wait for the right thing" before accepting a role in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.
The 20-year-old actress stars alongside Tom Holland in the superhero movie – but admitted she previously rejected a number of job offers prior to taking the part of Michelle ‘MJ’ Jones in the Jon Watts-directed film.
Zendaya explained: "There were a lot of opportunities that weren’t really what I wanted to do.
"I think a lot of people look at me in a certain way because I’ve been on the Disney Channel a long time."
Zendaya felt that because of her background in children’s TV, she needed to be extra careful with her career choices.
She told Variety magazine: "I would much rather have one line in a great movie than be the lead of a s***ty one. I wanted to wait for the right thing."
And Jon feels Zendaya has the potential to become one of the best-known faces in the movie business.
He said: "I’m so happy I got to put her in my movie early, before she becomes the biggest actress in Hollywood."
Despite this, Zendaya was still forced to go through a secretive casting process before she was handed the role of MJ.
Zendaya recalled: "Everything was super secretive. I wasn’t supposed to know that it was ‘Spider-Man.’
"But I have good agents. I found out, and I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I want to be part of that.’"
The actress also chose not to wear make-up for her audition, saying it’s something she wasn’t allowed to do during her real-life school years.
She shared: "When I was 15, I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup in school."