Star of The Greatest Showman and notable cultural spokesperson, Zendaya, has put forth an incredible invective against colourism in the movie business.

The actress, who has both African-American and European ancestry, spoke on the weekend at 2018’s Beutycon Festival in New York, about the privilege afforded to her because of her light skin.

The actress, who is only 21 years-old, took the opportunity to discuss with Bozoma Saint John how Hollywood in particular often does not successfully represent black women with darker skin-tones.

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She said to the audience, ‘As a black woman, as a light-skinned black woman, it's important that I'm using my privilege, my platform to show you how much beauty there is in the African-American community,' she continued, ‘I am Hollywood's, I guess you could say, acceptable version of a black girl and that needs to change. We're vastly too beautiful and too interesting for me to be the only representation of that. [It's] about creating those opportunities. Sometimes you have to create those paths. And that's with anything, Hollywood, art, whatever.’

Her comments resonated with a lot of people, who turned to Twitter to show their support of the Spider-Man: Homecoming actress.

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Earlier this year Zendaya released her own Boohoo edit, and whilst is appeared the sizing stopped at 'plus', it was actually a technical fault and the sizing was indeed inclusive, with the bigger sizes selling out even faster than the smaller ones. The actress is clearly striving to practice what she preaches regarding inclusivity, diversity and equality. Go Zendaya!

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Daisy Murray
Digital Fashion Editor

Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.