Tom Holland may be winning accolades for his performance as Romeo on the West End, but it was his girlfriend Zendaya who stole the show at the press night this week.
The Hollywood star, who recently wowed audiences with her own film Challengers, was on hand to support her British boyfriend as he made his debut in Romeo & Juliet on Thursday, May 23. Zendaya is understood to have made a quiet entrance into London’s Duke of York theatre, where she watched Holland perform in the iconic role opposite Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet.
Leaving the theatre was a different matter, with Zendaya walking out of the stage door hand-in-hand with Holland, whom she is believed to have been dating since 2021. She put on a Shakespearean chic display, wearing an Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood dirndl dress in black taffeta with sequin embellishments.
Ricky Vigil M / Justin E Palmer
Fans have become accustomed to Zendaya’s penchant for method dressing, with the actress recently dazzling with her array of tennis-themed outfits on the Challengers press tour.
Holland will be the latest in a long line of famous actors who’ve played Romeo, from Leonardo DiCaprio to Orlando Bloom and Douglas Booth. At 27, he’s also significantly older than some of his predecessors (DiCaprio was just 21 when he appeared in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version). And—mercifully—older still than in Shakespeare’s original; in which the eponymous couple are little more than children, with Juliet said to be just 13.
While this is Holland’s first appearance on stage since 2010, he’s no stranger to theatre work. The actor actually began his career on the West End, notably playing the titular role in Billy Elliot. Now, he is perhaps best known for playing Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Nathan Drake in Uncharted.
