Zendaya Makes $100,000 Donation to Bay Area Theater Where She Got Her Start

“This gift helps keep Cal Shakes going strong as we prepare for our 50th Anniversary season!” California Shakespeare Theater wrote in a statement. Zendaya is proving she has never forgotten where she came from. On Tuesday, the Euphoria star, 27, partnered with the Women Donors Network to donate $100,000 to the place where her acting career began — California Shakespeare Theater in Oakland, Calif. The theater announced the donation to their North Star Fund, which helps toward improvements and future shows, per their website.

“We are very pleased to be able to offer this general support grant in partnership with Zendaya,” wrote Leena Barakat, President & CEO of the Women Donors Network (WDN), in a statement. “We hope that our funding supports your work and helps further your strategic vision, wherever funds are most needed.” Clive Worsley, the theater’s executive director, also thanked Zendaya for paying it forward.

“We are deeply grateful to Zendaya and the WDN for their partnership, and their generous grant of $100,000 to the North Star Fund,” wrote Worsley in a statement. “This gift helps keep Cal Shakes going strong as we prepare for our 50th Anniversary season!” The theater was founded in 1974 and is particularly popular during the summer season, when audience members gather at the outdoor Bruns Amphitheater. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Zendaya joined the theater because her mother worked there for 12 summers when the Dune: Part Two star was a child.