You know, art is subjective, and to one person a painting of an actor looks like Zendaya and to another it looks like Jason Momoa. I know that sounds random, but that is a real thing that happened when Anya Taylor-Joy presented a painting to Jack Black. She said it was the Supergirl actor, while the School of Rock star thought it was a “topless Zendaya.” Now, Jason Momoa himself has been confronted with this painting.
Before we get to Momoa’s reaction, let me give you a brief history lesson. While Anya Taylor-Joy and Jack Black were promoting The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s release on the 2026 movie schedule, they were asked to paint one of their past co-stars. Black chose his Jumanji co-star Dwayne Johnson, while The Queen’s Gambit star picked her Dune: Part Three co-star Jason Momoa. However, the Bowser actor thought it was her other Dune co-star, Zendaya (even though the person in the painting isn’t wearing a shirt).
Then, a few weeks later, Jason Momoa was presented with this painting during an interview with ET. Here’s how he reacted:
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As you can see in the video, Momoa was asked who the painting was of, and he did correctly guess himself, though not with much confidence. First, he said “Aquaman,” and then, because it seemed “Hawaiian” and there was a surfboard, he followed that up with Chief of War (which you can stream with an Apple TV subscription). Ultimately, he didn’t really land on an answer, saying:
Who is this? What’s going on?
When he was told it was him, he immediately said it was hard to tell because the painting didn’t have facial hair, which is valid. However, I would like to note that in the Dune: Part Three trailer, you can see that Momoa does not have a big beard like he normally does, and that’s the movie he worked on with Taylor-Joy. So, I see a potential reason why she didn’t include it.
My favorite moment in the video, easily, comes right after that when Momoa learned that Anya Taylor-Joy painted this. He smiled so big, and then when he was told that Black thought it was Zendaya, he replied with:
I was like, I look very feminine. Yeah, the nose is just like a little button nose. And those lips are very – but a huge chest. He’s got a rack. Surfboard looks fun, that’s a good one I could ride. Very Picasso, though.
Honestly, I don’t think he could have had a better response. He was so kind and clearly got a real kick out of it. Plus, I’d imagine it was really fun for him to hear that his Dune: Part Three colleague and his Minecraft co-star had this wild interaction that was centered around him.
Now, I hope Momoa gets the chance to show off his artistic skills and paint either Anya Taylor-Joy or Jack Black. All three of them have multiple releases this year, with Momoa specifically having parts in the upcoming DC movie, Supergirl, Street Fighter and Dune: Part Three, so the chance for him to paint them (or maybe even Zendaya for real) is out there.