--- title: Zayn Proved He’s a Star Wars Nerd With a Light-Up Tattoo description: Zayn Malik, former One Direction crooner, must be a major Star Wars fan: he got a lightsaber tattoo that actually glows, thanks to UV ink. canonical: https://time.com/4408171/zayn-malik-proved-hes-the-ultimate-star-wars-nerd-with-a-sweet-new-lightsaber-tattoo/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-15T17:09:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:34:27.321Z og:title: Zayn Proved He’s a Star Wars Nerd With a Light-Up Tattoo og:description: Zayn Malik just got a lightsaber tattoo that actually glows, thanks to UV ink. og:url: https://time.com/4408171/zayn-malik-proved-hes-the-ultimate-star-wars-nerd-with-a-sweet-new-lightsaber-tattoo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Zayn Proved He’s a Star Wars Nerd With a Light-Up Tattoo twitter:description: Zayn Malik just got a lightsaber tattoo that actually glows, thanks to UV ink. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Zayn Malik Proved He’s the Ultimate _Star Wars_ Nerd With a Sweet New Lightsaber Tattoo > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7dfdd1a7-78ce-42e7-8795-fae6a8f75c57&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 15, 2016 5:09 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 15, 2016 5:09 PM UTC Turns out, Zayn Malik must be a major [_Star Wars_ fan](http://time.com/4407884/mark-hamill-star-wars-episode-viii-catchphrases/?xid=homepage), since he just got a tattoo inspired by the extragalactic universe. Malik, former One Direction crooner, usually comes across as the ultimate [downtown cool kid](http://time.com/4368542/zayn-malik-one-direction-taylor-swift/?iid=sr-link4). But his latest move has revealed an endearingly nerdy side of the [hip-hop star](https://play.spotify.com/album/0foMG0HqauruzIFk43eSzG). Zayn headed to popular celebrity tattoo artist JonBoy of New York City’s West 4 Tattoo, who’s worked with stars like [Kendall Jenner](http://www.complex.com/style/2015/09/jonboy-tattoo-kendall-jenner-nyc) and [Justin Bieber](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7364594/justin-bieber-tattoo-artist-would-like-to-ink-gucci-alessandro-michele-next), to get this latest addition to his extensive collection of ink. The winning design is a slim lightsaber, inscribed on the inside of his middle finger. But the coolest part about this new tattoo (which, for Zayn, is exceedingly subtle) is that it actually uses UV ink, according to JonBoy, meaning that it should light up under dark light, like a true lightsaber. JonBoy posted a pic of the design (in both regular and UV light) on his Instagram, captioning the snap with “May the force be with you.” In Zayn’s case, the force is now permanently with him… at least, when he’s under a dark light. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4408171/zayn-malik-proved-hes-the-ultimate-star-wars-nerd-with-a-sweet-new-lightsaber-tattoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4408171/zayn-malik-proved-hes-the-ultimate-star-wars-nerd-with-a-sweet-new-lightsaber-tattoo/"},"headline":"Zayn Malik Proved He’s the Ultimate Star Wars Nerd With a Sweet New Lightsaber Tattoo","datePublished":"2016-07-15T17:09:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:34:27.321Z","description":"The force will now always be with him","url":"https://time.com/4408171/zayn-malik-proved-hes-the-ultimate-star-wars-nerd-with-a-sweet-new-lightsaber-tattoo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4408171/zayn-malik-proved-hes-the-ultimate-star-wars-nerd-with-a-sweet-new-lightsaber-tattoo/","name":"Zayn Malik Proved He’s the Ultimate Star Wars Nerd With a Sweet New Lightsaber Tattoo"}}]}] ```