Zoe Saldana

Zoe Saldana
Saldana at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario (1978-06-19) June 19, 1978 (age 43) Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Spouse(s)	Marco Perego Saldaña ​ ​ (m. 2013)​
Children	3

Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario (born June 19, 1978) is an American actress. After her performances with the theater group Faces, she was in a 1999 episode of Law & Order. Her film career began a year later with Center Stage (2000) portraying a ballet dancer.

Saldaña worked in science fiction films, beginning in 2009 with her first of multiple appearances as Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek film series and her first appearance as Neytiri in the Avatar film series. She portrayed Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).^[1] Due to her appearances in three of the five highest-grossing films of all time (Avatar, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame), Saldaña is the second-highest-grossing film actress of all time as of 2019.^[2] Her films grossed more than $11 billion worldwide.^[3] Saldaña is the only actress to be in three of the top five grossing movies of all time.^[4]

Early life[]

Saldaña was born on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey.^[5][6][7] The majority of her early childhood was spent in Jackson Heights, New York. She was raised bilingual, speaking English and Spanish. She has two sisters, Cisely and Mariel.^[8] Their father died in a vehicle wreck around her ninth birthday, and their mother moved with the children to the Dominican Republic.^[8] With regard to her racial identity, Saldaña stated, "There's no one way to be black. I'm black the way I know how to be."^[9] While she was raised by her stepfather Dagoberto Galan, her biological father Aridio Saldaña^[10] was Dominican, ^[11][12] while her mother Asalia Nazario is Puerto Rican. She has Dominican, Puerto Rican, Indian, Irish, Jamaican and Lebanese ancestry.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Saldaña discovered her love of dance in the Dominican Republic, then enrolled in the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy studying forms of dance,^{[6][8][17][18]} but describes ballet as her passion.^[8][19] She told Vanity Fair she quit ballet because she did not "have the feet" and had too much pride and ambition to just be in the corps de ballet.^[19] The family returned to New York City after her sophomore year at Newtown High School.^[19][20] In 1995, she performed with the Faces theater group in Brooklyn,^[21] with plays providing positive messages for teens via themes dealing with issues such as substance abuse and adolescent sex. During these years, she performed with the New York Youth Theater; her appearance in their production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat led a talent agency to recruit her. Her dance training and her acting experience helped her land her first film role, playing ballet student Eva Rodriguez in Center Stage (2000).^[6][17]

Career[]

Beginnings[]

Saldaña at Hollywood Life Magazine's Annual Breakthrough Awards in 2007

Saldaña was a member of Faces after her exposure in an episode of Law & Order (titled "Refuge, Part 2") in 1999.^[22] Saldaña's first film role was in Center Stage (2000), directed by Nicholas Hytner, about dancers at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York city. She appeared in the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads (2002). The film earned negative reviews from critics, but was a box-office success.^[23][24] Saldaña starred in the comedy-drama Drumline (2002), alongside Nick Cannon, earning mixed reviews.^[25][26]

In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), she played Anamaria, a pirate joining Will Turner and Mr. Gibbs for a chance to confront Jack Sparrow for stealing her ship. She appeared in The Terminal as Dolores Torres, an immigration officer and Star Trek fan, a role helping Saldaña during her portrayal in the Star Trek reboot (2009).^[27] In 2004, she had roles in Haven and Temptation; both earned little-to-no box-office success.

In 2005, Saldaña appeared in Constellation, Guess Who with Ashton Kutcher, and Dirty Deeds. She starred in the romantic comedy-dramas Premium (2006) and After Sex (2007).^[28] Saldaña starred in Blackout, a television film set in New York city during the Northeast Blackout of 2003. The film premiered at the 2007 Zurich Film Festival^[29] and debuted on BET in 2008.^[30] Saldaña had a supporting role as Angie Jones in the action thriller Vantage Point (2008).^[31]

Breakthrough roles, Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy[]

Saldaña at the "Entertainment Weekly: Wonder Women: Female Power Icons in Pop Culture" panel, Comic-Con 2009

Saldaña appeared in two roles in 2009, raising her profile considerably.^[17] She played Nyota Uhura in Star Trek.^[32] The film's director J. J. Abrams asked Saldaña to play the role because he enjoyed her work. Saldaña never saw the original series, although she portrayed a Trekkie in The Terminal (2004), but agreed to play the role after Abrams complimented her. She met with Nichelle Nichols to understand the creation of Uhura's background and name of the character.^[33] Saldaña's mother was a Star Trek fan, leaving voice-mails during filming, advising on the role.^[34] Steven Spielberg taught her the Vulcan salute five years earlier while he directed her in The Terminal.^[27] Star Trek (2009) was a box-office success earning $385.7 million.^[35]

Saldaña's second high-profile film in 2009 was James Cameron's Avatar portraying the indigenous hunter Neytiri. Avatar was well received by critics, accumulating an approval rating of 83% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.^[36] It grossed $2.7 billion worldwide to become the highest-grossing film of all time,^[37] as well as in the United States and Canada. It also became the first film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide.^[38] The film was nominated for ten Saturn Awards, and won all ten at the 36th Saturn Awards ceremony. Saldaña's Saturn Award for Best Actress win marked a rare occurrence for an all-CG character.^[39]

Saldaña at the 82nd Academy Awards (2010)

In 2010, Saldaña performed in The Losers as Aisha al-Fadhil, a native Bolivian woman. For the role, she was required to gain weight to carry weapons for eight hours a day.^[40] In 2010, she appeared in Takers, Death at a Funeral, and Burning Palms. Her television ad for Calvin Klein's "Envy" line debuted in 2010.^[41] In 2011, Saldaña starred in the romantic comedy The Heart Specialist, and portrayed assassin Cataleya Restrepo in the crime drama Colombiana. Although the latter film earned negative reviews from critics, Saldaña's performance was praised.^[42]

In 2012, she appeared in the romantic drama The Words, earning negative reviews from critics with little success at the box-office.^[43][44]

In 2013, Saldaña reprised her role as Uhura in Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to the Star Trek re-boot. Like the previous film, it was a box-office success, ending its North American theatre run with a box office total of $228,778,661, placing it as the eleventh-highest-grossing film of 2013.^[45] It earned $467,365,246 worldwide, ranking it in 14th place for 2013, and making it the highest-grossing film of the franchise.^[46] Saldaña voiced her character in the 2013 release of the Star Trek video game.

In 2014, Saldaña played Gamora in the hit Guardians of the Galaxy.^[47][48] Saldaña portrayed the Gamora character with make-up rather than computer generated imagery (CGI) or performance capture.^[49] The film became the third-highest-grossing film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, behind The Avengers and Iron Man 3.^[50] It was the third-highest-grossing 2014 film (behind Transformers: Age of Extinction and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), and the highest-grossing superhero film of 2014.^[50][51]

The film earned positive reviews. Saldaña was nominated for numerous awards including Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in an Action Movie, Favorite Action Movie Actress at the People's Choice Awards, and Best On-Screen Transformation at the MTV Movie Awards.^[52][53]

In May 2014, she performed in Rosemary's Baby, a television adaptation of Ira Levin's horror novel. Saldaña also co-produced the four-hour two-part show.^[54] In 2014, Saldaña was recognized by Elle magazine during The Women in Hollywood Awards, honoring women for achievements in film, spanning all aspects of the motion-picture industry, including acting, directing, and producing.^[55]

2016–present[]

Saldaña starred in Nina, an unauthorized biography about the jazz musician Nina Simone released in 2016. The film depicts the late singer's rise to fame and relationship with her manager Clifton Henderson. Simone's family were critical of the decision to cast her in the role.^[56] In August 2020, Saldaña apologized for taking on the role, saying “I’m so sorry. I know better today and I’m never going to do that again. She’s one of our giants and someone else should step up. Somebody else should tell her story.” ^[57] In 2016, she co-starred in the science-fiction sequel Star Trek Beyond released in July, and Ben Affleck's crime drama Live by Night released in December.^[58]

Saldaña returned as Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, released in May 2017.^[59] She re-reprised the role in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and its sequel Avengers: Endgame released in April 2019.

Also in 2017, Saldaña played Mrs. Mollé in I Kill Giants, Anders Walter's adaptation of Joe Kelly's graphic novel I Kill Giants. Shooting commenced in Ireland in September 2016.^[60] Also that year, she appeared in My Little Pony: The Movie performing the voice of pirate parrot Captain Celaeno.

On May 3, 2018, she received a star at 6920 Hollywood Boulevard in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[61]

In 2021, Saldaña will join an all-star cast in David O. Russell's untitled film.^[62]

She will reprise her role as Neytiri in the sequels Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, scheduled for 2022 and 2024 respectively.^[63]

Personal life[]

Saldana at the 2014 Alma Awards while pregnant

In June 2010, Saldaña was engaged to her longtime boyfriend Keith Britton, an actor and the CEO of My Fashion Database.^[64] In November 2011, she and Britton announced they had ended their relationship after eleven years.^[65]

Saldaña was in a relationship with actor Bradley Cooper from December 2011 to January 2013.^[66]

In March 2013, Saldaña began dating Italian artist Marco Perego. They married in June 2013 in London.^[67][68] In July 2015, Saldaña revealed Perego adopted her surname upon marriage.^[69][70] Thereafter, Zoe became Zoe Saldaña-Perego and Marco became Marco Perego-Saldaña. Their children would be Perego-Saldaña.^[71] Saldaña and Perego have three sons, twins born in November 2014^[72] and the third born in February 2017.^[73][74] Saldaña has stated her children will be multi-lingual because she and her husband speak Spanish, Italian and English around them.^[75]

In July 2016, during an interview with Net-a-Porter's The Edit, Saldaña revealed she has Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease, along with her mother and sisters. To combat the effects of this disease, Saldaña said she and her husband adhere to a gluten- and dairy-free diet.^[76]

Saldaña is a supporter of FINCA International, a micro-finance organization.^[77]

Saldaña is left-handed. In 2015, during International Left-Handers Day, she tweeted in support of the Left-Handers Movement.^[78]

In 2017, Saldaña founded BESE, a digital media platform designed to "combat the lack of diversity in the mainstream media" with an interest on positive stories within the Latino community.^[79] In 2020, Saldaña participated in the VoteRiders #IDCheck Challenge in order to raise awareness of voter ID requirements.^[80]

Filmography[]

Key

Denotes productions that have not yet been released

Film[]

Year	Title	Role	Director(s)	Notes
2000	Center Stage	Eva Rodriguez	Nicholas Hytner
2001	Get Over It	Maggie	Tommy O'Haver
	Snipes	Cheryl	Rich Murray
2002	Crossroads	Kit	Tamra Davis
	Drumline	Laila	Charles Stone III
2003	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Anamaria	Gore Verbinski
2004	The Terminal	Dolores Torres	Steven Spielberg
	Haven	Andrea	Frank E. Flowers
	Temptation	Annie	Mark Tarlov
2005	Constellation	Rosa Boxer	Jordan Walker-Pearlman
	Guess Who	Theresa Jones	Kevin Rodney Sullivan
	Dirty Deeds	Rachel Buff	David Kendall
	The Curse of Father Cardona	Flor	Félix Germán
2006	Premium	Charli	Pete Chatmon
	The Heart Specialist	Donna	Dennis Cooper
2007	After Sex	Kat	Eric Amadio
	Blackout	Claudine	Jerry Lamothe
2008	Vantage Point	Angie Jones	Pete Travis
2009	Star Trek	Nyota Uhura	J. J. Abrams
	The Skeptic	Cassie	Tennyson Bardwell
	Avatar	Neytiri	James Cameron
2010	The Losers	Aisha	Sylvain White
	Takers	Lily Jansen	John Luessenhop
	Death at a Funeral	Elaine	Neil LaBute
	Burning Palms	Sara Cotton	Christopher B. Landon
2011	Kaylien	N/A	Herself	Short film
	Colombiana	Cataleya Restrepo	Olivier Megaton
2012	The Words	Dora Jansen	Brian Klugman Lee Sternthal
2013	Blood Ties	Vanessa	Guillaume Canet
	Star Trek Into Darkness	Nyota Uhura	J. J. Abrams
	Out of the Furnace	Lena Warren	Scott Cooper
2014	Unity	Narrator	Shaun Monson	Documentary
	Infinitely Polar Bear	Maggie Stuart	Maya Forbes
	Guardians of the Galaxy	Gamora	James Gunn
	The Book of Life	María Posada (voice)	Jorge R. Gutierrez
2016	Nina	Nina Simone	Cynthia Mort
	Star Trek Beyond	Nyota Uhura	Justin Lin
	Live by Night	Graciella Corrales	Ben Affleck
2017	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	Gamora	James Gunn
	I Kill Giants	Mrs. Mollé	Anders Walter
	My Little Pony: The Movie	Captain Celaeno (voice)	Jayson Thiessen
2018	The Legend of Red Hand	Mia Parc	Stefano Sollima	Short film; promoting Campari
	Avengers: Infinity War	Gamora	Russo brothers
2019	Love, Antosha	Herself	Garret Price	Documentary
	Missing Link	Adelina Fortnight (voice)	Chris Butler
	Avengers: Endgame	Gamora	Russo brothers
2020	Vampires vs. the Bronx	Becky	Oz Rodriguez	Cameo
2021	Vivo	Rosa (voice)	Kirk DeMicco
2022	The Adam Project		Shawn Levy	Post-production
	Avatar 2	Neytiri	James Cameron	Post-production
2024	Avatar 3	Neytiri	James Cameron	Post-production
TBA	Untitled David O. Russell project		David O. Russell	Post-production

Television[]

Video games[]

Theme park attractions[]

Awards and nominations[]

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References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zoe Saldana.

• Zoe Saldana
• Zoe Saldana at IMDb
• Zoe Saldana at the TCM Movie Database
• Zoe Saldana at AllMovie
• Zoe Saldana, at Future Movies
• "Zoe Saldaña Shines on ESSENCE's April Cover". Essence. March 9, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
• Sandell, Laurie (March 1, 2010). "Zoë Saldana: The Most Elegant Member of the Glam New Guard". Glamour. Condé Nast. Retrieved December 27, 2017.