Background

Ethnicity: Father was Dominican, while her mother is Puerto Rican. Saldana claims to have Lebanese and Haitian ancestry as well.

Zoe Saldaña was born on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey, United States to Aridio Saldaña and Asalia Nazario. She was christened Zoë Yadira Saldaña Nazario, reflecting both parents' surnames.

Saldana spent much of her childhood years in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. As a child, she was bilingual, being proficient in both English and Spanish.

Education

At the tender age of nine, Zoe lost her father in a car accident. Consequently, she along with her two sisters and mother shifted base to the Dominican Republic, to live with her grandparents.

It was in the Dominican Republic that Saldana discovered her passion and love for dancing. She soon enrolled herself at ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy where she was taught varied forms of dance. Ballet turned out to be her first love.

After completing her sophomore year at Newtown High School, Zoe Saldana moved back to New York City.

Career

Following a guest spot on Law & Order, Saldana made her movie acting debut appropriately enough with the dance drama Center Stage, which portrayed a group of ballet students training at an academy. She then snagged supporting roles over the following years in a diverse array of films. After being featured in the teen comedy Get Over It!, the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads, and the hip-hop thriller Snipes, Saldana portrayed the captain of a dance team in the 2002 film Drumline. She then appeared in 2003 in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl as Anamaria, a former lover of Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) who gives him a wallop for his roguish behavior. In 2004 she appeared in the drama The Terminal with Tom Hanks, as well as Haven.

During the mid-2000s, Saldana continued to act in a number of ensemble films, both commercial and indie, and appeared on TV with roles in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Six Degrees. In 2005 she starred in Guess Who, a comedic update of the Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy classic Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; the newer version switched the racial roles of the original, with Bernie Mac as Saldana's wary African-American father and Ashton Kutcher as her beleaguered white fiancé. She was also later featured in the 2008 thriller Vantage Point.

The year 2009 was a blockbuster year for Saldana's career. After the thriller The Skeptic, Saldana starred in the remake of Star Trek by director J.J. Abrams, in which she played Communications Officer Uhura. In December 2009, she starred as Neytiri, an alien warrior, in the 3D sci-fi epic Avatar, which would go on to become the world's highest-grossing film. Director James Cameron used performance capture technology to create Saldana's computer-generated character, driven by her bodily movements and facial expressions in a studio setting. Saldana spent months training for the athletic role, taking up horseback riding, archery, and wushu martial arts.

The following year, Saldana starred in the ensemble comedic remake Death at a Funeral with Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence, as well as two action capers - The Losers and Takers- and the comedic Burning Palms. In 2011, she landed the sole lead role in Colombiana, which featured Saldana as an assassin out to avenge the murder of her parents.

In 2016 Saldana starred as jazz musician Nina Simone in the biopic Nina to much controversy. Not only did Simone's family object to Saldana's casting, but critics were also outraged over Saldana's "blackface performance" (she wore darker foundation) and conventional good looks, which they argue did not reflect the musician's experience as a black woman.

Luckily for Saldana, she was able to move on from the biopic flop and the controversy, releasing some other projects that same year. After starring in the Star Trek sequel, Star Trek Beyond (2016) and Live By Night (2016), Saldana reprised her Guardians role as part of a star-studded ensemble superhero cast in Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, with Avengers: Endgame to follow in 2019.

On May 3, 2018, Saldana received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring her legacy in the motion picture industry.

Outside of acting, Saldana has a strong interest in fashion. She has appeared in Calvin Klein lingerie commercials, in which she's performed monologues offering tidbits on vulnerability, mystery, and strength. She's also appeared as a spokesperson for Avon, and modeled with her sisters in a Gap print ad and W magazine editorial. Saldana has appeared in many other magazines as well, including Elle, Vanity Fair, Latina, GQ Italia, Essence, Nylon, and InStyle.

Achievements

• Zoe Saldana is an American actress and dancer who jumped to fame with her high-profile roles in blockbuster films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Avatar. A trained ballet dancer, Saldana had a modest beginning as a theatre artist. She performed in numerous plays for FACES and New York Youth theatre group before making an entry into the big screen with the flick, Center Stage. Till date, Saldana has enjoyed great success with a line-up of worldwide highest-grossing films in her kitty. What gives her the edge over other actresses of her generation is her versatility. Saldana hasn't limited herself to a particular genre and has been seen giving an effortless performance in films of wide-ranging subjects, right from romantic comedy to tragedy, sci-fi to action, fiction to drama, and so on. It is her intense concentration and resolute mind that has helped her play such an incredible range of characters. Other than being a star in her own right, Zoe Saldana is also a shrewd businesswoman. She owns several restaurants, has her own line of fragrance and clothing, and her own brand of vodka.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Guardians of the Galaxy

    (From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global block...)

    2014
  • Star Trek Into Darkness

    (When a ruthless mastermind, Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch,) ...)

    2013
  • Avatar

    (Avatar is the story of ex-Marine Jake, a paraplegic war v...)

    2009
  • Avengers: Endgame

    (The fourth installment in the Avengers saga is the culmin...)

    2019
  • The Words

    (Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) has achieved his every goal:...)

    2012
  • Star Trek Beyond

    (On a rescue mission, the USS Enterprise is attacked by Kr...)

    2016
  • Star Trek 2009

Religion

Saldaña's father was from the Dominican Republic and her mother is from Puerto Rico - two very Catholic countries. So there's a very good chance the actress was raised in a Catholic household.

She occasionally wears a cross around her neck, and she also says things here and there that make her sound religious. She called Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher's comedic talent "God-given," and she this about maintaining her physical appeal: "God as my witness, I am going to try to do everything I can to keep this ass together for as long as I possibly can."

Politics

Saldana doesn't talk much about politics. The only comment from her was about Obama in the context of her chastising colleagues for complaining about the limited roles available for black actresses: "We have a black president right now. So why the fuck would I sit down and talk about how hard it is for black women in Hollywood when there's a black president in my country?"

Views

With regard to her racial mix, Saldana stated, "There's no one way to be Black. I'm Black the way I know how to be."

Quotations: "I want to be in the small percentage of women who don't settle for conventional roles."

"It gets pretty boring when all you are is the support system for a male character."

"Happiness is nothing but temporary moments here and there - and I love those. But I would be bored out of my mind if I were happy all the time."

"I'm very accepting with my age. It's like notches on your belt: experience, wisdom, and a different kind of beauty. There comes a day when you've become comfortable in your skin."

"I don't like things like little sandals that look fragile. I like to look strong and commanding."

"I don't understand labels. I don't need anybody to tell me I'm Latina or black or anything else. I've played characters that were written for Caucasian females, I just want to be given the same consideration as everybody else, and so far that has been happening."

Membership

Saldana serves as the celebrity supporter of FINCA International, a microfinance organization.

• 

  FINCA International

Personality

Saldana isn't one to spill all her thoughts and secrets to the press. She tries to keep her personal life as private as possible.

Physical Characteristics: Build: Slim

Height: 5 ft 6½ in or 169 cm

Weight: 54 kg or 119 pounds

Interests

• Dancing

• Writers

  Go Tell It On The Mountain by Paulo Coelho, Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid, Different Seasons by Stephen King, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

• Sport & Clubs

  Gym

• Music & Bands

  Sam Cooke, Billie Holiday, Otis Redding

Connections

Saldana was reportedly romantically linked with Bradley Cooper after her relationship ended with longtime boyfriend, actor Keith Britton, with whom she partnered to found the website My Fashion Database.

In 2013 Saldana married Marco Perego. In 2014 the couple welcomed twins boys Bowie and Cy and three years later, another son named Zen.

Father:

Aridio Saldaña

Mother:

Asalia Nazario

Spouse:

Marco Perego Saldana

ex-boyfriend:

Bradley Cooper

Sister:

Cisley Saldaña Nazario

Sister:

Mariel Saldaña Nazario

ex-boyfriend:

Keith Britton

Son:

Bowie Ezio Perego-Saldana

Son:

Cy Aridio Perego-Saldana

Son:

Zen Perego-Saldana

colleague:

Britney Spears

colleague:

Johnny Depp

colleague:

Tom Hanks

colleague:

Ashton Kutcher

colleague:

Martin Lawrence

colleague:

Robert Downey Jr.

colleague:

Christopher Pratt

colleague:

Chris Evans

colleague:

Mark Ruffalo

colleague:

Chris Hemsworth

colleague:

Scarlett Johansson

colleague:

Chris Pine

References

• Zoe Saldaña on Instagram