Zoe Saldaña facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Zoë Saldaña
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Saldaña in 2024
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| Born |
Zoë Yadira Saldaña Nazario
June 19, 1978 Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
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| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Marco Perego
(m. 2013) |
| Partner(s) | Keith Britton (2000–2011) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Full list |
Zoë Saldaña (born June 19, 1978) is an American actress. She is famous for her roles in big science fiction movies. You might know her from Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Avengers: Endgame. These are some of the highest-earning movies ever made!
Zoë Saldaña's films have earned over $15 billion around the world. This makes her one of the highest-earning actresses of all time. In 2023, Time magazine even called her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
She started her acting career in 1999 after training as a dancer. Her first movie role was in Center Stage (2000), where she played a ballet dancer. She became very well known after starring in the Star Trek movies as Nyota Uhura and in the Avatar movies as Neytiri. She also played Gamora in five movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like Guardians of the Galaxy.
More recently, Saldaña has starred in other popular projects. These include the science fiction film The Adam Project and the TV series From Scratch for Netflix. In 2023, she started a lead role in the spy series Special Ops: Lioness on Paramount+. In 2024, she won several awards for her role in the musical crime film Emilia Pérez, including an Academy Award.
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Early life and dance
Zoë Yadira Saldaña Nazario was born on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey. She grew up in Queens, New York. Her father was from the Dominican Republic, and her mother is half Dominican and half Puerto Rican. Zoë and her two sisters, Cisely and Mariel, learned to speak both English and Spanish. Spanish was their first language at home.
When Zoë was nine, her father died in a car accident. She and her sisters then moved to the Dominican Republic to live with their father's family. Their mother stayed in New York to work and pay for their private school. Later, her mother married Dagoberto Galán, who became a loving stepfather to the girls.
While living in the Dominican Republic, Zoë found her love for dance. She studied different dance styles at the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy. Ballet was her favorite. She later moved back to New York City and finished high school there.
In New York, Zoë performed with theater groups. Her acting and dance training helped her get her first movie role in Center Stage (2000). She played a ballet student named Eva Rodriguez.
Career highlights
Early career (1999–2008)
Zoë Saldaña's first movie was Center Stage in 2000. She then appeared in Crossroads (2002) with Britney Spears. Even though critics didn't love Crossroads, it did well at the box office. She also starred in the movie Drumline (2002).
In 2003, she played Anamaria, a pirate, in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. She also had a role in The Terminal (2004) as an immigration officer. This role helped her later when she played a character in the Star Trek reboot.
Becoming a sci-fi star (2009–2019)
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The year 2009 was a big one for Zoë Saldaña. She starred as Nyota Uhura in the movie Star Trek. The director, J. J. Abrams, chose her because he liked her acting. She even met with Nichelle Nichols, who played the original Uhura, to learn more about the character. Star Trek was a huge success, earning over $385 million worldwide.
Her second major film in 2009 was Avatar. In this movie, she played Neytiri, a hunter from an alien world. Avatar was loved by critics and became the highest-earning film of all time, making over $2.7 billion worldwide. Zoë even won an award for Best Actress for playing Neytiri, which was special because Neytiri was a computer-generated character.
In 2013, she played Uhura again in Star Trek Into Darkness, which was also a big hit. In 2014, she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy. She wore special makeup for this role instead of computer effects. This movie was very popular and earned a lot of money. Zoë was nominated for several awards for her role as Gamora.
She continued playing Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Her last movie as Gamora was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2023. In 2018, Zoë Saldaña received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her amazing work in movies.
Recent work and future projects (2020–present)
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In 2021, Zoë Saldaña lent her voice to the animated musical Vivo and the TV series Maya and the Three. She also starred in The Adam Project and Amsterdam.
In 2022, she returned as Neytiri in Avatar: The Way of Water, the sequel to Avatar. She even sang a song called "The Songcord" for the movie's soundtrack. In 2023, she started a new TV series called Special Ops: Lioness.
In 2024, Zoë starred in the musical crime film Emilia Pérez. Her performance was highly praised, and she won many awards, including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She shared the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival with her co-stars.
Zoë Saldaña will also have a voice role in the upcoming Pixar film Elio (2025). She is also set to appear in more Avatar sequels in the future.
Personal life
In 2013, Zoë Saldaña married Italian artist Marco Perego. A few years later, Zoë shared that Marco decided to take her last name when they got married. So, she became Zoë Saldaña-Perego, and he became Marco Perego-Saldaña. They have three sons together. Zoë wants her children to be multi-lingual, so she and her husband speak Spanish, Italian, and English with them.
In 2016, Zoë shared that she has Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune disease. Her mother and sisters also have it. To help manage the effects of this condition, Zoë and her husband follow a special diet that avoids gluten and dairy.
Zoë Saldaña also supports different causes. She is a fan of FINCA International, an organization that helps people start small businesses. In 2017, she started BESE, a digital media platform. It aims to share positive stories about the Latino community and show more diverse voices in the media.
Accolades
See also
In Spanish: Zoe Saldaña para niños
