ZOE SALDANA is one of the most bankable sci-fi actresses in Hollywood, appearing in some of the biggest franchises (that take place in space): Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar. Although her name is etched in the sky amongst the stars, she remains a feisty, down-to-earth woman who is not afraid to speak her mind.
From being a multilingual lieutenant aboard the USS Enterprise, to being a blue warrior princess on Pandora, to being a fierce green assassin tasked with guarding the galaxy, Zoe Saldana is no ‘alien’ to the big screen. Having once said “I want to be in the small percentage of women who don’t settle for conventional roles”, Saldana has proven herself as one of the most talented contemporary actresses in Tinsel town many times over. This stunning sci-fi queen whose familiar face appears in a gamut of movies and had recently gotten her wax figure erected in Madame Tussauds, is a force to be reckoned with.
TAKING CENTER STAGE
An American Latina of mixed heritage and fluent in both English and Spanish, Saldana was born June 19, 1978 in Passaic, New Jersey, but spent most of her childhood in Queens, New York. After the tragic and untimely death of her father in a car accident at the age of nine, Saldana and her family moved to the Dominican Republic where they lived with their grandparents for the next seven years. It was there that she discovered her passion for dancing, particularly ballet.
In the first Guardians of the Galaxy, Saldana, in her role as Gamora, said to Chris Pratt’s character Peter Quill, “I’m a warrior and an assassin. I do not dance!” In the real world, however, Saldana was a professional dancer before going into acting.
Although she describes ballet as her first love, Saldana felt like she had already peaked and had pushed her body to its limits and yet wasn’t as good as she wanted to be. At the same time, she realized there was something missing in dancing; her voice. It was with this realization that she started acting in theater. In an interview in 2012, Saldana said, “In dance, you use every part of your body except your voice. I wanted to start acting because I wanted to use my voice.”
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