Zoe Saldaña (New Jersey, USA, 44 years old) has developed into one of the great actresses of the film industry in just a few years. However, few know the interpreter, who continues to break records in Hollywood and is currently the only actress to star in four of the six films in history that have grossed more than $2,000 million at the box office. The last of them, Avatar: The Shape of Water, preceded by the first part of Avatar (2009), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) – the other two on the list are Titanic and The Episode VII the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens. His big screen debut was in The Rhythm of Success (2000) and gradually he landed roles in bigger productions that brought him more recognition. In 2004 he was part of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga: The Curse of the Black Pearl and in the same year he appeared in The Terminal (2004).
14 years ago, Saldaña wasn’t Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy, but she was close to becoming Nyota Uhura from Star Trek and Neytiri, a princess from Avatar, roles that would change her cinematic career and make her one of the most sought-after -by performers. Success after success, the actress, who carries her Latin American roots as a flag, has earned both box office and critical acclaim. Although it’s still a face that goes almost unnoticed by the general public.
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The daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and a Dominican father, Saldaña was born and lived in New York for the early years of her childhood. At the age of 10 his life changed and after the death of his father the family had to move to the Dominican Republic where he stayed until he was 17 when he returned to the Big Apple to study acting. But the principles are not easy and his would be no different. His first job was at the fast food chain Burger King. According to the actress in an interview for US Weekly, she was kicked out every Friday for her kindness to homeless customers whom she offered free food. On Saturday, a day later, she was reinstated due to a lack of staff. Until one day he got tired and suddenly left, never to come back. But fate brought that job back into his life in a way: his first role on television was an advertisement for the Hamburger brand.
Other productions would follow later. In 2009 his artistic career began. Star Trek and Avatar – released months apart in the same year – made her one of the most in-demand actresses on the big screen. “The reception of the film [Avatar] It was something I had never imagined. It was the first time I felt like I had achieved something I really wanted. The possibilities that this project offered me after the premiere were like a roller coaster ride. I haven’t stopped since then,” Saldaña explained this January in the Mexican edition of Vogue magazine, on the cover of which she stars. And he’s absolutely right. After putting herself in the shoes of a Na’vi, she chained project to project. His next success was not long in coming. In 2014, she changed blue to green to become Gamora in Marvel Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Saldaña is an actress capable of interpreting any role that is put in front of her and who is not well known to many for this reason, given that she is almost always characterized and practically unrecognizable in the eyes of the public. And while she’s grateful for the springboard that Avatar and The Avengers gave her, she admits she’s felt stuck for 10 years. “I felt trapped working on these franchises. I’m so grateful for the opportunities they’ve given me, from working with incredible directors, to meeting cast members who I consider friends, and being able to play a role that fans love,” she explained told fashion magazine Women’s Wear Daily last November about his experience. And she added, “I felt artistically trapped because I couldn’t expand, grow, or challenge myself by playing different types of roles and genres.” And while she continued to star in the decade’s biggest blockbusters, she wanted hers too Taking care of your career: “I fight against the pressure that society puts on women, that once you have children your youth is over and you turn 40. I am now 44 years old and have gotten a handle on my aging and my voice.
Growing up in a matriarchal environment, Saldaña got to know feminism in her family circle. “All the women around me were talking about what they would have liked to have when they were little, giving us independence and autonomy from any male judgement. They gave us independence in an open way: “You are the masters of your own decisions. Don’t give a man money. Don’t tell a man your opinion. Don’t ask a man’s permission.” It wasn’t out of rebellion, it was because they had experience and knowledge of the world that they didn’t want us to inherit,” he told Vogue Mexico. Now she’s trying to apply all of those insights by collaborating with filmmakers and producers who don’t treat women’s youth as a fetish. And she’s achieved it in one of her most recent premieres, Desde cero (2022), available on Netflix, based on the best-selling 2019 memoir by Tembi Locke, in which she chronicles her travels to Italy and her love story with told her husband, Saro Gullo, as well as the cancer he suffered from and from which he died in 2012. Saldaña is an actress who has played all sorts of roles but has never been involved in a project that has a love story as its leitmotif. And though Locke’s sad story is, he didn’t hesitate to take on the role and seek new experiences.
Although she doesn’t know how to stop, she has taken the time to found the production company Cinestar Pictures with her sisters Mariel and Cisely, whose goal is to tell women’s stories written and produced by women. “Five years ago, I made a decision to leap into the unknown, to take on certain challenges, to fulfill certain diversity missions for women of color, for Latinas… I hope to be an inspiration to many women,” she explained.
She defines herself as a reserved person. And he showed it, because almost nothing is known about his private life. On his Instagram account, where he has 9.4 million followers, he only posts photos and videos of his projects and actions. He rarely reveals anything to do with his family or his life. In 2011, she had a brief but intense relationship with Bradley Cooper. The spark came while filming The Word Thief (2012), a film they starred in. The flame lasted less than a year and by the time the tape was released they were no longer together. In 2013, Saldaña secretly married former Italian soccer player Marco Perego, with whom she now has three children.
After doing heavy publicity with Avatar: The Shape of Water, she’s now focused on producing and directing Lioness, along with Nicole Kidman, a spy series set in Spain, where they’ve been installed for a few weeks, in fact. And although she’s admitted in interviews that she’s “tired” of the hectic pace she has to face due to the complexity of her roles, Saldaña will keep working and breaking records, trying to get that Oscar nomination she always has still resisted. Beating your numbers seems like an almost impossible task.