Zoe Saldaña

Zoe Saldaña
Biographical Information
Born	June 19, 1978
Birth Name	Zoe Yadira Zaldaña Nazario
Nationality	American
Gender	Female
Eye Color	Brown
Hair Color	Black
Height	5'7"
Career
Years Active	2000-present
Avatar Role	Neytiri

I was like, sobbing. It's really special. And I can give you, like, a little hint: it's about water. A lot of water!

Zoë regarding The Way of Water

Zoë Saldaña (born Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario; June 19, 1978) is an American actress. She is also known as Zoë Saldana, Zoe Saldaña, and Zoë Saldaña. She is best known for playing Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Uhura in Star Trek (2009) and Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Zoe portrays the lead heroine Neytiri in Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water. She sung The Songcord for The Way of Water. She also voiced Neytiri in one of the mobile video games as the chapter narrator.

Biography

Zoe Saldaña was born in New Jersey and raised in Queens, New York. She first appeared in film with Center Stage in 2000, a role which drew on her background in dancing as a child. She received two breakthrough roles in 2009- that of Neytiri in Avatar, and Nyota Uhura in JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot film. She is also widely known for her role as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), as well as subsequent Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Avatar series

Zoe with a Neytiri bust

Zoe commented working with James Cameron was like working with "your partner in crime. He's your enabler." She felt a sense of frustration working on Avatar, not because of the actual process, but because she would have to wait over 2 years to see the finished film.

She had no idea how successful Avatar would be, as she would have the leading female role in the highest-grossing film of all time. Despite being in her late twenties while filming, she notes that working on the film really made her "aware" to the environment and nature.

She liked the atmosphere of the Na'vi society regarding how it handles gender roles, due to them being a society where people are measured by their ability, not their gender, likening it to a world where feminism doesn't need to exist. As such, she never wanted to portray Neytiri as "empowered" but instead simply portray her powerful essence. She could relate to Neytiri being a rebel, feeling like a misfit in her own clan who simply wants to live her life on the forest, instead of being the next Tsahik.

For The Way of Water, Zoe was challenged portraying Neytiri because this time, Neytiri was confronting her own fear, and the character had a lot of anger and unresolved conflict in her heart. She also felt working with Sam Worthington was different this time because she sensed "vulnerability" from him, and the two tried to channel this fear into Jake Sully and Neytiri.

Filmography

• Center Stage (2000)
• Snipes (2001)
• Get Over It (2001)
• Drumline (2002)
• Crossroads (2002)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
• Temptation (2004)
• Haven (2004)
• The Terminal (2004)
• Dirty Seeds (2005)
• Guess Who (2005)
• Premium (2006)
• After Sex (2007)
• Blackout (2007)
• Constellation (2007)
• Vantage Point (2008)
• Star Trek (2009)
• The Skeptic (2009)
• Burning Palms (2009)
• Avatar (2009)
• Takers (2010)
• Death at a Funeral (2010)
• The Losers (2010)
• Colombiana (2011)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
• The Book of Life (2014)
• Star Trek Beyond (2016)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
• My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
• Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
• Avengers: Endgame (2019)
• Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
• Avatar 3 (2025)
• Avatar 4 (2029)
• Avatar 5 (2031)

Quotes

• "I feel like parenting is kind of like swimming in a pond like a duck. Everything on the surface seems super cool because you always have to be calm in front of your kids, but then underwater, it's like you are hustling."
• "Great! I’m gonna be 53 when the last Avatar comes out. I was 27 when I shot the very first Avatar."

Trivia

• James Cameron lost bets against Zoe about her archery skills during filming.
• She won a Empire Award, Saturn Award, Teen Choice Award for her portrayal of Neytiri, in Avatar.
• she won a Black Reel Award for outstanding voice performance and a Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for her motion capture performance in Avatar: The Way of Water.
• She was raised bilingual in English and Spanish.
• Her father is of Dominican descent; her mother is Puerto Rican.
• She admires Whoopi Goldberg and Angelina Jolie.^{[citation needed]}
• Zoe Saldana worked with Sigourney Weaver in Vantage Point, Cliff Curtis in Colombiana, Michelle Yeoh in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Jack Champion in Avengers Endgame.

External Links

• Zoe Saldaña in the Internet Movie Database

References

See the image gallery for Zoe Saldana