Zoe Saldana is an American actress and dancer. Let’s see some interesting facts and trivia about her!
1.Her full name is Zoe Yadira Saldaña-Nazario.
2. She was born on June 19, 1978. (born Zoe Yadira Saldaña-Nazario; June 19, 1978),[1] known professionally as Zoe Saldana, is an American actress and dancer
3. Zoe Saldana was born in Passaic, New Jersey.
4. Her father, Aridio Saldaña, was from the Dominican Republic, while her mother, Asalia Nazario, is from Puerto Rico.
5. Saldana also has Haitian and Lebanese roots.
6. She has often spoken of her pride in her African ancestry, and has said: “It doesn’t matter how much backlash I will get for it; I will honor and respect my black community because that’s who I am.”
7. The majority of her early childhood she spent growing up in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.
8. Her native languages are both English and Spanish.
9. She has two sisters, named Cisely and Mariel, and a half-brother named Nipo, known as “Nipo 809”, who is a Dominican artist and producer.
10. In 2014, Saldana was recognized by Elle Magazine during The Women in Hollywood Awards, honoring women for their outstanding achievements in film, spanning all aspects of the motion picture industry, including acting, directing, and producing
11. In June 2010, Saldana became engaged to her longtime boyfriend Keith Britton, an actor and CEO of My Fashion Database.
12. Zoe Saldana and Britton announced in November 2011 that they had ended their relationship after 11 years together.
13. Zoe Saldana subsequently dated actor Bradley Cooper from December 2011 to January 2013.
14. In March 2013, Saldana began dating Italian artist Marco Perego.
15. They secretly married in June 2013 in London.
16. In her July 2015 cover interview with InStyle, Saldana revealed that, in a reversal of tradition, Perego adopted her surname upon marriage.
17. Thereafter, Zoe became Zoe Saldana-Perego or Zoe Perego and Marco became Marco Perego-Saldana or Marco Saldana. Their children will be Perego-Saldana.
18. Zoe Saldana and Perego have twin sons, Bowie Ezio Perego-Saldana and Cy Aridio Perego-Saldana, born in November 2014.
19. During her pregnancy, Saldana stated that her children will be bilingual as she and her husband plan to speak both Spanish and English around them.
20. In 2009, Saldana said she would avoid plastic surgery, telling Women’s Health magazine “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—without going against nature.”
21. She watches what she eats but does not diet and does Pilates regularly saying “It’s the closest thing to dance.”
22. Zoe Saldana is a celebrity supporter of FINCA International, a microfinance organization.
23. Her father died in a car crash when she was nine years old.
24. Zoe Saldana and her mother subsequently moved to the Dominican Republic.
25. There, Saldana discovered her love of dance and soon enrolled in the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy; she studied various forms of dance but describes ballet as her first passion.
26. She told Vanity Fair that she quit ballet because she did not have the feet and had too much pride and ambition to just be in the corps de ballet.
27. The family returned to New York after her sophomore year in high school.
28. In 1995, she began performing with the FACES theater group in Brooklyn, which put on plays geared toward providing positive messages for teens via themes dealing with issues such as substance abuse and adolescent sexuality.
29. Concurrently, she performed with the New York Youth Theater; her appearance in their production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat led a talent agency to recruit her.
30. Her previous dance training, and her acting experience, helped her land her first film role, playing Eva Rodriguez, the talented and headstrong ballet student in the film Center Stage (2000)
31. Saldana was still a member of FACES when she gained exposure in an episode of Law & Order (titled “Merger”) which first aired in 1999.
32. Saldana’s first film role was in Center Stage (2000), directed by Nicholas Hytner, about a group of young dancers from various backgrounds who enroll at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City.
33. She left school after Center Stage, subsequently appearing in the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads (2002). The film was met with negative reviews from critics, but became somewhat of a box office success.
34. The same year Saldana started in the comedy-drama Drumline (2002), alongside Nick Cannon, which was met with generally favorable reviews.
35. In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), she played Anamaria, a female pirate who signs up to join Will Turner and Mr. Gibbs for a chance to confront Jack Sparrow for stealing her ship.
36. As to why she never appeared in any further films in the franchise, Saldana revealed that she almost quit acting following “disrespectful treatment” on set of the film.
37. She then appeared in The Terminal as Dolores Torres, an immigration officer and Star Trek fan, a role that would later help Saldana when she came to appear in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 film Star Trek.
38. In 2004 she also made appearances in Haven and Temptation, both of which had little to no box office success.
39. In 2005, Saldana appeared in Constellation, Guess Who with Ashton Kutcher, and Dirty Deeds.
40. She then starred in the romantic comedy-dramas Premium in 2006 and After Sex in 2007.
41. The same year Saldana starred in Blackout, a television film set in New York City during the Northeast Blackout of 2003. The film premiered at the 2007 Zurich Film Festival and debuted on BET in 2008.
42. Zoe Saldana also had a small role as Angie Jones in the 2008 box office smash Vantage Poin.
43. Zoe Saldana appeared in two high-profile roles in 2009, which both went on to raise her profile considerably.
44. She played Nyota Uhura in the film reboot Star Trek.
45. The films director J.J. Abrams asked Saldana to play the role because he had seen her previous work and liked it.
46. Saldana had never seen the original series, though she had played a Trekkie in The Terminal (2004), but agreed to play the role after Abrams complimented her.
47. She met with Nichelle Nichols, who explained to her how she had created Uhura’s background and named the character.
48. Saldana’s mother was a Star Trek fan and sent her voice mails during filming, giving advice on the role.
49. Coincidentally, it was Steven Spielberg who taught her the Vulcan salute five years earlier when he directed her in The Terminal.
50. Zoe Saldana’s second high profile film on 2009 was James Cameron’s Avatar, in which she starred as the alien hunter Neytiri.
51. In 2010, Saldana starred in The Losers as Aisha al-Fadhil, a native Bolivian woman. For the role, she was required to gain weight, as she was expected to carry weapons around for eight hours a day.
52. In 2010, she also appeared in Takers, Death at a Funeral and Burning Palms.
53. Her television ad for Calvin Klein’s “Envy” line also debuted in 2010.
54. In 2011, Saldana starred in the romantic comedy The Heart Specialist and played Cataleya Restrepo, a professional assassin, in the crime drama Colombiana. While the latter film was met with negative reviews from critics, Saldana’s performance was praised.
55. In 2012, she starred in the romantic drama film The Words, which also received negative reviews from critics and saw little success at the box office.
56. In 2014, Saldana played Gamora in the hit film Guardians of the Galaxy.
57. Zoe Saldana said that she became Gamora through make-up rather than computer generated imagery (CGI) or performance capture.
58. She ranked #3 on Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 Women of 2010 list.
59. She sang with Diego Luna on the song “No Matter Where You Are” for the soundtrack for The Book of Life (2014).
60. She admires Whoopi Goldberg and Angelina Jolie.
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