Zoe Saldana
Saldana at the 82nd Academy Awards, 2010
Born	Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario (1978-06-19) June 19, 1978 (age 34) Passaic, New Jersey, US[1][2]
Nationality	American
Other names	Zoe Yadira Zaldana Nazario
Ethnicity	Dominican, Puerto Rican
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Partner	Keith Britton (2000–2011)
Parents	Aridio Saldaña (d. c:a 1987)[3] Asalia Nazario
Website
www.zoesaldana.com

Zoe Saldana ( /sælˈdænə/ sal-DAN-ə; born June 19, 1978), sometimes stylized Zoë Saldaña, is an American actress. She had her breakthrough role in the 2000 film Center Stage and later gained prominence for her roles as Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Uhura in the 2009 film Star Trek, and a starring role as Neytiri in James Cameron's Avatar. She also had a lead role in the action film Colombiana and the 2002 film Crossroads.

Early life[link]

Saldana was born Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario^[4][5] or Zoe Yadira Saldana Nazario^[1] in Passaic, New Jersey.^[2][6] Her father, Aridio Saldaña, was Dominican, and her mother, Asalia Nazario, is a Dominican of half Dominican and half Puerto Rican descent. Her first languages are Spanish and English. She spent the majority of her early childhood growing up in Queens, New York. After her father died in a car accident when she was only nine years old, Saldaña moved to the Dominican Republic with her mother. There, Saldana discovered her love of dance and soon enrolled in the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy; she studied ballet, jazz, and modern Latin dance.^[2][3][7] The family returned to Queens after her sophomore year in high school.

At age 17, she began performing with the Faces theater troupe, which put on plays geared towards providing positive messages for teens, via themes dealing with issues such as substance abuse and sex. 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. Her previous dance training, and her acting experience, helped her land her first big screen role as Eva, the talented and headstrong ballet dancer in the 2000 film Center Stage.^[2][3]

Career[link]

Zoe Saldana in 2009

Zoe Saldana was still a member of Faces when she gained exposure in an episode of Law & Order (titled "Merger") which first aired in 1999.^[8] She left school after Center Stage, subsequently appearing in the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads (2002) and the comedy-drama Drumline (2002). She played the pirate Anamaria in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and has appeared in a number of television shows and movies, including The Terminal (2004) and Guess Who (2005) with Ashton Kutcher.

Zoe Saldana and Anand Bhatt at the 2011 Latin Grammys

Saldana was also the lead in the video for Juan Luis Guerra's song "La llave de mi corazón", and played Uhura in the 2009 film Star Trek.^[9] In 2009, she played Neytiri, the Na'vi princess, in James Cameron's Avatar, a role that gave her much publicity and recognition, and therefore presenting her more opportunities to work in big commercial films^{[citation needed]}.

She is the only actress to have three movies in the box office top 20 for three consecutive weeks. These movies are Avatar, The Losers, and Death at a Funeral.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2010, Saldana's television ad for Calvin Klein's "Envy" line debuted.^[10] In 2011, she starred in the crime drama movie Colombiana.

Personal life[link]

In June 2010, Saldana became engaged to Keith Britton, an actor and CEO of My Fashion Database.^[11] In November 2011, it was confirmed that Saldana and Britton had amicably ended their relationship after eleven years together.^[12]

Saldana is a celebrity supporter of FINCA International, a microfinance organization.^[13]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• "Zoe Saldana Shines on ESSENCE's April Cover". Essence. March 9, 2010. http://www.essence.com/2010/03/10/zoe-saldana-shines-on-essences-april-cov/. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 
• Sandell, Laurie (March 1, 2010). "Zoë Saldana: The Most Elegant Member of the Glam New Guard". Glamour (Condé Nast). http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2010/03/zoe-saldana-the-most-elegant-member-of-the-glam-new-guard. Retrieved 2011-10-09. 

External links[link]

Find more about Zoe Saldana on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons

• Official website
• Zoe Saldana on Twitter
• Zoe Saldana on Facebook
• Zoe Saldana at the Internet Movie Database
• Zoe Saldana at AllRovi
• Zoe Saldana at Rotten Tomatoes
• Zoë Saldana at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)