Zoe Saldaña
Zoe Saldana | |
|---|---|
 Saldana at Hollywood Life Magazine's 7th Annual Breakthrough Awards, December 2007 | |
| Born | Zoe Yadira Zaldaña Nazario |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Website | http://www.zoesaldana.com/ |
Zoe Saldana (born Zoë Yadira Zaldaña Nazario;[2] June 19, 1978) [3], is an American actress.
Early life
Saldana was born in New Jersey[3] to a Puerto Rican mother and a Dominican father from the Dominican Republic. [4] [5] She was raised in Queens, New York, and her first languages are English and Spanish. When Saldana was nine, her father died in a car accident, and Saldana's mother moved her and her sisters back to the Dominican Republic. While there, Saldana enlisted in a ballet class and gained experience as a dancer, enlisting in one of the most prestigious dancing schools in that country, which benefited her later in her role in Center Stage. She returned to the U.S. after her sophomore year in high school and enrolled in the Faces Theater Program, an acting course. She also worked in Burger King as a cashier in the mid 1990s.
Career
Saldana was still a member of the program when she got her first screen experience on an episode of Law & Order that first aired October 13, 1999. Saldana has been cast as an African American woman making her one of several Latina women that have done the same thing. [5] She left school after her major film debut in 2000's Center Stage, which she followed up in 2002 with appearances in the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads[6] and the Nick Cannon-starring comedy Drumline. She played the tough pirate lass Anamaria in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and has appeared subsequently in television shows like Law & Order and in a number of movies, including The Terminal and Guess Who. Saldana was also the lead in the video for Juan Luis Guerra's song "La Llave de Mi Corazón". Saldana has recently been cast in the role of Uhura in the upcoming Star Trek movie.[7]
Awards and nominations
- Black Reel Awards
- 2006, Best Actress: Guess Who (film) (Nominated)
- Black Movie Awards
- 2006, Best Actress: Guess Who (film) (Nominated)
- NAACP Image Award
- 2006, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Guess Who (film) (Nominated)
- MTV Movie Awards
- 2003, Best Kiss: Drumline (film) Shared w/ Nick Cannon (Nominated)
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Center Stage | Eva Rodriguez |
| 2001 | Snipes | Cheryl |
| Get Over It | Maggie | |
| 2002 | Drumline | Laila |
| Crossroads | Kit | |
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl |
Anamaria |
| 2004 | Temptation | Annie |
| Haven | Andrea | |
| The Terminal | Officer Torres | |
| 2005 | La Maldición del padre Cardona | Flor |
| Dirty Deeds | Rachel Buff | |
| Guess Who | Theresa Jones | |
| 2006 | Premium | Charli |
| Ways of the Flesh | Donna | |
| 2007 | After Sex | Kat |
| Blackout | Claudine | |
| Constellation | Rosa Boxer | |
| 2008 | Vantage Point | Angie Jones |
| The Skeptic | Cassie | |
| 2009 | Avatar | Neytiri Nazachema |
| Star Trek | Uhura |
References
- ^ "Zoe Saldana on Late Late Show".
- ^ Filmreference.com Zoe Saldana biography February 29, 2008
- ^ a b Jason Buchanan (2008). "Zoe Saldana:Biography on MSN". MSN. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b "Biography for Zoe Saldana". Imdb. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
- ^ "Zoe Saldana Interview-Crossroads Movie".
- ^ "Zoë Saldana Cast in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" movie". 2008-03-02. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
External links
- Zoe Saldana at IMDb
- Zoe Saldana at Rotten Tomatoes
- Zoe Saldana at MySpace
- Brant Publications interview (July 2004)
