Zoe Saldana (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario ( ; born June 19, 1978), known by her stage name as Zoe Saldana or Zoë Saldaña, is an American actress. She had her breakthrough role in the 2000 film Center Stage and the 2002 film Crossroads. She 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.

Early life

Saldana was born Zoe Yadira Zaldana Nazario in Passaic, New Jersey. Her late father, Aridio Saldaña, and her mother, Asalia Nazario, were born in the Dominican Republic. 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 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. The family returned to Queens after her sophomore year in high school.

In 1995 she began performing with the FACES theater group in Brooklyn, 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.

Career

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.

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. 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 a female pirate who signs up to join Will Turner and Mr Gibbs for a chance to confront Jack Sparrow for stealing her ship in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Saldana has appeared in a number of television shows and movies, including The Terminal (2004) and Guess Who (2005) with Ashton Kutcher.

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. In 2009, she played Neytiri (Neytiri te Tskaha Mo'at"ite), the Na'vi chief's daughter, 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.

In August 2010, Saldana's television ad for Calvin Klein's "Envy" line debuted. In 2011, Saldana starred in the romantic comedy The Heart Specialist, Saldana also starred in the crime drama movie Colombiana as Cataleya Restrepo, a professional assassin.

In 2012, she starred in the drama film The Words. She will reprise her role for Star Trek into Darkness, the sequel to the 2009 remake. It is expected to be released in May, 2013.

Personal life

In June 2010, Saldana became engaged to Keith Britton, an actor and CEO of My Fashion Database. In November 2011, it was confirmed that Saldana and Britton had amicably ended their relationship after eleven years together. Saldana has an on-again, off-again relationship with actor Bradley Cooper.

Saldana is a celebrity supporter of FINCA International, a microfinance organization.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Center Stage	Eva Rodriguez
2001	Get Over It	Maggie
	Snipes	Cheryl
2002	Crossroads	Kit
	Drumline	Laila
2003	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Anamaria
2004	'	Dolores Torres
	Haven	Andrea
	Temptation	Annie
2005	Constellation	Rosa Boxer
	Guess Who	Theresa Jones
	Dirty Deeds	Rachel Buff
	'	Flor
2006	Premium	Charli
2007	After Sex	Kat
	Blackout	Claudine
2008	Vantage Point	Angie Jones
2009	Star Trek	Nyota Uhura
	'	Cassie
	Avatar	Neytiri
2010	'	Aisha
	Takers	Lily Jansen
	Death at a Funeral	Elaine
	Burning Palms	Sara Cotton
2011	'	Donna
	Colombiana	Cataleya Restrepo
2012	'	Dora Jansen
2013	Star Trek into Darkness	Nyota Uhura	Post-production
	Blood Ties
	Machete Kills	Liza	Filming
2015	Avatar 2	Neytiri	Pre-Production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Law & Order	Uncredited	Episode: "Refuge, Part 2"
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Gabrielle Vega	Episode: "Criminal"
2006-07	Six Degrees	Regina	5 episodes

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
2003	MTV Movie Awards	Best Kiss (with Nick Cannon)	Drumline
2005	Black Movie Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role	Guess Who
	Image Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Breakout Performance - Female
2006	Black Reel Awards	Best Actress
2009	ALMA Awards	Actress in Film	Star Trek
	Boston Society of Film Critics Awards	Best Ensemble Cast
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress - Action/Adventure
	Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards	Best Ensemble
	People's Choice Award	Favorite Breakout Movie Actress
	Scream Award	Best Science Fiction Actress
	Scream Award	Breakout Performance - Female
	Scream Award	Best Ensemble
2010	Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films	Best Actress	Avatar
	BET Awards	Best Actress
	Black Reel Awards	Best Actress
	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Acting Ensemble	Star Trek
	Empire Awards	Best Actress	Avatar
	Image Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
	Kids' Choice Awards	Cutest Couple (with Sam Worthington)
		Favorite Movie Actress
	MTV Movie Awards	Best Female Performance
		Best Kiss (with Sam Worthington)
	Scream Award	Best Science Fiction Actress
	Saturn Award	Best Actress
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress - Sci-Fi
		Choice Movie Actress - Action/Adventure	The Losers
		Choice Movie Actress - Comedy	Death at a Funeral
	Visual Effects Society Awards	Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture	Avatar
2011	ALMA Awards	Favorite Movie Actress - Drama/Adventure	Takers
	BET Awards	Best Actress	The Losers
			Death at a Funeral
	Image Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture	The Losers
	SFX Awards	Best Actress	Avatar
2012	BET Awards	Best Actress	Colombiana
	Black Reel Awards	Best Actress
	Image Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress - Action
	ALMA Awards	Favorite Movie Actress Drama/Aventure

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