Zoe Saldana biography

Date of Birth: June 19, 1978

Zoe Saldana was born in New Jersey and raised in Queens, New York. Her mother is Puerto Rican and her father is of Dominican descent, and her first languages are English and Spanish. At 10 years old, she moved with her family to the Dominican Republic, where she would live for the next seven years. While there, she took an interest in dance and studied ballet and other types of dance at the ECOS Espacio de Danza Dance Academy.

At 17, Saldana moved back to the United States where she developed a love for theater. She performed with the Faces theater troupe, which staged plays for teenagers that provided positive messages about issues such as sex and substance abuse. While performing with Faces, and also with the New York Youth Theater, Zoe was scouted for a talent agency. Her acting and dance experience later helped her land the major role of Eva Rodriguez in the dance film Center Stage (2000).

Saldana made more film appearances in Get Over It (2001), Snipes (2001) and Drumline(2002) before landing the role of Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), for which she is arguably most well-known. She was set to reprise her role in the next films of the series, but never did. Saldana went on to complete a slew of other films such as Temptation (2004), Constellation (2005),Blackout (2007), and Vantage Point (2008). When she was chosen to play Nyota Uhura in Star Trek (2009), she hadn't seen the television series, and enlisted Nichelle Nichols, who played the same character in the show, to help her prepare for the role. Her television credits include Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Six Degrees.

According to many of the celebrities she has worked with, such as Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher, Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom, Saldana has incredible potential for success due to her range, concentration and determination. Following her appearance in Star Trek (2009), she played a starring role in Avatar (2009), which went on to become the biggest box office success of all time. Since then she's appeared in the comedy Death at a Funeral (2010), the action flick Colombiana (2011) and the dramaThe Words (2012). She will also reprise her Star Trek and Avatar roles for the upcoming sequels. She recently starred in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and lent her voice to the animated film The Book of Life (2014).