Zoe Yadira Zaldaña Nazario (1978- ), better known as just Zoe Saldana, is an American actress. She plays Uhura, miniskirt and all, in the “Star Trek” film that just came out. She was also in “Drumline” (2002) and “Guess Who” (2005). She will be in James Cameron’s “Avatar”, due out in December 2009.
In 2008 Maxim, the men’s magazine, said she was one of the hottest women in the world (#42) and People magazine the year before said she was one of the most beautiful. She says her beauty does not come from anything physical:
Look at me. I’m skinny, I have a big nose, no tits and no ass, but in a room full of beautiful women, I would still leave with the most gorgeous guy.
Saldana is no Trekkie: when she played one in “The Terminal” (2004), she got the Vulcan hand sign wrong. Before doing the “Star Trek” film she had never even seen the 1960s television show that it is based on. But she did get to meet Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura back then. Nichols gave Saldana her blessing. Saldana sees Uhura as being “very elegant and stoic”.
Saldana was born to Dominican parents in New Jersey. The Wikipedia says her mother is Puerto Rican, but her own website says she is Dominican.
She grew up in a mixed neighbourhood in Queens in New York City, speaking both Spanish and English. At nine her father was killed in a car accident and a year later the family moved to the Dominican Republic. She won a scholarship to one of the top dance schools there and studied ballet, jazz and Latin dance. She came back to New York at 17 and studied theatre. Her stage acting in New York got her noticed by Hollywood.
Whenever she goes to the Dominican Republic, the press asks her if she American or Dominican. She says she is a mujer negra, a black woman. When they tell her no, she is trigueñita, light brown, she answers, “I am a black woman.”
When Esquire magazine asked her “that fucking question”, as she puts it, the one about her ethnicity, she said, “I’m Dominican, Lebanese, Indian, Irish, Jamaican. But I hate going into that. I just say, ‘I’m from Queens.’ ”
Her name was put up for an NAACP Image Award for her part in “Guess Who”. She played the female lead, a black woman who brings home her white boyfriend, Ashton Kutcher, in a reverse remake of the Sidney Poitier film, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967).
She played a female pirate, Annamaria, in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003), but she did not appear in any of the other “Pirates” films.
The actresses she looks up to are Salma Hayek, Whoopi Goldberg and Angelina Jolie.
She wants to win an Oscar: “I’m not going to be like, ‘I just want to be known for my work.’ No, I want that golden statue on my shelf.”
See also:
I would love to know the true meaning of the word “trigueñita”, if any of you know.
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Man I could look into Zoe’s eyes all day!
I find it refreshing that she maintain that she was “negra” when the Dominican Press tried to downplay her blackness.
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The word “triguenita” has many interpretations yet I always thought that it referred to a dark skinned female.
I’m a fan of Zoe as well! Yet, like Rosario, Selma, Eva and Roselyn and all the other “Latina” Hollywood starlets, she likes ’em white! I think it’s an interesting phenomenon with many of the non-black minority public figures (which, of course, Zoe and Rosario are not) when they reach a certain level. It’s like a white mate is a prize to them.
It’s funny, many black male producers and editors cast Eva, Roselyn and some other other light-colored, long haired, mixed-race Latin American actresses in their music videos and magazines yet in reality, these same women would never date them!
They’ll have an Eva or Roselyn as their love interest in their crappy music video playing on BET. Yet, Eva or Roselyn would never have their black asses play their love interests on something airing on Telemundo! Isn’t that ironic? LOL.
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Trigueno comes from the term “trigo” which means wheat. Depending on the country, It can describe someone with a light tan, a wheat color or a light brown color.
I haven’t seen Star Trek but I promised myself I would since Uhura is my favorite character.
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It’s funny, many black male producers and editors cast Eva, Roselyn and some other other light-colored, long haired, mixed-race Latin American actresses in their music videos and magazines yet in reality, these same women would never date them!
They’ll have an Eva or Roselyn as their love interest in their crappy music video playing on BET. Yet, Eva or Roselyn would never have their black asses play their love interests on something airing on Telemundo! Isn’t that ironic? LOL.
Wow aren’t you a nasty, bitter person. Not sure what ordains you to speak for entire mixed raced Latina community but among many, many examples J. Lo went with P. Diddy, and Derek Luke (Antoine Fisher) is married to a Latina actress/singer who is having his child. So the only “irony” is in your failed need to see Black men fail.
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Wheat-coloured or light brown makes sense as the meaning of trigueñita. Where I have read the word it clearly meant something that clearly was not black and yet not quite white, almost a wannabe white. Thanks!
Mr No Face said:
Man I could look into Zoe’s eyes all day!
I find it refreshing that she maintain that she was “negra” when the Dominican Press tried to downplay her blackness.
I agree with both of those statements!
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LOL. I’m far from bitter. I was actually laughing when I wrote that. Spare me the few celebrity examples. Yet, I think what I typed above was a bit too “real” for this post. So I apologize, it didn’t fit with the tone of this post.
She’s not stunningly beautiful but yeah, her eyes are nice.
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I laughed too. We all know how “real” those music videos are.
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She is really beautiful and I wish her the best!
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Abagond I have a wonderful article idea.
“Breaking down the Black female hatred of Black men”
I guarantee 1000 comments. lol
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I love Zoe Saldana! Thanks for doing a post on her. She is beautiful and real!
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NO ONE has the right to tell Afro latinas that they can ONLY prefer BM.
Afrolatinas have the right to prefer WM or ANY WM/NON-BM they choose (like women of ANY race who also prefer WM/NON-BM) without being attacked for their choice.
CORRECTON: Zoe, Rosario, Eva, and Roselyn are ALL NOT PART of the non-Black minority
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No one has the right to tell anyone who they can prefer to pursue romantically. You’re correct.
But, no one has the right to tell anyone that they can’t comment on the motives behind someone’s “preference”.
Especially when there seems to be a pattern. People can love who they want to love. But let’s be real, there are conscious and subconscious societal factors that often affect that. Especially in a racially driven society like the U.S. (and Latin America). Some of us have noticed certain “trends” and are not stupid. And NO ONE has the right to tell us that we can’t comment.
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LMAO BOTH ROSARIO AND EVA HAVE DATED BLACK MEN.
ROSARIO DATED JAY Z
EVA I’M PRETTY SURE DATED WILL SMITH.
ASLONG AS THEIR NOT HOSTILE THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH THEM NOT DATING US.
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She’s beautiful. I don’t know why exactly, it must be the eyes. Just saw her in Haven.
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I think it is her eyes.
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To joebmore… its unfair to say that all black women hate black men. Thats the problem in the community now. Sorry the ones you meet are horrible, but they dont speak for the whole population. You sound just as bad as a White person when they have something negative to say about another culture.
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She’s very beautiful. I liked her on Guess Who. She made a good Uhura too.
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mynameismyname, of course you have the right to comment. Just as well, anyone has the right to respond the best way they see fit. Opinions people! It just seems so time-consuming & pretty laughable when certain people get so SO riled up about interracial & intercultural love that they project themselves as bitter & filled with animosity. Just sayin’ bahaha.
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what does she mean i would leave with the most beautiful guy? are good looking men a prize to her does their personality not count? she sounds abit shallow.
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Very pretty woman.
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Zoe’s engaged to her longtime boyfriend of ten years. Some of the comments of her impending marriage are certainly interesting in that she’s abandoning BM for a WM.
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she is pretty. But not beautiful in my eyes. Nevertheless she has managed to make it onto all the recent beautiful and sexiest lists mostly made by white people. No doubt down to media coverage surrounding star trek and avatar.
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In reference to Mynameis’s comments:
I can see where he is coming from to some extent, there is no denying that the majority of latino women in the media do marry/date white or latino men and a small minority are with black men. often when they date black men they are mixed eg. jessica alba’s husband (can pass for latino himself) and eva longoria’s husband tony parker.
From what I have heard of other latino women some fall in the category of preffering the more ethnic looking darker skinned men, shunning latino and white men as too light and not tough enough for them.
On the other hand you probably get more latino women who prefer to date men of a similar ethnic background to themselves, or perhaps white or some other race. But last resort black. However if the brotha has the looks and money of will smith and tony parker that is an exception ;).
To some latino and also arabic women dating a black man is a form of them tainting themselves. Even pornstar hoes like daisy marie has been quoted as saying she wouldn’t sleep with a black man.
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@JoeBmore
Black women LOVE black men. Wtf! We sure as hell show ya’ll way more love in Hollywood than ya’ll show to us!
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please show me the link where she said she was black! She has never SAID it becuase she ISNT black why do you think hollywood has taken to her so much not only is she not BLACK RACIALLY she isnt CULTURALLY no one says Adriana Lima is black but she probably has around the same ad mixture-genetics can be strange lol! of course she has some african blood in her clearly but that doesnt make her BLACK she’s just darkskinned. Her mother is a light skined latina (puerto rican) you see darkskined indians (south asians) all the time darker than me but does that make them BLACK? NOOOO! she is a dark skinned latina NOT an afro-latina.
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Zoe Saldana said:
Source:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0757855/bio
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@Anon
Your race isn’t determined by your culture. That would be impossible considering there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different cultures and sub-cultures that black people partake in around the globe(some of which are in the Latin world).
I believe Zoe identifies as black. I mean, if Hollywood doesn’t accept her “blackness” why has it given her black roles?
Her race was never explicitly stated in the film “Drumline”, but the setting did take place at a Historically Black College.
The entire premise of the movie “Guess Who” was centered around the blk-white IR relationship of Zoe & Ashton Kutcher’s characters.
Anyways, she is not the first black person to be accepted by Hollywood. Will Smith and Denzel Washington can lead a movie with no problem. It’s really a mystery why Hollywood accepts some black actors while seemingly discriminating against most of them. For whatever reason(Her straight hair? Spanish last name? Acting skills?) Zoe has gotten her big black break.
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@Anon
mother is a light skined latina (puerto rican)
Okay, I just googled Zoe’s mother. All I got was that she was light skin and part black. Her mother is probably btwn 50% black or less, so it is unclear whether Zoe is predominantly blk or not(esp. since there are no pics of her Dominican father). However, I still believe she identifies as a black woman.
Zoe’s mom
Her sisters
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Triguenita really is untrue. Why because in 1542 the Taino population was down to 5000 natives.
By 1512, 20 years after the Spanish had landed on Hispaniola, the Taino population had shrunk to an estimated 60,000 natives. By 1517 the native population was down to 11,000 and by 1518, after a measles outbreak, the native population was down to 8,000. The final straw would come in 1542, 30 years after the first contact; the population was reduced to under 5,000 native inhabitants, a decline of almost 98% of the indigenous population.
In 1574, a census taken of the Greater Antilles, reported 1,000 Spaniards and 12,000 African slaves on Hispaniola
The Dominican census says multicultural but it is not correct due to Trujuillo Blanquismo program that promoted whiting the race. The real estimates are 70% to 80% of the population is African. Many Dominicans are starting to be aware of this fact and starting to use Afro Dominican or Afro Caribeno instead of Latino/Latina or Hispanic.
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Has anyone heard about Zoe Saldana no black interest claus? After drumline I have read on other sites that she does not want a black love interest.. I have googled it and found some interesting stuff. Plus Both Zoe & Rosario Dawson I heard only date white men in real life. Does anyone no more about this. Rosario Dawson just ended a relationship with her BF and heard that she might date a brother for a Publicity stunt just to get more support from the black community.
This was on a message board so don’t know how true it is but some of the things said have come true. I also heard that these to do more for the Latin community to be accepted by the Latin community but are not accepted as real Latina’s & pretty much neglect the black community. What do u all think?
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^ Frankly, I doubt if either one of the would be that stupid.
Putting a “no blacks” clause in their standing contracts would obviously leak sooner rather than later, and then TMZ and The Enquirer would dredge up all the gory details. The results would be catastrophic to their careers, loosing support not only from Blacks but from Whites as well.
That’s a disaster they could see coming a mile away. Why would they do that to themselves? Probably just internet rumors.
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So after Drumline in 2002 she decided that being paired with Black men in movies was detrimental to her career? In last year’s Takers, she was paired with 2 Black men; Blackout had her paired with a Black man; in The Heart Specialist she was paired with a Black man and in Premium again she had 2 Black men as love interests. Those were all post Drumline, so that accusation of her having a ‘no Blacks’ clause is a flat out lie.
I’m a big fan of Zoe and can’t understand why she gets so much flack about her race.
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saadiyah,
You know why. Its the same reason I saw dancer get cut thru the artery in her groin.
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Recently, Zoe Saldana has split from her fiancé after 11 years together.
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I love Zoe Saldana and she is a very beauitful woman. And a good actress. My family is from Jamaica and to tell you a little something about the Dominican Republic, most of the people there are Blacks mixed with other nationalites. So I see Zoe Saldana as a Black woman, racially but a Hispanic woman culturally.
Dominicans don’t like to acknowledge their African ancestry; I have one in my Chemistry class so i know. In fact, most Hispanics don’t like to acknowledge in any African blood in theirs and even the Afro Latinos and Latinas as well. I don;t know but they seem to want to be ”White” to assimilate into American media and culture better.
I hope the best for Zoe Saldana.
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Abagond,
A movie about Nina Simone is being made and Mary J. Blige was suppose to play Nina. She pulled out and the producers want to put in Zoe Saldana to play Nina Simone
Which is crazy on so many levels!
I’ve heard Zoe sing and she is OK but Nina Simone –no no no
This part is perfect for Lauryn Hill – she might be having troubles but she is still a bankable artists or even Indie Arie
Black American commenters on the internet are upset, claiming Zoe should not get the part because 1. She is a Latina (who denies her blackness) and 2. She is too light skinned
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/we-need-to-educate-ourselves-on-race-vs-ethnicity-and-other-things-i-learned-from-this-weeks-zoe-saldana-nina-simone-conversation
Many people have a problem with this girl and I am not sure why. She seems to be the poster child of black Americans who say that Latinas ‘don’t want to claim their blackness’ even though Zoe already stated “she is black but she is also proud to be a Latina”…
Zoe is also ‘triguena’ and it’s a shame that she has to deny that in order to make her US fans happy, it’s like in American, you have to be one or the other. Like the rest of us, she has learned to play the game of “when in Rome, be like the Romans”
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@ Linda
I heard about that too. I think Zoe is a terrible choice – she looks nothing like Nina Simone. It would be like having Cedric the Entertainer play Barack Obama. Come on.
On the other hand, I have never heard Zoe Saldana distance herself from her blackness or her Latina-ness. As far as I know she has always been proud of being both Latina AND black.
She DOES deny being trigueñita to the Dominican press. I suspect she is too Americanized to have much patience for that level of colourism.
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I have seen ‘triguenita’ interpreted as meaning tri-racial, in this case a blending of African, European and Taino lineages, however its root is ‘trigo’, (Spanish for ‘wheat’), which actually renders ‘triguenita’ as meaning, ‘little wheat-colored girl’.
‘Wheat-colored’ seems to also be a popular skin tone description in South Asian / Indian matrimonial ads….
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“Bulanik
Linda, I realize there are fair-skinned Igbos, as they are dark-skinned Igbos. However, I recall that many Nigerians were unhappy with the choice of Ms Newton for the part when the news first emerged.”
I like how you threw in the disclaimer 🙂
I do get it, being that I am slightly nationalistic myself. It’s always amusing to hear American actors trying to portray a Jamaican character–the accents are horrible and I thank God, they didn’t even attempt Patois…I do get slightly irritated (Jamaican actors do live in US) but offended? no, not really. I realize the intended audience is the American public
Like with Thandie Newton, the production company was Nigerian, the target audience are Nigerian, so yes, they could have found an Igbo actress to play the part–but if I understand it correctly, the main actor in the film worked with Thandie in another movie, so he wanted her in the project and they felt her name would draw more international attention to the film.
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Zoe Saldana grew up an African-American girl in New Jersey for 9 years. I’ve had three 9 year olds and by the time children are 9 they think they know everything they need to know and they surely know what racism is from Black History month. Saldana may be Hispanic (because of her name and where her parents come from, like Gina Torres) but being a Hispanic who happened to be a little Black girl, in the Dominican Republic, perhaps, makes her painfully aware of the hypocrisy, colorism, racism and discrimination faced by Blacks in Hispaniola, Cuba, Puerto Rico and south of our border from Mexico to Ushuaia…shhh, it’s a secret. And would there be a discussion if her name was Zoe Jackson? I like Zoe for the part of Nina Simone and also india arie.
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I knew/ grew up with Zoe. I was there when she got discovered. Very beautiful and really funny. She dated a white skinned puerto rican / italian. Zoe did considered herself to have black traits. Her young sister as well.. She’s cool, down to earth and just relaxed. We performed together on stage, it was a crazy scene, she played my ex girlfriend. But anywho, she’s amazing
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Zoe recently did a campaign for Lenscrafters.
She’s such a pretty girl.
After those horrible pictures with her wearing prosthetics, fake hair and shoe polish on her skin, I thought it would be nice to show Zoe with her real hair and no fake anything.
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She’s expecting.
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Never understood the debates about Zoe’s ‘race’ here in the States. I see people who look like her in any Black community around the country. She kinda reminds me of Tatyana Ali in her appearance…Maybe African-Americans are trying to ‘police’ the race too much? Maybe some of us forget the cultural and ethnic diversity of people of African descent in the US.
Isn’t she also kinda stupid though? I recall her mixing up bisexuality with androgyny.
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