Zoë Saldaña
Saldaña in 2011, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Zoë Yadira Saldaña Nazario
Place of Birth: Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
Date of Birth: June 19, 1978
Ethnicity: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rican, evidently small amount of Lebanese and Haitian
Zoë Saldaña is an American actress and dancer. She has starred as Uhura in the rebooted Star Trek films, Neytiri in the Avatar franchise, and Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy/the MCU. She is also known for her roles in the films Center Stage, Get Over It, Crossroads, Drumline (2002), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Terminal, Haven, Guess Who, Constellation, Premium, The Heart Specialist, After Sex, Blackout (2007), Vantage Point, The Skeptic, Death at a Funeral (2010), The Losers, Takers, Burning Palms, Colombiana, The Words, Blood Ties, Out of the Furnace, Infinitely Polar Bear, The Book of Life, Nina (2016), Live by Night, I Kill Giants, Missing Link, Vampires vs. the Bronx, Vivo, The Adam Project, Amsterdam, The Absence of Eden, and Emilia Pérez; and on television’s Rosemary’s Baby (2014), Maya and the Three, From Scratch, and Special Ops: Lioness.
Zoë is the daughter of Asalia Nazario and Aridio A. Saldaña. She is a black Latina. Her father was born in Cotui Pro Sa, Dominican Republic. Her mother is Puerto Rican. Zoë has described herself as “three quarters Dominican and a quarter Puerto Rican.” She was initially raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, then spending a few years in the Dominican Republic after her father’s death; before moving back to Queens.
She is also said to have some degree of Lebanese and Haitian ancestry. She speaks English and Spanish fluently. Pictures of Zoë’s family members can be seen here.
Zoë is married to Italian artist Marco Perego, with whom she has three children.
Zoë has said:
There’s no one way to be black… I’m black the way I know how to be. You have no idea who I am. I am black. I’m raising black men.
Saldaña and her husband Marco Perego at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2015, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com
while i was at work an intern was excited to find out that zoe was Dominican. im like yea she’s black latin, the girl look at me like i was crazy said no shes Dominican she gave me that evil and angry look at me too. i responded saying sweetie you really need to do some research about “your” people. zoe saldana is a black person, she said so herself that she’s black. most of the people in the Dominican are Caribbean and blacks and know it, they just dont say anything b/c they still fear they will be killed over it. she shut her mouth pretty quickly after that but went ot my boss and lied on me saying left her in the office by herself and left to go home everyday. she really got mad at me for saying zoe saldana is a black girl instead of “spanish”
you’re actually wrong. only a small percent of the dominican republic is straight up african. most are mulattoes.
ok spanish is not a race, lets be clear about that its a language and heritage. if you want to be more specific shes from the Caribbean, she is black with latin heritage.
spanish is a Nationality honey you know Spain just like english is u know England….. They’re both european ethnicitys
Hmhmmm sweety got that right
Why do they mention PR first and then Dominican when Zoe clearly claims to be only Dominican. She never mentions her Puerto Rican side.
because when she got to hollywood,she claimed she was puerto rican,just as leguizamo did.
Zoe is a beautiful young lady. Who the “F” cares if she’s black, hispanic, cuban etc…, etc…, and etc…? She is a good actress and I lover her work. The only people who really care about her race/ethnicity are those who want to put claim to her. Society has a very bad habit of assuming that other humans belong to everyone in it because they are famous. Get over it! Let the girl do her work and enjoy life.
Zoe’s RACE is probably about 65 % African and 35% Spanish
Her NATIONAILTY is American
Her parents NATIONAILTY is Dominican and Peutro rican
Her Ethnicty/culture is a mix of African American (as she was born their) and latino carribbean(as thats where her parents where from)
ITs up to her where or not she wants to be identified as afro-latino or African american!
Zoe said herself she is a black women first before anything else!
Yes i know she is black and i know she sees hereslef as black! but her african ancestors where taken to the domincan republic not america! I think you are confusing ‘black’ the race… aka african, with ‘african american’ the etnicity!
allthough domincans dont like to admit it they are african desdents!
how am I confusing black the race with african americans? black people dont just come from america! If a slave was bought to america, and their descendants are born in america then they are african american, the same as if they were born in the dominican she is afro dominican- she acknowledges that and says she is black, black does not mean american! That’s elementary! In my previous comment where did I say anything about america?
my bad! sorry im just sick of ignorant domincans pretending they are not racially ‘black’ or african, beacuse there nationality is domincan and im sick of ignorant americans beliveing blacks where only taken to america! but i see you are educated!
Don’t forget that American Indians were also all over the Americas and she no doubt is a mixture of Caucasian (Spanish), American Indian, and African. Also, if any of her Spanish ancestors were of darker skin (displaying Arabic influence) then she also has Arab in her as well. If you want to get down to what a Spanish person is, they are of Celtic/Iberian blood.
15% of domincans have some tanio (american indian) blood, she may or may no be included in this 15%!
About the spanish thing…. this is where it gets complicated…. what is a spaniarnd(from spain) because educated people would know there has been mixing on the iberian penisular for thousdhands of years!
I believe she said that, she knows there’s a race difference between her and someone like shakira or jennifer lopez even though they are all latinas. I was watching a documentary about cuba and how the people their think the color of your skin says how a person will be treated. The people in cuba who where darker talked about the discrimination done to them because they where darker with african features. People act like in hispanic areas like such there are no such thing as discrimination. They act like everyone is treated equally and everything is peacefull when it’s not true. Many people who are like Zoe like to say “I’M NOT BLACK I’M CUBAN” or whatever. First off no one said they’re not cuban or latino but why are people in cuba and i’m sure in other hispanic countries that look like Zoe being treated like crap? if as they claim they are as equal as everyone. Why are hispanic people that have the same features as Shakira treating those that look like Zoe like crap in those countries?
b/c she looks black thats the problem. if you didnt have light skin and straight hair you were killed. if you considered yourself to be a black person you were killed, thats why you have lots fo black people from the spanish speaking Caribbean dont’ consider themselves to be black, they say their spanish and/or latin. people today are still taught that way to think that they aren’t black when they are.
and well she should,i find nothing more racist and ignorant than when an obvious black person says i’m not black i’m(insert ignorance here)
Her race is human you idiot. and she’s probably half and half or mostly just non black latina. Look at her natural hair texture! She’s obviously not mostly black. It’s like you people have never seen a brown latina before. sheltered fools
brown yes ,but zoe is black
Yeah. Zoe Saldana is definately mixed with Black. She’s Dominican/Puerto Rican w/ African, European, and possibly Native roots.
Hey, but is it enough to qualify. George Lopex is mixed with Black but you’d hardly call him Black. You can’t go by skin or looks because to tell the truth she could pass for Indian. She has that look and they are dark as well.
@midnight,indians may be dark,but still not that type of complexion of darkness. Get a pic of a native american indian and an Eastern Indian and one from latin america and then her. anot the same,so how can she pass?? As mixed w it,but not 100%.>y great grandma is half Shinnecock and Jewish, yet in an older pic looks half indian and aafrican american. Myself i am multicultural n multiracial, but am dark skin w med-thick hair. BUt bcuz i’m not light skinned,another cannot tell me what i’m not mixed w.
Both of my parents are African American far down the line and my hair is the same texture as Zoe’s when I wear it straight (my dad’s side has “good hair”). So her hair can definitely be like that even if she’s mostly black lol.
Africans have all types of hair textures and features. Sub-Saharan Africans have the most diverse range of genomes. She’s obviously black and identifies as such so quit being an idiot. Go educate yourself.
uhm I self identify as a brown latina (I’m mexican) Zoe looks too different, the brown label is mostly for indn types. Zoe is black (predominately too) sure she may have some euro and native indn but so do all african-americans…
Zoe is African, Taino, and Spanish. I see Taino features
You mean 35% European? Spanish isn’t a race