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
This b*tch was born in american.Point blank!!
Born in American or in AMERICA
Wow. *smh* All of this because she’s a beautiful and talented actress. Black, white, blah, blah, blah…
Such a fight for everyone to feel unique and loved and popular–and the moment someone else has something that makes them unique and loved and popular you feel personally threatened and have to bring out the stupid race war cards–as if we’re living in the Dark Ages!
Even if Ms. Saldana had an identity complex, which she most likely DOES NOT, all you others on here labeling her and blaming her for your OWN insecurities is purile as it is disgustingly, undeniably prejudiced.
Be who you are, don’t make up lies or excuses, and keep it simple and keep it moving. Why? Because wrinkles and disease don’t discriminate, that’s why. And don’t be a wise ass and say “well, BLACK don’t crack” because you feel like that’s the one card black people have to play in this bent, narrow-mindedly-anglonized world we all call home–stop trying to prove that you’re worth more than what someone else tries to limit you as being–THEY have the problem, not you, and there’s DEFINITELY no problem being black.
What, we’re all so insecure that no one is allowed to just be themselves because you feel personally attacked or ignored? Honestly, we all seem to be very familiar with the history of the Americas here… So why is eveeryone so defensive? “I’m mixed” or “She’s not that mixed” or “I’m mixed but just don’t look it” or “I’m only part black but not as much as an African American”–really? REALLY? Maybe if you stopped thinking that black people are at the bottom of the food chain, you’d stop attacking people you think are higher up–no one is “higher”, we’re actually all the same; we just have different physical appearances, cultures, and languages. But you’ve somehow managed to reduce the beauty of God’s creation to a list of groceries you buy at Wal-Mart–and everything has a different value based on it’s potential for mass consumption.
Wow. I’m disgusted to call myself a human being. Skin color, facial features, hair texture, and accents mean more to you than a person’s character. You fell for the hype, stupid. *smh* God help us all.
you tell em :)
she’s black with latin heritage. just because she has straight hair doesn’t mean she isn’t black. people of latin decent in the Caribbean islands for some reason don’t see themselves as black people but why? crazy ass black people with light skin wanting to become white people themselves put fear into their own people about their race. if you consider yourself to be a black person in the Dominican republic, Puerto Rico or any of the Caribbean islands you were killed and if considered yourself white you were left alive. that fear has been left in for a long time so they tell their children that they’re not black or part black they’re told that their either white or Spanish since Spanish people are white. this isn’t something im making up, just google the history about the Dominican republic, there was also a documentary from PBS about the Dominican republic about the people there and about the fact that they don’t consider themselves to be black people. its not just from there its from most Spanish speaking Caribbean islands that you get this.
yeah,thats the dominican republic not puerto rico
That’s because most people in the dominican are not black, they are a mix. African and europpean. Why can’t you just get over it and accept it? Why should they deny having white ancestry? Why is that any better than “denying” their black ancestry? They have a right to acknowledge their genetic make up without being judged by a load of people with a chip on their shoulder.
You say that if they say they have white in them they are ashamed to be black basically, but if they were to deny they had white in them they wouldn’t be ashamed to be white, am I right? How does that work. Racism doesn’t work on a one way street.
First of all I think you are missing his point. He didn’t say that Dominican Republicans weren’t mixed. He said they are afraid to admit that they are mixed with black because in the early 1900’s close to 30,000 people of Haitian background were murdered because they were black. The president of the Dominican Republic at that time wanted to “whiten” the nation by getting rid of the darker skinned Haitians. Most Dominicans were already mixed with African during that time and the slaughter of the Haitians put fear in them when it came to admitting that they were mixed. So Poop wasn’t saying that the Dominicans should deny their white ancestry but that they shouldn’t be afraid to admit their black ancestry. I don’t think Zoe Saldana has denied her African Ancestry but many people of the Dominican Republic do.
Thank u,finally someone that brings that to the light of how black is denied in the hispanic world.
Right. Most Hispanics are mixed with something. They are either mestizos ( white and Native American) , mulatto (white and black), or tri-racial ( they are mixed with white, black and Native American). A few are white but most are mixed. Unfortunately, many are afraid to discuss their African Ancestry ( but not their Native american background). They may fear that they will be socially isolated or worse.
No, she’s obviously not fully black. She’s a mixed race woman.
LONG SOAPBOX POST: Sorry I have to get some things off my chest for a minute.
It still surprises me to this day how many Black Americans and Latinos of all racial makeups don’t know their history. America was not the only place to receive African slaves. The largest population of people of African descent outside of the African continent is in BRAZIL!!!!!!! America is 2nd followed by Colombia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. So let’s get real people. First Zoe never ever claimed that she wasn’t black and by saying black she doesn’t mean Afro-American, she means RACIALLY she identifies as Black, but she is still Latina ethnically. And what’s so wrong with that?! You can be both. Just like you can be Latino and Asian (see Brazil & Peru) HELLO!!!!
I’m seeing a lot posters that say that black americans are ashamed of our racial background. Are you all for real??!!!! I think you all are forgetting that America’s racial history is FAR, FAR different from anyone else on this planet. Unlike our African descent cousins in Latin america and some in the Caribbean, black slaves of America were owned by mostly British people. That’s why our last names are Jackson, Williams and McDonald instead of Gutierrez, Lopez or Saldana. Same people, different ship, and language. That’s it. Unlike the Spanish and the French they weren’t as laid back with the mixing. I don’t know how else to phrase that. But they were different.
Another thing is you all have to remember that America was one of the LAST COUNTRIES TO END SLAVERY! You all know that little war call the Civil War. Yeah that happened like maybe a century and a half ago, 1861. Yeah not that long ago. And we recently ended legal segregation only in the last half a century. My father was a young man when Jim Crowe ended. So for many of us, this whole race and segregation thing isn’t so far in the past like some Latin American countries claim it is.
It’s true that we have a sense of pride in being Black and being American, but who doesn’t have pride in who they are. BUT how dare some of you say that we take pride in the one-drop rule and claim it as such. We didn’t choose to be segregated and then categorized by the one-drop rule. We were LEGALLY stripped of our white, indian, and asian heritage because we were part black. It was introduced by White slave owners who “jumped the fence” and had mullato/mixed race children and because a growing percent of the slave/colored population was actually part, or in some cases mostly, white, they decided that if you even had ONE DROP of black blood you were considered black, and therefore not a person of equal standing. Also it was a way to keep the ones who were “passing” from being white once they found out they had any black relative. It kept us, blacks (coloreds/negros, etc. at the time) from receiving equal rights because they could claim their grandparents or a parent as white, and also so we wouldn’t be considered human. “Other” didn’t exist until much much later. You were either white or colored. That’s it. So since that’s all we had, we were forced to band together no matter where we were from and call each other black RACIALLY. That didn’t mean that you couldn’t be from somewhere else or even of mixed heritage. So with all of that, it’s going to take some time to undo what Jim Crowe beat into both Whites and Blacks, hell all Americans’ heads back in the day for decades and decades.
Also the reason why alot of African American don’t mention their racial background is either because they don’t know it, meaning the family just never knew with the whole one drop rule thing and all, and because their descendents were just labeled black and kept it pushing OR their family doesn’t see it(their white heritage) as a part of their history to be prideful of because some of those interracial unions in the old days did not happen through consent, some happened through rape or whatever. Not the type of thing that one’s great great grandmother would want to retell.
Like with me, for example, I didn’t know I was of mixed heritage until I was 17 when my Aunt told me that my grandparents on my mother’s side were both of black, white and native american(Choctaw my great grandmother) heritage. But I still consider myself black. That doesn’t mean I deny my heritage. If someone asked me what I am I will say black, if they want a more specific answer, I’ll tell them my background or I’ll just say I’m a mutt. I personally still identify as black because A) we still live in a US that believes if you look black you are black unless one of your parents or grandparents is white, or something else. The end. B) I didn’t know until I was much older. I had been identifying RACIALLY as just of African descent for 17 yrs. Not “Other”. That doesn’t change over night. And C) When I think African American/Black American I think of the culture, just like Latinos think of themselves as Latino and not usually race, I identify with AA and that as my culture. Not “Other” because I wasn’t raised “Other”.
ONE MORE THING: Black/African American IS NOT A RACE. It is an ethnic group only pertaining to those “blacks” who were descendents of American slaves. That does not mean that you are 100% of African descent or that you don’t have any racial mixing in your family tree. Despite what some posters here say, a large percent of AA based on real genealogy are of mixed heritage, be it a little or a lot.
This post is a longwinded waste of time. If you were mixed, you would have realized this by the time you weed like three, without someone having to tell you.
@ jose- how is that a waste of time??? Many ppl don’t seem to be ignorant like u for one and have to focus on what they are mixed w. So who are u to tell another when they should have known what they were mixed with. I’m 28 and didnt find out that I was part Afro-Cuban til 12 and Native American. Recently a year ago part Jewish. Yea it’s not something for u to care abt,but think of something smart to write.
@Ginny- blah blah blah…..yawn
^^^Venny^^^
if you are 27 and can’t tell that you’re mixed, maybe you are not. People like you are quick to call someone ignorant because they don’t buy into your nonsense.
Excellent. You described our ( African american ) history perfectly. So many people of mixed background accuse African Americans of supporting the “one drop rule” when it was white Americans not black Americans who enforced it. It was done to keep racially mixed blacks from being set free during slavery. The slaves had the status of their mother not their father. So even though a slave had a white father ( often the white slave owner) the child had the legal status of the slave mother. Meaning if you born to a slave mother you were legally a slave and if you were born to a free mother, you were free. The one drop rule was used to keep racially mixed slaves from gaining their freedom. And even after slavery, this rule was enforced. In many states, a person was not legally considered white unless he/she was less than 1/16 or 1/32 African. So if a mixed race person wanted to marry a white person, they couldn’t being that mixed marriages were illegal in many states. Plus a mixed race person had the status of all other African Americans regardless of how white they looked in appearance. Like AfricanAmerican girl mentioned, a black american was black based on their black ancestry, not their actual racial makeup. Even if a person had less than 1/32 African ancestry, they would have been afraid to mention that they had any African ancestry at all, considering the “one drop rule” was highly enforced by whites. The law didn’t matter. Many black Americans who looked white in appearance chose not to pass for white. To do so would be to alienate themselves from their family and from the only community they have ever known. So black Americans, regardless of their exact racial makeup, were very much united. Darker skinned blacks and lighter skinned blacks lived together, worshiped together, married each other and fought for their rights together. Now I don’t think that Zoe Saldana has denied her African ancestry, but many people seem to have a problem with mentioning that she is mixed with black. If Zoe had been a African American, and not of Latin heritage, she would be considered black, not even mixed. But like most Latinos, she is proud of her Latin background and their nothing wrong with that. When she says that she is Dominican and Puerto Rican, she is talking about her ethnicity not her racial makeup. Most Dominicans are mixed with black and some are very dark skinned. So I would say that she is mixed. I don’t know what the debate is all about. She is clearly a Latina of African ancestry, who is probably also mixed with white and Native American as well. To say that she is mixed is not enforcing the one drop rule at all. Now most African Americans don’t call themselves mulatto or mixed for two reasons. They are either way more African than they are white or because they don’t know their background like AfricanAmericn girl mentioned. So we just call ourselves black, even if those who are light skinned. It is a part of our culture. So if you hear a African American call a light skinned person or a bi-racial person black, it is because that is part of our culture. It is not like most of us would care of a mixed race person calls himself mixed or black. For the most part, we don’t insist that mixed people or Latinos call themselves black. We acknowledge that Latinos are mixed. But we might disagree with a clearly mixed Latino calling themselves white. We might question why that person is insisting on denying their background. Like African American girl mentioned, we are proud of our African background. Even if a African American person is very light skinned, most openly admit they have African ancestry. It is a part of our culture. The exception is the person who is passing or maybe they have lived as white and don’t know they have a small amount of black ancestry. But most blacks Americans who are obviously mixed with black or are dark skinned like Zoe Saldana would never even try to deny their African background ( bare in mind now I am not saying that is what Zoe did) but it is common for African Americans to find it strange when a Latino who looks like a light skinned black, calls themselves white, or deny they are mixed. Some African Americans think that these Latinos are ashamed or afraid concerning their background. Personally, I try not to judge. The Latino culture is different from ours and race maybe looked at differently in the Latino culture.
But sometimes when racially mixed Latinos call themselves white, it might be out of fear or shame. It am not sure one way or the other. Like I mentioned before, race maybe seen differently in Latin American countries. For instance, many “whites” in Latin American countries, have black or Native American ancestry. Do they call themselves white out of fear or because race is seen differently? Like I mentioned before, maybe race is not the same for Latinos than it is for Americans. It could be a cultural thing. In the United States, if a person is racially mixed yet looks white in appearance, it was often about passing for white. It was done to change their status in society. Because of this, African Americans think it is about shame, fear or convenience. When I think about it, I do think that it is about fear or shame some of the times. Like I mentioned earlier, the Dominicans were afraid to associate with blacks out of fear that something bad would happen to them. It is still that way to this day, from what I have heard. But race may mean different things to different cultures. It seems to be very complicated.
puertorican and dominican are not ethicities but nationalities.
Zoe does not look 100% black. And coming from these countries, it’s difficult to not mix your race. I’m sure she must have some native american and white in her
Nationality is where you are from now (for example I am american and have american citizenship. my nationality is American).
Ethnicity is usually like a group of what your ancestors were. (My ethnic background is Romanian, Italian, Russian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and German, and possibly Jewish for example).
Race is more of what you are perceived to be. To people I look white, therefore I am white in this country….those are the differences. They are all different.
yes she probably is mixed in some way, just like 70% of all the ‘black’ people in america and about 30% of the ‘white’ people in america.
Most black people in America are not that mixed. The same is not true for Dominicans.
I know, right? I’m hispanic …mestiza… but can usually see a difference between a black hispanic and an African American. The AAs are going crazy pretending to be less African than they are…except for the truly mixed ones. I worked with one crazy black b that was talking with a fake hispanic accent …lol…b/c she was in love with her Polish American supervisor who had a Puerto Rican girlfriend. Like, did she really think that would change her appearance in his eyes or something? And his PR girlfriend wasn’t even black. Some AAs are mentally ill.
‘metally ill’ says the girl who just wrote someones life story on a fucking internet site aimed at saying wat race/ethnicty celebrites are.
However on the whole i would say that ‘latin americans’ are more mixed than white and black americans.
@ Sandy: I’m sorry but you’re whole comment is really rude. Obviously you can’t tell who is and isn’t AA, because I have been to Latin American countries that do have Blacks and there are many that do look like regular ole “black folks”. So just get off it. And there is a difference with being “bi-racial” and multiracial. It’s called genetics. You CAN be both and not “look it”. That’s just pure ignorance. Are you going to tell an Ethiopian or a Cape Verdean that they aren’t African because they don’t “look it” I dare you to tell them that. You’re so ignorant.
@Jose Lomba: Um actually the percentage of African Americans with some European background is over 50% and the percentage is even higher for Blacks that have something other than white in their background. Don’t try to relay our history and we won’t relay you’re M’kay. I will agree that the degree isn’t as high as those in Latin American countries or as recent but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist just because you can’t see it. It’s call genealogy.
sorry for the typos. I meant your, not you’re I was a bit heated.
I’m not talking about the % of aa’s that have a minute admixture. The average AA has way less than 50% admixture.
The average admixture for an AA is probably @10%.
@ jose- and u would know this bcuz……. Did u do some type of survey ( as white america seems to base race/ethnicity in this country with). U should do some African studies as well. To be African doesnt mean dark,kinky and wide feaatures, there are many African countries where ppl are lighter than hispanics that dont consider themselves black. I don’t just mean Egypt,Morrocco or Algeria. All u ignorant ppl that think so negatively about AA’s need to come into the 21st century and stray away from the ignorance that u were taught in ur households. To get back on the subject many,many black ppl are mixed. Don’t be fooled just bcuz its not obvious in your eyes. There are many latinos that have black in them,but u cant tell. google afro latinos. geesh!!
come on a sistuh in love with a polish guy bitch you need to quit !and as far as being mentally ill no hon im going to leave that title in your lap.