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
Corrections in my typos spaniard
yes there is a such thing as a light skinned black person .
I agree with you, but I wouldn’t call her a light skinned black person. Zoe is more medium brown and not light. She about about 4 to 7 shades darker than I.
How in the hell do you think they became “light skinned”, dumbass? They’re obviously mixed. Light skinned is another word idiotic Afrocentrics use to describe biracial people. FUCK the one drop rule. Its 2014, we should be past that ignorant bullshit.
Being latino has nothing to do with being anything.. dominicans need to be more like afro cubans and accept the fact that they are from african descent for they are a caribbean island and like other caribbean islands have a history of slave trading.. being latino doesnt mean you your the same as somebody from chili just because you talk spanish.. as other countries al the latin countries and islands have their own history and cultural heritage.. only thing latinos have in common is that at one point the country they call their own now was colonized by spaniards.. being latino can mean that your black, white, mulato, marron or in between.. zoe zaldana is no different from megan good.. she’s lightskin black!
There is no such thing as a light-skinned black.
I’m black and I’m light skinned:/
there really is, i have both light and dark skinned family, you sound extremely insensitive and racist.
To the afro cuban I am Happy that you are proud of where you come from as we all should be as latino people however where I desend from and my country we started off as indians that were killed by the spainurd they also brought french slaves with them. To work the fildes caves etc…and when they were done or had taken what they came for they left laving the slaves behind whom eneded up taking over dr for a very long time ….. See my point is yes you are right that we are mixed with what some kind of afro slave that was brought to our country however saying that we are black takes away from saying I am a proud latino … We come in all colors black white tan light but that doesn’t change that we are latino first we are not a color we are a culture
u sound so dumb.. light skin black? she is hispanic. and yes, her skin is light skin brown….. Just respect the fact she is hispanic.. you sound like you have a problem buddy…. You say you wanna call her “light skin black” like its to hurl an insult at her LOL!!!! so lemme guess, will you call jennifer lopez white??? exactly my point
Black or White who cares. Race doesn’t define your culture or ethnicity. Identifying myself as Hispanic and Dominican more accurately describes my ties to a group of people of similar culture, language, and history. Saying I’m Black or White or whichever is too vague a definition, the only thing about race is the society’s “understanding” of what they see (mostly skin color) regardless of culture or language or history. Culturally a African American, a Nigerian, a Jamaican, an Afro-Dominican etc etc have not very much in common other than the shade of skin color. But say a “white” Dominican and a “black” Dominican have much more in common. I mean how African tribes are united or east Indians and even orientals. All that being said Zoe wants to be identified as Dominican or whatever that’s her choice.
Latino is NOT a RACE it IS a CULTURE!!!! PERIOD!!!!!