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
I She is mixed.. Like all Dominicans and Puerto Ricans.
she looks black
She looks fully black,she can pass as ethiopian like Liya Kebede
(she can pass as ethiopian )
Well that wouldn’t be hard to do,you have many groups to work with in the country.From Liya Kebede:
http://tonightatthemovies.com/indexhold/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Film-Still-20-DF_BTS-Liya-Kebede-and-Waris-Dirie_026.jpg
to
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3382/3260138096_5057350136_b.jpg
to
http://www.johangerrits.nl/galleries/content/1.Travel/Ethiopia/Ethiopia_south/192%20-%20Erbore%20woman.jpg
and many more
There is Mixed people in ethiopia and there are countries of Africa where the people are mixed …. and despite ithe skin color is dark or lighter, features and genetic background is what makes mixed people. She is not black, She is mixed and she looks like…. Dominicans and Puerto Ricans are mixed they have black, white, and native genetic background… Some of them have Arab or Asian too…. And she is mixed ;)
@arjanguelsk
(She is not black)
Even if that’s what she says she is?
stereotype<< that's the problem… All famous mixed colored people knows how difficult is that people accept mixed race… And if they are colored they said they are black, becouse Is what people want to hear…. But that dosen't mean is true. She also say she is dominican, Puerto Rican (most of dominican and Puerto Ricans are mixed), and people know that she have mixed background becouse she said it and support it. Also she said starts to talk about it becouse people start to ask becouse people see something different in her admixture (becouse she is mixed) And it's dosen't care if you think she is black or not. She is evidently mixed.
Why would she even mention that she is Lebanese. Dominicans are mixed with all types of races. Puerto Ricans have a lot of mixed races as well. Her mom and dad are both black Hispanics which means that they are both mixed. Dominicans and Puerto Ricans identify themselves according to their nationalities not which race or ethnicity they are mixed with.
to midori29
Totally agree wid ya Bruddah. Cudn’t agree more. Except “Natives” of Dominican republic ain’t called “Indians”. “Indians” are people from country India.
“Native” are called “Mesoamericans”. We are talking about ethnicity, not race. Racially She’s a Black sista.
Bhadwe Lavde .
You know what !?!
What !?!
Chicken’s Butt.
No she’s not. She’s clearly mixed. I don’t consider Zoe black. She doesn’t look fully black.