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, 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, and Amsterdam, and on television’s Rosemary’s Baby, Maya and the Three, and From Scratch.

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.

 Zoë Saldana, Marco Perego at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party 2015 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Saldaña and her husband Marco Perego at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2015, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

607 Responses

  1. Multiethnicchick says:

    Zoe Saldana is an idiot. She’s not black and how can she say shes raising black sons when shes not black herself? There are true black latinos with no admixture whatsoever that look like lupita nyongo or Djmon Honsou. Zoe is mixed like most latinos but whenever someones mixed with black in America, Americans have to force their racist one drop rule on people.

    And what’s with people saying she looks 20-25% mixed? She looks like a true mulatto 50/50 like Barack Obama. With so many mixed people claiming black, no one seems to know what an actual black person looks like anymore. The ignorance is astounding.

    • Hill says:

      I never consider light-skinned people black. No matter how far back their non-African ancestry goes.

      • fuzzybear44 says:

        @hill

        Quote(No matter how far back their non-African ancestry goes.)

        Well with this statement, you’ve just wiped out most of the black people this side of the hemisphere

        Also what’s your range for a light skin black person? Because I see Zoe as being average in color, nothing I don’t see everyday

      • mayra.santana says:

        thats not true. Lightskin and mixed race people are very different. You can be near fully black and be lightskinned. Yet actual mixed people are the ones that can or cannot be considered black. Scientifically you can only have one race.

    • Omesombo 1 says:

      YOOOO Not all black people resemble lupita Nyong’o or Djimon honsou or Akon…. We are diverse! I have seen your comments elsewhere and You sound so ignorant. I have lived in Kenya and Lupita is darker than the average Kenyan. (Nithing wrong with that) out of curiosity what do you say about these FULLY kenyan singers? That they are multi racial too?

      https://images.app.goo.gl/Hk7pUuiC5ykGbSa7A

      https://images.app.goo.gl/8nARhKWd7YdFvwh38

      https://images.app.goo.gl/xVWFmrZsXninNh6M6

      These are just a few. I lived in Kenya for 7 years. Luos are not the only tribe, there are kikuyus, Merians, so many people so please stop stereotyping all black people thank you!

      • danishcookie7 says:

        Zoe Saldana is very obviously mixed race mulatto though.

        • fuzzybear44 says:

          @danishcookie7

          Well , it wasn’t all that obvious, until I can’t here to this site, I had no idea she was that

          • andrew says:

            Well that’s how people who look like her are called: mulattoes or maybe morena or something in Latin America.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            @andrew

            I guess in Latin, but I’m not from there. When I first saw her in this movie, where she played some dance student, I had no idea she was Dominican. I thought she was a regular old African American. However, I don’t think it’s that hard to be consider a Mulatto down in latin America

          • andrew says:

            She speaks with no Latin accent I suppose (I watch dubbed movies, so a guess of mine). Looks mixoid, not regular AA (pretty sure you say no “fixed look” and stuff).

      • andrew says:

        @omesombo

        Ngina Kenyatta is multiracial indeed. She has a mulatto mother (half German). Stop posting her.

  2. midori29 says:

    This girl tested as 20% black West African Dna
    https://youtu.be/bzjukGKbcuk

  3. madman says:

    She is the daughter of Asalia (Nazario) and Aridio Saldaña. Also, the link does not mention her Lebanese or Haitian ancestry, though this commercial confirms what her roots are:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3VroEwtTrQ&app=desktop

  4. crunty says:

    A beautiful mix.

  5. me says:

    Lebanese?really?she looks black with some distant spanish ancestry.

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