Zoe Saldana

Infobox actor
name = Zoe Saldana


caption = Saldana at Hollywood Life Magazine's 7th Annual Breakthrough Awards, December 2007
birthname = Zoe Yadira Zaldaña Nazario
birthdate = birth date and age|1978|06|19
birthplace = New York City, U.S.A. [cite web |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obUbNl2R5xQ |title=Zoe Saldana on Late Late Show]
deathdate =
occupation = Actress
yearsactive = 2000–present
spouse =
homepage = http://www.zoesaldana.com/

Zoe Saldana (born Zoë Yadira Zaldaña Nazario; [ Filmreference.com [http://www.filmreference.com/film/20/Zoe-Saldana.html Zoe Saldana biography] February 29, 2008 ] June 19, 1978)cite web |url=http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity/zoe-saldana/|title=Zoe Saldana:Biography on MSN|author=Jason Buchanan |accessdate=2008-07-29 |date=2008 |publisher=MSN ] is an American actress.

Early life

Saldana was born in New Jerseycite web |url=http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity/zoe-saldana/|title=Zoe Saldana:Biography on MSN|author=Jason Buchanan |accessdate=2008-07-29 |date=2008 |publisher=MSN ] to a Puerto Rican mother and a Dominican father from the Dominican Republic. [ [http://www.popentertainment.com/saldana.htm] ] She was raised in Queens, New York, and her first languages are English and Spanish. When Saldana was nine, her father died in a car accident, and Saldana's mother moved her and her sisters back to the Dominican Republic. While there, Saldana enlisted in a ballet class and gained experience as a dancer, enlisting in one of the most prestigious dancing schools in that country, which benefited her later in her role in "Center Stage". She returned to the U.S. after her sophomore year in high school and enrolled in the Faces Theater Program, an acting course. She also worked in Burger King as a cashier in the mid 1990s.

Career

Saldana was still a member of the program when she got her first screen experience on an episode of "Law & Order" that first aired October 13, 1999. She left school after her major film debut in 2000's "Center Stage", which she followed up in 2002 with appearances in the Britney Spears vehicle "Crossroads" [cite web |url=http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aa022102c.htm |title=Zoe Saldana Interview-Crossroads Movie] and the Nick Cannon-starring comedy "Drumline". She played the tough pirate lass Anamaria in the 2003 film "", and has appeared subsequently in television shows like "Law & Order" and in a number of movies, including "The Terminal" and "Guess Who". Saldana was also the lead in the video for Juan Luis Guerra's song "La Llave de Mi Corazón". Saldana has recently been cast in the role of Uhura in the upcoming "Star Trek" movie. [cite web |url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/2307054.html |title=Zoë Saldana Cast in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" movie |accessdate=2008-07-04 |date=2008-03-02]

Awards and nominations

*Black Reel Awards
**2006, Best Actress: Guess Who (film) (Nominated)

*Black Movie Awards
**2006, Best Actress: Guess Who (film) (Nominated)

*NAACP Image Award
**2006, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Guess Who (film) (Nominated)

*MTV Movie Awards
**2003, Best Kiss: Drumline (film) Shared w/ Nick Cannon (Nominated)

Filmography

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0757855|name=Zoe Saldana
*rotten-tomatoes|title=Zoe Saldana
* [http://www.myspace.com/thesaldanaexperience Zoe Saldana] at MySpace
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_6_34/ai_n6095007 Brant Publications interview] (July 2004)