Zoe Saldana

Zoe Saldana
Saldana at the 2016 Comic-Con International
Born	Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario (1978-06-20) June 20, 1978 (age 38) Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
Other names	Zoë Saldana
Occupation	Actress, dancer
Years active	1999–present
Spouse(s)	Marco Perego (m. 2013)
Children	2

Zoe Saldana-Perego (born Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario; June 19, 1978), known professionally as Zoe Saldana, is an American actress and dancer. Following her performances with the FACES theater group, Saldana made her screen debut in an episode of Law & Order (1999). Her film career began a year later with Center Stage (2000), where she played a struggling ballet dancer, followed by a role in Crossroads (2002). Saldana's breakthrough came in 2009 with the roles of Nyota Uhura in Star Trek and Neytiri in James Cameron's Avatar (2009). The latter film received widespread acclaim, and is the highest-grossing film of all time. Saldana continued her career with films such as Colombiana (2011), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and both Star Trek sequels, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek Beyond (2016).

Saldana was born in Passaic, New Jersey. Her father, Aridio Saldaña, was Afro-Dominican, while her mother, Asalia Nazario, is Puerto Rican. Saldana also has Lebanese and Haitian roots. She spent the majority of her early childhood growing up in Jackson Heights, New York. She was raised bilingual, speaking English and Spanish. She has two sisters, named Cisely and Mariel, and a half-brother named Nipo, known as "Nipo 809", who is a Dominican artist and producer. Her father died in a car crash when she was nine years old, and Saldana and her mother subsequently moved to the Dominican Republic.