Zoë Saldana
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
(written from a Production point of view)
| Zoë Saldana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name: | Zoe Yadira Zaldaña Nazario |
| Gender: | Female |
| Date of birth: | 19 June 1978 |
| Place of birth: | New Jersey |
| Character(s): | Nyota Uhura |
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| ...as Uhura in promotional art for 2009's Star Trek | |
Zoë Saldana (born 19 June 1978; age 31) is an American actress and model who plays Nyota Uhura in Star Trek. She took over the role from Nichelle Nichols, who played the role on Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and six feature films.
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[edit] Early life and career
Saldana was born Zoe Yadira Zaldaña Nazario in New Jersey to immigrants from the Dominican Republic and raised in Queens, New York. After her father's death in a car accident when she was nine, Saldana and her sisters moved with their mother to the Dominican Republic.
While in the Republic, Saldana took ballet lessons. She ultimately returned to the United States and joined the Faces Theater Program in Brooklyn, New York. While there, she won an uncredited appearance in a 1999 episode of Law & Order, the long-running NBC series executive produced by Rene Balcer. She left the Faces program after making her feature film debut in the 2000 musical drama Center Stage, co-starring Star Trek: Insurrection actress Donna Murphy.
[edit] Film work
[edit] 2000-2004
Following Center Stage, Saldana worked alongside Kirsten Dunst in the 2001 cheerleading comedy Get Over It. She then acted with Kim Cattrall in 2002's Crossroads. That same year, she played the female lead in the musical romantic comedy Drumline, for which she shared an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Kiss with her co-star Nick Cannon.
Saldana next appeared as Anamarie in Disney's 2003 summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (with Lee Arenberg, Greg Ellis and Guy Siner). She then had a supporting role in Steven Spielberg's 2004 comic drama The Terminal, in which she played an airport immigration officer who happened to be a devout Trekkie. Jude Ciccolella and Michael Nouri also had roles in this film.
[edit] 2005-2009
In the 2005 independent film Constellation, Saldana played the daughter of Clarence Williams III's character and also co-starred with fellow Star Trek players David Clennon, Alec Newman, and Gabrielle Union. Later, Saldana starred in the 2005 comedy Guess Who (co-starring Robert Curtis Brown) as an African-American woman who brings home a white fiancé. This role earned her nominations from at least four different organizations: the Black Movie Awards, the Black Reel Awards, the Image Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards.
Her subsequent film credits include Dirty Deeds with Michael Bofshever, Premium with William Sadler, Ways of the Flesh with Irene Tsu, and Blackout with Saul Rubinek. In 2008, she appeared in the thriller Vanatage Point, which also featured Bruce McGill. The following year, she starred in another thriller, The Skeptic, in which she played a psychic.
Saldana was working on James Cameron's highly-anticipated film Avatar when Abrams offered her Star Trek. Because she was already on a project and because she had a "lack of knowledge about Star Trek," Saldana was reluctant to accept the role of Uhura. Despite the scheduling issues it would cause, Cameron insisted that Saldana take the role, even going so far as to invite Abrams to the set to discuss the situation. [1]
[edit] Upcoming films
In Avatar, a 3-D science fiction film set for release in December 2009, Saldana plays an alien named Neytiri. Her character will be entirely computer generated, and Saldana has signed on to appear in any potential sequels to the film.[2] Scott Lawrence and Peter Mensah also have roles in Avatar.
Saldana's other upcoming films include the crime drama Takers and the comedy Burning Palms (the latter co-starring Tom Wright). She recently filmed a starring role in the Neil LaBute comedy Death at a Funeral, which also features Ron Glass. She is currently starring with Jeffrey Dean Morgan in The Losers, a film adaptation of the comic books published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.
[edit] Television
Following her appearance on Law & Order, Saldana guest-starred in a 2004 episode of its spin-off series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2006, Saldana worked with Star Trek director and producer J.J. Abrams and executive producer Bryan Burk for the first time when she had a recurring role on the short-lived television series Six Degrees.
[edit] External links
- ZoeSaldana.com - official web site
- Zoë Saldana at Wikipedia
- Zoë Saldana at the Internet Movie Database
