Zoe Saldana

Receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this past spring, Zoe Saldana is herself the epitome of a true star in Hollywood, earning a reputation as a versatile and respected actress by choosing roles that she feels passionately about. She recently reprised her role as the fan-favorite ‘Gamora,’ in “Avengers: Infinity Wars,” which premiered on April 23rd. Additionally, she stars in the independent drama “I Kill Giants” directed by Anders Walter based on the comic book of the same name. Saldana also lent her talents as the voice of Captain Celaeno in the animated Lionsgate film, “My Little Pony: The Movie”.

Saldana has recently launched BESE (prounced “Bee-Seh”) a digital platform intended to reshape the cultural narrative by shining light on the untold stories that reflect today’s America. This platform will provide a voice to Latinx youth through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as youtube videos and podcasts. BESE fills a niche for young LATINX audiences craving positive portrayals of the modern AMERICAN experience.

Last year, Saldana was once again seen opposite Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper in Marvel’s “Guardians of The Galaxy 2,” where she again, stared as the franchise’s lethal alien assassin, ‘Gamora’. The movie was a blockbuster success grossing over 380 million domestically.

Saldana starred in “Live By Night,” directed by Ben Affleck. The film focused on a group of individuals during the Prohibition Era and their dealings in the world of organized crime. Saldana costarred with Ben Affleck and Sienna Miller.

Saldana was also seen in “Star Trek: Beyond,” the third installment to the 2009 blockbuster hit. Saldana played ‘Nyota Uhura’ opposite Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. The J.J. Abrams’ action-packed film grossed $185 Million at the box office.

Saldana is best known in her starring role as ‘Neytiri’ in the record breaking film, “Avatar,” James Cameron’s sci-fi thriller, co-starring Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington. “Avatar” quickly became the highest grossing film of all time, winning the 2010 Golden Globe for Best Director and Best Picture. “Avatar” went on to receive a total of nine 2010 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture. Saldana is currently in production on the film’s highly anticipated sequels "Avatar 2, 3 and 4" slated for a 2019 release.

Saldana’s other film credits include “Infinitely Polar Bear,” “Blood Ties,” “Out of the Furnace,” “The Words,” “Colombiana,” “Takers” and “Death at A Funeral” as well as her breakout role in the film “Center Stage.” Her television credits include appearances on the television reboot of “Rosemary’s Baby,” the WB’s “Keeping It Real,” and NBC’s, “Law & Order.”

Furthermore, Saldana is spending time behind the camera with her film production company Cinestar. Founded with her two sisters, Cinestar produced the NBC Mini-Series “Rosemary’s Baby” as well as The AOL Digital series “My Hero.” Additionally, Saldana teamed up with the millennial mom-geared network Awestruck to create digital content for AwesomenessTV. Partnering with Awestruck on both unscripted and scripted content, Saldana will executive-produce two series and create a YouTube channel for the Awestruck platform with her sisters. The lifestyle network is scheduled to debut later this year on YouTube, Facebook video and Verizon's upcoming Go90 video service.

When not in production, Saldana engages in meaningful philanthropic work involving children’s development, well-being and confidence building. Saldana has been very vocal in her involvement with Brave Beginnings. The organization focuses on bringing essential life-saving equipment and services to seriously ill children and their families. Brave Beginnings specifically works to ensure ventilators and life-saving neonatal equipment are always available to newborns in critical need. Annually, Brave Beginnings provides grants for essential neonatal intensive care equipment such as critical airway carts, infant resuscitators, incubators, omnibeds and much more.

Saldana is also the Global Ambassador for Shot@Life. Shot@Life aims to ensure that children around the world have access to life-saving vaccines. Through education, advocacy and fundraising, they strive to decrease vaccine-preventable childhood deaths and give every child a shot at a healthy life no matter where they live. It is a campaign of the United Nations Foundation, which builds public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach.

Additionally, Saldana also lends her support to The Step Up Network – an organization which works to propel young women from under-resourced communities to fulfill their potential by empowering them to become confident, college-bound and career-focused leaders. The organization offers effective after school programs as well as influential mentorships. Each year the organization holds their Annual Inspiration Awards Gala in which Saldana was honored in 2014.

In 2011, Saldana directed the short film “Kaylien” in her ongoing effort to raise awareness about autism. The short film – which served as Saldana’s directorial debut – was a part of the GLAMOUR Reel Moments series that brings Hollywood’s leading female talent to take a turn behind the camera, directing a short film inspired by real-life story submissions from Glamour readers. “Kaylien” starred Malin Akerman and Bradley Cooper. Zoe has long been an advocate of autism awareness by engaging in organizations such as Actors For Autism, Austism Speaks and the annual event Light It Up Blue taking place on April 2nd each year.

Saldana has also taken part in The Haiti Relief Inc which works tirelessly to provide disaster relief to Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010. The organization focuses on distributing medical supplies, food, clothing and other necessary items (such as soap, chlorine bleach, etc.) to aid and assist the residents of Haiti. The organization also assists in rebuilding schools, medical clinics and hospitals being the focus of the organization from relief to development.

Additionally, Saldana has participated development efforts with FINCA – an organization designed to alleviate poverty through lasting solutions to help build assets, create jobs and raise the standard of living. In 2010, Saldana spearheaded the “Lend a Hand” campaign – FINCA’s safe and easy to use online donation tool. The campaign allowed people to donate to FINCA and the women from around the world working to free their families from poverty to better the lives of their families. In 2014 Saldana became the face of L’Oreal. In her role as an international spokesmodel, she has appeared is several multimedia advertisements for the brand’s plethora of beauty products.

Saldana was born and raised in New York. When not on location, she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and twin boys.

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