Zoë Saldaña
With “Out of the Furnace” opening nationwide, Zoë Saldaña closes out another amazing year…and of course, there’s more to come
Zoë Saldaña–or Zoë Yadira Saldaña Nazario, to be precise–spent half her childhood in the Dominican Republic and other half in Jersey. You have to wonder if she dreamed of her future while growing up in either exotic location.
Look at her now. In recent years, she’s appeared in some of the most popular movies in human history, including both Star Trek reboots (with at least one more to come) and James Cameron’s Avatar. She’s become an action hero in films like Colombiana, and proven her acting chops in fine films like The Words. And pretty much all that in the last ten years, since her first breakout role in Tom Hanks’ The Terminal.
In 2013, she’s just spread her wings even wider. She appeared in Star Trek: Into Darkness earlier this year; she completed a French film with Clive Owen, Blood Ties, that premiered in Cannes to great reviews and was featured at the Tribeca International Film Festival this year (and has since been picked up by Lionsgate for a record-breaking distribution deal). And now, Out of the Furnace finished the year as it opens wide.
Gamora
Also this month, she’s featured on the cover of FLARE Magazine in a stunning photo shoot and interview. Among her quotes:
On the power of women today: “Women aren’t wimpy. They don’t complain all the time. They can open up jars! They can fucking save the day! They can support their whole family. They can support their men. Half of my friends make more money than their male partners.”
On her secret soft side: “It’s so funny: The characters I played in Colombiana and Avatar, on the surface, there’s what appears to be strength, but it’s sugarcoating an immense vulnerability. I am tough, but I’m also a very vulnerable person. I trust everyone. For many years, I thought, I need to stop being this way, but no, I just need to learn from it.”
On the challenge of male-dominated sets: “You have to learn from your experiences. I’ve been in compromising circumstances, and I wish I’d had the strength that I have now because I would have protected myself better. I would have stood up for myself better. Women are challenged every day and are sometimes encouraged to objectify themselves. And it hurts.”
What’s next? Plenty. In 2014, we’ll finally see her as Nina Simone in the much-anticipated (and argued over) biopic Nina, in the indie family drama Infinitely Polar Bear, as a voice in the Latino-heavy animated feature The Book of Life, and as the galaxy’s best and most beautiful assassin, the green-skinned Gamora, in the guaranteed cult fave Guardians of the Galaxy.
Quite a list of milestones for a 35-year-old Dominican/Puerto Rican-American with a whole lifetime of accomplishments ahead of her…Meanwhile, Out of the Furnace is in literally thousands of theaters nationwide.
