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Zoe Saldaña is an Oscar winner. On Sunday night, Saldaña won her first Oscar for best supporting actress for the film "Emilia Perez." The moment is a crowning jewel following a successful and prolific awards season, with wins at some of the major awards in entertainment, including the SAG Awards, the Critics Choice, the BAFTAs, and the Golden Globes.
As she accepted her first Oscar award, Saldaña, overcome with emotion, said, “My mom is here, my entire family is here, and I am truly overwhelmed by this honor.” She continued, “To my incredible cast and crew of Emilia Pérez, this award is for all of us—I share it with you.”
Saldaña plays the role of Rita Mora Castro, a dissatisfied and underpaid lawyer living in Mexico whose life takes a 180-degree turn after meeting Manitas del Monte, a drug lord who asks her for help in transitioning from male to female, escaping the life he built in Mexico for a new one.
Saldaña's performance is an encapsulation of what she's done best throughout her career, showcasing her skills for dramatic acting and her physicality, something that has been apparent in the many action films she's made throughout her career. The project is also a marked return to her dance roots, which she explored in her first-ever film "Center Stage."
In an interview with HOLA!, Saldaña revealed that returning to dance was one of the highlights of her experience making "Emilia Perez."
"Oh my God, I felt like coming home, like reconnecting with a part of me that I felt I purposely put to sleep," she said.
"I was able to carry the skills that I had from dance into roles like Neytiri in Avatar and Cataleya in Colombiana. But, you know, after becoming a mom, the yearning to go back and do that was just like evergreen. I never imagined that it was going to come in the form of Jacques Audiard and Emilia Pérez. So it was a lot of fun."
Saldaña's childhood was split between the Dominican Republic and the United States
Zoe Saldaña was born in New Jersey, to Dominican and Puerto Rican parents. When she was nine years old, her father died, prompting a relocation to the Dominican Republic with her sisters. Her mother stayed behind in the States, working odd jobs to send them money and make ends meet.
The experience was jarring for Saldaña, who had to learn how to live in a culture. “You can’t speak English; you have to speak only Spanish. You can’t code-switch,” she said to Harper's Bazaar. “And then you get bullied because kids don’t understand you. And we weren’t little victims. We pushed back, but then they pushed harder, because they all understood each other.” Saldaña was also growing up dyslexic, a trait that marked a lot of her youth.
“When you have a child that has ADHD and is dyslexic and has a lot of energy and doesn’t sit still and is unable to listen, you think that it’s on purpose. I just remember asking myself, ‘Why don’t I fit in? Why do I do this?’ It would make me really sad, and it would make me feel really isolated," she said.
Dance became an outlet, specifically ballet, which gave her life a sense of order and peace that she needed.
The practice would serve her well in her breakout film, "Center Stage," released in 2000. The film followed a group of teenagers at a ballet academy in New York and found no success at the box office. Still, it became a cult hit and is remembered as one of the best depictions of the cutthroat world of dance and a must-watch for fans of Saldaña's work.
Then came "Crossroads," where she starred alongside none other than Britney Spears. “It was so fun, but it was also, like, the first time that I was around a big pop star,” said Saldaña in an interview with Variety.
"Crossroads" came out in 2002, at the height of Spears' fame, with her record "Britney" released as a part of the film's soundtrack. The film's impact can't be understated. “And she was just so sought after, and yet, she was so down to earth and kind and approachable," said Saldaña.
Saldaña's Blockbuster success
And while many actors might have reached their peak while working with one of the world's biggest pop stars, "Crossroads" was only a stepping stone for Saldaña who went on to get involved with the two behemoths of contemporary filmmaking: "Avatar" and "Guardians of the Galaxy."
Her involvement in the films made her one of the few actors in the world to have starred in some of the most lucrative films in the industry. As of this writing, Saldaña is the only actor to have starred in three of the highest-grossing films ever made: "Avatar," "Avengers: Endgame," and "Avatar: The Way of Water."
Despite her achievements at the box office and her large imprint on pop culture, "Emilia Perez" came at a time when Saldaña needed it the most. It served as the project that allowed her to push herself creatively in a new direction, a reintroduction of sorts to the entertainment world.
“I feel that for the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been just stuck. I felt stuck doing these franchises,” she said in a 2023 interview with WWD. “I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors and getting to meet cast members that I consider friends and getting to play a role that fans, especially children, love.”
“But it also meant that I felt artistically stuck in my craft of not being able to expand or grow or challenge myself by playing different sorts of genres and different roles."
We can safely say that with "Emilia Perez" Saldaña got the chance to show the world what she's made of.