Actor of the Week: Zoe Saldana
Zoe Saldana is an unusual actress, due to the fact that she has been in some of the biggest films ever made, but I don’t think that she is at the top of the list when it comes to A-List celebrities. The reason why Saldana gets the roles she has acquired in her career is because of her incredible talent, which is why she is our Actor of the Week this week.
The first time I saw Zoe Saldana was in the first Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl, where she plays Anamaria, one of the many ex’s of the legendary pirate Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp. Saldana hasn’t got a huge role within this film, once you see her confront Jack, she becomes the only woman in his fleet. Little did I know at this point that Saldana would go on to star in one of the biggest films of all time, but we’ll get to that.
Saldana went on to star in a few smaller films, enabling her to build her career, such as Guess Who, with Ashton Kutcher, and Vantage Point with the brilliant Dennis Quaid, but the film that introduced Saldana to the big time was Star Trek, directed by JJ Abrams. Zoe played Nyota Uhura, the translator and communications officer of the famous spaceship, The Enterprise, alongside former Actor of the Week Chris Pine. Saldana went on to star in 2 more Star Trek films, which I was really happy about, as I really enjoyed this reinventing of the hit TV Show, with Saldana being a big part of its success.
One of the main reasons for why I picked Saldana, is because she is leading female in the biggest film ever made, James Cameron’s Avatar. Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time, and Saldana was at the forefront of this picture. In this film we see Saldana play Neytiri, a species of the Na'vi, who live on the planet Pandora. We see Neytiri fall in love with an “Avatar”, which is a genetically created Na’vi, carrying the DNA of a specific human, who can then control it by syncing with its body. In this case, ex-marine Jake Sully. With Jake’s original plan to defend a couple of researchers scouting Pandora, things soon become complicated putting him in a position to choose between his humanity or the Na’vi. Avatar was the first film to really push the new age of 3D and cinema has not been the same since, allowing Saldana to be a part of cinema history. Saldana is expected to be in the next 5 Avatar films, which are currently in production. Avatar was good, but not 5 more films good, but I do love Cameron, so we will see how it goes.
As you may already know, Marvel is a hot topic for Life of Films, therefore we were glad when we saw that Zoe Saldana was cast as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, a film about a bunch of unlikely space outlaws that come together to save the galaxy. Gamora is a fierce and very serious warrior who is eventually loosened up by the charm of Peter Quill, played by the hilarious Chris Pratt. Guardians of the Galaxy is easily one of the best films to come out of the MCU, with it being probably one of the freshest takes on the superhero genre. Saldana has gone on to star in the 2nd chapter of Guardians of the Galaxy, and we will also see her reprise the role in a third chapter, as well as being in Avengers: Infinity War, which is out in April.
I really like the fact that Zoe Saldana has been in such huge blockbusters, yet she still manages to stay under the radar, letting her talent speak for itself. She has a brilliant knack for bringing these unusual characters to life, making her the obvious choice for any sort of Sci-Fi film. Live long and prosper, Zoe!
