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Biography

Sharp and flirty, Zoe Yadira Zaldaa Nazario was born June 19, 1978, in New Jersey. She was raised in Queens until the age of 10, when her family moved to the Dominican Republic. The nimble and bouncy Zoe was a natural at dancing, and won a scholarship to the Ritmos Espacio de Danza Academy, where she studied ballet, jazz, and modern and Latin dance. After her sophomore year of high school, Saldana returned to the U.S. to finish her studies. In New York she joined the educational improv theater group FACES Theater Company, whose skits about drug abuse, domestic violence and sexuality were aimed at teenagers. Her other theater troupe, the New York Youth Theater, put on a hit rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. An agent saw promise in Zoe and signed her on. She premiered to wide audiences in a 1999 episode of Law & Order. It was a massive leap to the big screen after that.

Zoe Saldana made her Hollywood debut as Eva Rodriguez, an angry, foul-mouthed ballet student in the dance drama, Center Stage (2000). The following year she had a supporting role in the forgettable teen comedy, Get Over It, starring Kirsten Dunst and Mila Kunis. She tried her luck at the indie circuit, starring alongside rapper Nelly in the hip-hop action drama Snipes (2001), which was featured at the Toronto Film Festival. Having proven herself successful with young audiences, she was cast as Britney's best buddy, Kit, in the pop star's film debut, Crossroads (2002). Zoe regrets that a hotel scene in which the three girls lift their tops was deleted from the movie. As do we, Zoe, as do we. Returning to independent film, her next project was Drumline (2002), a movie about a marching band.

For that movie, she was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, shared with Nick Cannon. Though her next role wasn't her biggest, it was definitely one of the most memorable. She appeared as Anamaria in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; you might remember her as the fierce female pirate who could make Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow bend to her will. After starring in 2003's Temptation, a rock musical version of Faust, Zoe Saldana worked on no less than seven movies. One of these is 2004's The Terminal, Steven Spielberg's story of an Eastern European immigrant (played by Tom Hanks) who is denied entry to the United States. Zoe stars as a tough INS agent. Zoe also reunites with Orlando Bloom (her Pirates of the Caribbean co-star) in 2004's Haven. She can also be seen in 2004's Constellation, Dirty Deeds and Blood on a Happy Face, as well as 2005's Lucy. Zoe Saldana lives in New York with her mother. If she has a boyfriend, she keeps him very well-hidden. Ranked #42 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2008 list.