When Avatar: The Way of Water surpassed $2 billion at the worldwide box office last week, Zoe Saldaa became the first actor to have four films gross more than $2 billion. The other three movies she starred in that earned that figure are 2009’s Avatar, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, according to People.
Avatar: The Way of Water director James Cameron has also become the first director to have three films gross more than $2 billion. The first was Avatar, and the second was Titanic.
Saldaa is known for her roles as Gamora in Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as Neytiri in Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water. The Afro-Latina actress recently spoke out about her roles in franchise films. “I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors to meeting cast members who I consider friends to playing a role that fans, especially children, adore,” the 44-year-old told Women’s Wear Daily.
Saldaa, who was born in New Jersey to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother, has also stated that she has Haitian and Lebanese ancestors. She began her career in Pirates of the Caribbean, Law and Order, Star Trek, and The Terminal, and today she has a reported net worth of $40 million.
Saldaa fell in love with ballet when she was nine years old. “Ballet was always my first love, but I simply didn’t have the feet, and I have way too much pride and ambition to just be in the corps,” she told Vanity Fair. She appeared in plays about substance abuse and sex with the Faces theater troupe.
Saldaa later joined a talent agency and landed her first big-screen role in the film Center Stage as Eva Rodriguez, a talented ballet dancer (2000). The self-proclaimed sci-fi fan’s breakthrough came in 2004, at the age of 25, in the Steven Spielberg-directed film The Terminal.
In 2018, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Saldaa was ranked #29 on Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 Women of 2014 list and #91 on FHM’s list of the “100 Sexiest Women in the World” in 2011.