As a child we always have these big dreams that we can save the world by becoming doctors or lawyers. Some of us even think that being a firefighter or police officer can save the society we live in today as well. But what would the world be without the entertainers we see and admire on television? In the present day the people in media are influencing us more than the teachers and elders in our neighborhoods. One entertainer that I look up to is Zoe Saldana. Although, her career in entertainment has just recently begun she has impacted film and society in a positive manner through her ability to play strong female lead roles that challenge how we view female sexuality and which helps transcend Hollywood’s perspective of race and ethnicity.
Her career started quite spontaneously. She was born in New Jersey but moved to the Dominican Republic at the age of nine after the death of her father. There she took interest in dance and was enrolled in a prestigious dance academy. She came back to the United States at the age of seventeen, where she was discovered by a talent agency after performing around town with Faces Theater Troupe, a theater troupe which focused on keeping teens out of the streets and trouble. Her dance ability and acting experience expedited her to land her first role in the movie Center Stage. Since Center Stage her career has taken off. In a 2003 interview Saldana was asked why she passed over the topic of race in her past interviews. She replied, “Because ethnic is a word that doesn’t exists in my vocabulary. In Hollywood you hear thing like, Oh, they loved you but they want to go more traditional.” She also went on to say that traditional was the new “N” word so when someone calls her dark she just says my skin is my skin. Hollywood uses the term traditional referring to going white rather than casting an ethnic actress. Zoe has seen many times her skill being put down and discredited because of her skin color. African American and Latina women are absent in Hollywood. For her to be one of the few that get parts shows that she can appeal to more than one audience. This has something to do with multicultural and multiethnic background. Saldana has lived in the U.S as well as the Dominican Republic, her worldview of race and ethnicity is ambiguous. She can cater to many different audiences and they will all be able to relate to her in some manner. Her mixed ethnic background allows her to do so in a positive manner.
Saldana says that she likes to play strong female roles and as I look at her work she has done just that. In Center Stage she plays a strong teenage female ballet dancer, which has her mind set on a goal she plans to accomplish. In Avatar her character Neytiri was a princess that was strong and fearless. She handled her own and actually helped her male counterpart fit his way into their society. We can also look at her character in the film Colombiana. She played Cataleya a determined female assassin that wouldn’t prevail until her family’s deaths were avenged. Not only are her characters strong they also help expand on how Hollywood looks at the Latin American woman. For example in Colombiana, she played a badass woman that has to avenge her parents’ death. Latina women are considered to be submissive and willing to do whatever men say. In this film there was a scene where her uncle told her not to mess with the man who killed her parents because they would come after her and he didn’t want to lose another family member. She explained that she wanted him to come after her just so she could kill him. In the end she succeeded in completing that task.
An aspect that stuck out in these films was that of ambiguity. In Colombiana and Center Stage she played Latina characters. An article entitles Brown Face, states that “Hollywood operates on stereotypes as a shorthand way of defining characters in ways that are easy for audiences to identify and digest.” In Colombiana, Zoe plays with her sexuality to get over on men in the film. It was assumed that a woman could not kill the way she was in the film which goes against society’s perception of femininity. Women are thought to be nurturing, this goes to display how she is breaking rules and allowing there to be more characters for women like Cataleya. Her ambiguous mysterious ethnicity makes her capable to play any character, which is why she was casted to play Neytiri. Neytiri, her character in Avatar also seems to portray some exotic ethnicity. Although, the ethnicity of the characters is unknown their accents have a Hispanic and Native American mix. Even without having a clear ethnicity or race she is able to bring the character to life. Saldana’s worldview allows her to be able to access and bring depth to challenging character such as Neytiri. As a result we can acknowledge that exoticness in female characters is desirable in today’s society.
Saldana says that she likes to play strong female roles and as I look at her work she has done just that. In Center Stage she plays a strong teenage female ballet dancer, which has her mind set on a goal she plans to accomplish. In Avatar her character Neytiri was a princess that was strong and fearless. She handled her own and actually helped her male counterpart fit his way into their society. We can also look at her character in the film Colombiana. She played Cataleya a determined female assassin that wouldn’t prevail until her family’s deaths were avenged. Not only are her characters strong they also help expand on how Hollywood looks at the Latin American woman.
Zoe Saldana embodies the star as an object of desire. According to Paul Watson, “the star is studied in terms in the ways in which spectators identify with, find meaning in, and gain a certain fulfillment from his or her image.” (Watson) Maxim magazine named ranked her number 3 on their 100 hottest women list on 2010. Basically, this means that spectators gain interest in the way she looks. She has been on the Maxim hottest women list several times. Some may desire her for her body others desire her for her success. Her strong demeanor and skill to take over a character and bring them to life and make them her own is sexy to some men and women. Women may envy her for being able to give them a voice and show a side of them that they are afraid to show. They believe that side of them won’t be accepted in everyday life, so for her to play those types of characters in movies means a lot to them.
Looking at her first film Center Stage, and comparing her work from that to the latter Colombiana and Avatar, we can see the progress she has made. She is playing stronger roles now that take her out of her comfort zone a dancer. She stated in an interview that quitting dance and focusing on her acting has really hurt her. (Hernandez) Zoe Saldana has progressed in her acting over this small amount of time. She has stepped out of her comfort zone of dance and completely let it go all together. She now focuses only on acting and gaining more serious roles. Her characters get stronger and stronger. In the film Guess Who we see her as a rebellious daddy’s girl, who just wants to be happy, and then we look at her in Star Trek and she is strong African woman. She has already gone against the norm because she has yet to been cast as a “maid” or “the help”. From her background working with the Faces Theater Troupe at a young age we can see that she is interested in bettering the society by encouraging and motivating others. I am confident that we can only expect more growth from her in the future and for her to open up more doors for women of color.

Works Cited ""This Is Just My Skin:" Zoe Saldana And The Neverending Race Question." Jezebel: Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women. Without Airbrushing.. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. .
"Brownface! - The History of Racist Latino/Hispanic Stereotypes." Brownface! - The History of Racist Latino/Hispanic Stereotypes. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2013. .
"Zoe Saldana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . type. "Zoe Saldana - Biography." IMDb - Movies, TV and Celebrities. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. .
Hernandez, Lee. "Zoe Saldana On Why She Quit Ballet as a Teen: ' I Was Dying Inside'." The Huffington Post 25 April 2012.
Watson, Paul. "Star Studies: text, pleasure, identity." Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Film Studies. New York: Routledge, 2012. 169.