Zoe Saldaña

With major roles in no fewer than three of the biggest film franchises of the 21st century, Zoe Saldana can credibly claim to be one of the most bankable actresses of her generation.

After early supporting roles in mid-level teen fare like Centre Stage, Get Over It and the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads, Saldana appeared in the 2004 Steven Spielberg drama The Terminal, playing a love interest with a passion for Star Trek. Five years later, she won the role of Nyota Uhura in J.J. Abrams reboot of the Star Trek franchise.

Just a few months after Star Trek upped her visibility, she shot even further into the stratosphere in James Cameron’s Avatar, the highest grossing film of 2009 and indeed of all time. A third lucrative franchise followed in 2014 when she took the role of Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy, a role that would recur in four subsequent MCU films to date.

While Saldana would showcase her talents in a wide range of movies outside the Star Trek, Marvel and Avatar cinematic universes, few of them made a significant impact on the public. In 2024 she enjoyed a significant personal breakthrough as a singing lawyer in the Spanish-language Oscar sensation Emilia Perez. It was for this film that she finally received her first Oscar nomination in the category of Best Supporting Actress.