Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan
Zoë Yadira Saldaña-Perego (born Saldaña Nazario on June 19, 1978) is an American actress. Known primarily for her work on science fiction film franchises, she has appeared in the three highest-grossing films of all time (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Avengers: Endgame), a feat not achieved by any other artist. The films she has appeared in have grossed more than $14 billion worldwide, and as of 2023, she is the second-highest-grossing film actress and the fourth largest actress overall. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.
A trained dancer, Saldaña began her acting career in two 1999 episodes of Law & Order. Her first film role was in Center Stage (2000), in which she played a ballerina. She received early recognition for her work opposite Britney Spears in the road film Crossroads (2002). As of 2009, Saldaña achieved a career breakthrough with her roles as Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek film series and Neytiri in James Cameron’s Avatar film series. She played Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" (2023). In addition to her work on the franchise, Saldaña starred in the sci-fi film The Adam Project and the romantic drama miniseries From Scratch, both for Netflix in 2022.
In March 2013, Saldaña began dating Italian artist Marco Perego. They married in June, 2013, in London. In July 2015, Saldaña revealed that Perego adopted her surname after the wedding. After that, Zoë became Zoë Saldaña-Perego and Marco became Marco Perego-Saldaña. Their children would be Perego-Saldaña. Saldaña and Perego have three children, two are twins born in November 2014, and the third was born in February 2017. Saldaña said her children will be multilingual because she and her husband speak Spanish, Italian and English around them.
Saldaña is a supporter of FINCA International, a microcredit organization. In 2017, she founded BESE, a digital media platform designed to combat the lack of diversity in mainstream media with an interest in positive stories from the Latino community. In September 2020, Saldaña used her social media presence to participate in the VoteRiders #IDCheck Challenge to help publicize voter identification requirements for that year’s presidential election.
