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Zoe Saldana

Born:     June 19, 1978
Place of Birth:   Passaic, NJ
Zodiac Sign:  Gemini

Zoë Yadira Saldaña Nazario is an American actress and dancer. Following her performances with the theater group Faces, Saldana made her screen debut in a 1999 episode of Law & Order.

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Saldana's film career began a year later with Center Stage (2000), where she played a struggling ballet dancer. In 2002, Zoe Saldana played the love interest of Nick Cannon in Drumline, a successful movie highlighting the ever popular marching bands of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Saldana's breakthrough came in 2009 with her first of multiple appearances as Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek film series and her first appearance as Neytiri in the Avatar film series. She also portrays Gamora in multiple films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

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Her father, Aridio Saldaña, was Dominican, while her mother, Asalia Nazario, is Puerto Rican. She was christened Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario, reflecting both her parents’ surnames. Saldana also has Lebanese and Haitian roots. With regard to her racial identity, Saldana stated, "There's no one way to be black. I'm black the way I know how to be." She spent the majority of her early childhood growing up in Jackson Heights, New York. She was raised bilingual, speaking English and Spanish. She has two sisters, Cisely and Mariel. Their father died in a car crash when Zoe was 9 years old, and their mother subsequently moved with the children to the Dominican Republic.

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In March 2013, Saldana began dating Italian artist Marco Perego. They secretly married in June 2013 in London. In July 2015, Saldana revealed that, in a reversal of tradition, Perego adopted her surname upon marriage. Thereafter, Zoe became Zoe Saldana-Perego and Marco became Marco Perego-Saldana. Their children would be Perego-Saldana. Saldana and Perego have three sons together, twins born in November 2014 and the third born in February 2017. Saldana stated that her children will be bilingual as she and her husband plan to speak both Spanish and English around them.

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In July 2016, during an interview with Net-a-Porter's The Edit, Saldana revealed that she has Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease, along with her mother and sisters. To combat the effects of this disease, Saldana said she and her husband adhere to a gluten- and dairy-free diet.

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In 2009, Saldana said she would avoid plastic surgery, telling Women's Health magazine "God as my witness, I am going to try to do everything I can to keep this ass together for as long as I possibly can—without going against nature." She watches what she eats but does not diet and does Pilates regularly saying "It's the closest thing to dance."  Source.

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