What is Zoe Saldaña’s nationality?

In her acceptance speech for Emilia Pérez, Zoe Saldaña announced she was “the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award.” She giddily praised the movie for helping her connect with her Latino roots. 

At the post-award interview however, Saldaña only barely apologized for the movie’s worrisome depiction of Mexican issues. 

“I’m very sorry that many Mexicans felt offended,” she said. If that wasn’t enough, she added that she did not share the opinion that “the heart of the movie” was Mexican, a far cry from when she labeled Emilia Perez “a love letter to Mexico.”

For years, Zoe Saldaña’s ethnic ambiguity has awarded her multiple roles where she seemingly fits in. While she’s never living down donning blackface to portray Nina Simone, Saldaña’s Afro-Latina roots have helped her secure a number of impressive roles. 

A controversial filmography 

Saldaña’s Afro-Latino ethnicity has strangely always been a source of contention, especially when appearing in films with key racial or ethnic characters. 

For example In 2011, she butted heads with a grassroots group, PorColombia, just ahead of the release of her film Colombiana. In Colombiana, Saldaña appears as Cataleya Restrepo, a contract killer seeking revenge after losing both her parents in a cartel power struggle at the height of the Colombia conflict in Bogota. The movie would eventually be slammed by PorColombia for lacking “context and cultural awareness.” It was also criticized for portraying Latinos in a negative light. In her interviewed response with The Wall Street Journal, Saldaña surmised these as “stupid unintelligent comments.”

A few years later, she controversially accepted the role of Nina Simone in the biopic Nina. She was publicly vilified for this decision. To achieve at least some resemblance to the legendary artist and activist, Saldaña had to darken her skin with makeup. Furthermore, she wore a prosthetic nose. When she was questioned about how much this was reminiscent of racist blackface, she replied: “Nina looks like half my family!”

.@zoesaldana Cool story but please take Nina's name out your mouth. For the rest of your life.

— Nina Simone (@NinaSimoneMusic) March 3, 2016

In the wake of Emilia Pérez, Saldaña, who is not Mexican, had to explain the film’s depiction of Mexicans, which many deemed racist and uninformed. This was further complicated by a series of bigoted comments made by Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascón.

With her Oscar secured firmly in her hand, Saldaña shared that “We were making a film about friendship. We were making a film about four women. These women could have been Russian, Dominican… could have been from Israel, from Gaza.” Unsurprisingly, Saldaña has received considerable backlash for this insensitive comment. Ironically, when her chances at the Oscar were threatened following Gascón’s vile remarks, Emilia Pérez was, according to Saldaña, “a love letter.”

What nationality is Zoe Saldaña?

Sadana is an Afro-Latino American woman, born in New Jersey, making her an American. She also spent some of her childhood living in the Dominican Republic, after losing her father Aridio Saldaña. Furthermore, she speaks Spanish fluently, albeit with a discernible non-native accent.

The truth of her ethnicity is well documented. However, Saldaña herself may have either downplayed, or downright dismissed ethnicity in the past. A decade ago, she told BET that there is “no such thing as people of color.” Additionally, she refuses  to use the word “ethnic,” or reference “Black or white” in conversations about race. Why? Because they made her “uncomfortable.”

Altogether, Zoe Saldaña’s Dominican-Puerto Rican ethnicity is not a hidden secret at all. It however seems to be of a much lesser importance to her.