When it comes to being famous and still having a somewhat private life, voice actors and those generally under heavy makeup have it made. It is why those who star on The Simpsons can still go to a restaurant today and why Zoe Saldaña is able to roam freely even with live-action work. The Marvel and Avatar star says she is sometimes swarmed, but, at other times, is passed by completely.
The 45-year-old reveals the complexity of her career in a new report filed by the CBS Sunday Morning television show. While sitting down to promote her upcoming Special Ops: Lioness series premiering Sunday on Paramount Plus, she was asked how she feels about appearing in major franchises while not getting similar recognition as other actors, and, ultimately, the whole thing really has been a big blessing.
“I can take my kids to the coffee shop. I’ll be recognized of course sometimes, and sometimes I won’t.”
Elsewhere in the video, Saldaña addressed her previous turn as singer Nina Simone in the 2016 movie Nina and admitted she never should have accepted the part. She adds the pain and isolation from the response to the project was scary and, after being passed over in so many genres for how she looks, says where she has experienced her greatest success has never been a space where her mixed-race matters.
“What are the genres where I could go around that? Action, science fiction.”
Saldaña’s Special Ops: Lioness sees her play a female Marine named Joe who must befriend the daughter of a suspected terrorist being monitored by the C.I.A. It will also feature Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman, and there will be eight episodes in the initial run of the Taylor Sheridan-helmed project as of filing today.