[5] A trained dancer, Saldaña began her on-screen acting career in 1999 with a guest role in two episodes of Law & Order.

[6] In addition to franchise work, Saldaña has starred in the science fiction film The Adam Project and the romantic drama miniseries From Scratch, both for Netflix in 2022.

In 2023, she began playing the lead role of a CIA officer in the Paramount+ spy series Special Ops: Lioness.

Zoë Yadira Saldaña Nazario was born on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey and raised in Queens, New York.

Their mother remained in New York to earn enough money to pay for her daughter's Dominican private school.

[13][14][9] As a child, while Saldaña lived with her mother and two sisters in the Dominican Republic, she returned to New York City along with her family after her sophomore year to escape political unrest; she completed her early education at Newtown High School in Queens.

She was enrolled in the ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy studying forms of dance,[12][17][18][19] but describes ballet as her passion.

During these years, she performed with the New York Youth Theater; her appearance in their production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat led a talent agency to recruit her.

Her dance training and her acting experience helped her land her first film role, playing ballet student Eva Rodriguez in Center Stage (2000).

[12][18] Saldaña's first film role was in Center Stage (2000), directed by Nicholas Hytner, about dancers at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City.

[21][22] Saldaña starred in the comedy-drama Drumline (2002), alongside Nick Cannon, earning mixed reviews.

Saldaña's Saturn Award for Best Actress win marked a rare occurrence for an all-CG character.

[39] In 2011, Saldaña starred in the romantic comedy The Heart Specialist, and portrayed assassin Cataleya Restrepo in the crime drama Colombiana.

[45][46] Saldaña portrayed the character with make-up rather than computer generated imagery (CGI) or performance capture.

[59] Also that year, she appeared in My Little Pony: The Movie performing the voice of pirate parrot Captain Celaeno.

[61][62][63] In 2021, Saldaña starred in two Netflix productions, appearing as Rosita in the musical Vivo and as the titular character in Maya and the Three.

[65][66][67] As part of her role, she performed vocals for the original song "The Songcord" on the film's soundtrack, penned by Simon Franglen.

[70] She played Rita Moro Castro, a high-powered junior criminal defense attorney in the musical crime film Emilia Pérez (2024), receiving critical acclaim and sharing the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress with her co-stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz.

[72] In addition to the Avatar sequels, Saldaña will next have a voice role in the Pixar science fiction adventure film Elio (2025).

[65][73] In June 2010, Saldaña was engaged to her longtime boyfriend Keith Britton, an actor and the CEO of My Fashion Database.

[76] In March 2013, Saldaña began dating Italian artist Marco Perego and married three months later in London.

[85] In July 2016, during an interview with Net-a-Porter's The Edit, Saldaña revealed she has Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease, along with her mother and sisters.

[88] In September 2020, Saldaña used her social media presence to participate in the VoteRiders #IDCheck Challenge to help spread the word about voter ID requirements for that year's presidential election.