Zoe Saldaña would like to live to see her 150th birthday. It is perhaps unsurprising that the highest-grossing actor of all time — she has had blockbuster roles in the Avatar, Marvel, Star Trek and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises, with films she has appeared in making more than $15.46 billion globally — would want to prolong her winning streak.
“I would love, in my generation, to be able to afford some more years of living,” the 48-year-old says in a side room at Selfridges. She is wearing a grey, crystal-embellished Alexander McQueen tank corset dress and her glossy dark hair falls in waves over her shoulders. Her skin gleams and she smiles often.
Saldaña can usually be found in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband of 13 years, Italian artist and filmmaker Marco Perego-Saldaña, and their sons Cy, Bowie and Zen. She is in London, however, to celebrate the launch of Lancôme Absolue Longevity MD, a collection of preventative skincare, of which she is a face. Moments before we meet, she had hosted lunch on a terrace in the department store for guests including fellow actors Nicola Coughlan and Hayley Atwell.
Like many of the one per cent — and, increasingly, members of the non-A-list class — Saldaña is well versed in longevity. “There is science behind things like peptides and supplements related to NMNs [nicotinamide mononucleotide], but I’m doing my research,” she says. “I’m not saying no to them, and I’m incredibly curious.”
While she does not want to “turn into my own pharmacy, where before I walk out the door I’ve consumed so much that I’m overwhelmed and overstimulated”, vitamin D, creatine, B vitamins and electrolytes make up part of her daily routine. She has also recently taken up weightlifting and is researching anything that can help with muscle repair.
So the idea of making it to 150-plus “fills me with excitement. Not because I am anti-ageing. I just feel like this world, regardless of all the things that are very heavy right now, is a very beautiful world,” she says. “There’s so much of this planet that I just want to continue to discover and experience, and I would love the ability to physically walk to places and do things that may seem extreme.”
Saldaña overtook fellow Marvel star Scarlett Johansson to claim the top box-office spot in January this year, after Avatar: Fire and Ash added more than $1.2 billion to her total. She began playing Neytiri, the heroine in James Cameron’s technologically trailblazing franchise, in 2009. Three of the planned five films have now been released, with the final instalment currently slated for 2031. “I mean, talk about absolute longevity, right? No pun intended,” she laughs. Taking the crown “feels good. It feels really good,” she says with a smile. “This wasn’t a goal I set for myself. I feel incredibly fortunate that I’ve been a part of projects that have resonated worldwide with communities and people of all ages.”
Mostly, she is proud of what it represents. “As a Latino girl from Queens, from Jackson Heights, New York, it sends a strong message to all people who feel othered, or who don’t feel like they really belong in what would be considered the general market or have massive appeal.
“It’s been told back to me by many people who approach me that they feel like they can do anything, and that is empowering,” she continues. “It is not only fulfilling for me as an artist, and has given me the ability to create a wonderful lifestyle for my family and myself, but it is also mission-driven. It’s with purpose. It’s with an intention that is really affecting people in a positive way, and that makes me feel really good.”
Saldaña’s father, Aridio Saldaña, was born in Dominica, while her mother, Asalia Nazario, is of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage. She spoke movingly about her background in her powerful acceptance speech at the 2025 Academy Awards, where she won best supporting actress for her role as Rita Mora Castro in the Spanish-language musical crime thriller Emilia Pérez.
“I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity,” she said through waves of emotion, while dressed impeccably in a custom, ruby Saint Laurent strapless bubble gown and sheer gloves by Anthony Vaccarello, her go-to red-carpet designer.
“I think I’ll spend a lot more time processing what that felt like,” she says now. “I never wished it for myself. It doesn’t happen for people who look like me. I’m not throwing myself under the bus, but I know the way the world turns, and my feet are always on the ground. I know how communities where I’m from live on the margins, looking from the outside in and only happy to be invited to present.
“I thought it was going to be this niche movie”
“I thought it was going to be this niche movie. Never in a million years did I expect it to become what it became and to carry us all through awards season,” she says. “Even the conflicts or controversies that arose from it, and how much we all learned from it, they were all experiences worth having.”
The film, which follows a Mexican cartel leader who wants to transition and disappear — enlisting the help of Saldana’s character, a lawyer, to do so — was criticised by members of the trans and Mexican communities for how it portrayed their lives and experiences.
It was not the first time one of Saldaña’s roles had landed her in hot water. In 2016, she played Nina Simone in the biopic Nina, a casting that proved contentious after her skin was darkened and she wore a prosthetic nose, prompting accusations of colourism and blackface. Saldaña later apologised for taking the role.
Of Emilia Pérez, she says: “I feel incredibly honoured and proud to have been part of something that stirred things in a good way, and also maybe not in a good way. But it stirred things, and sometimes it is important to stir things up, especially when it concerns conversations around women and female stories. I think it’s important to stir the pot around this.”
She dedicated her Bafta for the same role to her nephew Eli, who is trans. “I’m incredibly proud of how young Eli was when they spoke up about who they were, who they truly are, how they feel and how they want to be seen,” she says. “It takes a lot of courage and bravery. I always get emotional because, to be 11 or 12 and to know who you are, while still under the guardianship of all the adults who look after you, the least we can do is see you, hear you, respect you and honour you in the way that you want to be seen and heard. That is our birthright.”
Discussing the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights in recent years, Saldaña becomes emotional. “It’s just heartbreaking that these are conversations that still have to be had, and that there’s a refusal to truly see people and respect all people,” she says. “We have to be more educated politically, and we do have to exercise our right to vote.”
On August 2, the third season of spy thriller Lioness will be released, in which Saldaña stars alongside Nicole Kidman (“Holy shit! It’s Nicole. She’s incredible. She’s so talented. She’s so multifaceted. She’s a Gemini, I’m a Gemini. She’s left-handed, I’m left-handed. I’m not stalking her, I promise. I’m just so excited that I get to learn from her every day,” she lets out, in an excitable burst). “It’s a great project. We get to honour people who work in these fields who are not seen and not heard, yet move the needle in every way,” she says.
The day after we meet, she returns to Rome, where she is filming Positano, a Netflix film directed by fellow Oscar winner Daniel Roher (“we call each other the Oscar wieners when we’re on set”) and co-starring Matthew McConaughey.
While Saldaña is intent on maintaining her physical longevity, the strength and duration of her career are already impressive. She made her first television appearance in Law & Order in 1999, before securing her breakthrough film role as ballet student Eva Rodriguez in Center Stage the following year.
“Only recently did I start understanding longevity when it comes to beauty,” she says. “It was more about my career as a woman. I would think about what is legacy, what is longevity, and how can I take more control of my time?”
To ensure it, she settled on one rule. “I have to play women who are real,” she explains. “I have to play women who move the needle in a story. I don’t know how to play a love interest. I don’t think a man knows how to play a love interest and for us to assume that women should know how to play one is just not fair.”
