Zoe “I Effin’ Love Sex” Saldana was snapped by celebrity photog Matthew Frost for the April 2010 issue of Nylon Magazine. Saldana — the stunning star of cinema’s highest-grossing film ever, Avatar — shares her thoughts on growing up in the Big Apple and Dominican Republic, dancing, and meeting director James Cameron.
Zoe On Moving from NYC to the Dominican Republic at age 9: “We went from this urban life to running around barefoot in the countryside and being taught how to gut fish. We were learning how to climb coconut trees – let me tell you, they are fucking dangerous!… I would do my homework in guava and mango trees.”
Zoe On Learning Dance As A Child: “That was the beginning of a beautiful fucking romance. That was my Xanax, let me tell you… it put all my demons in order.”
On Colorism In Hollywood: “When they say ‘We want to go white,’ they have a very smooth way of saying it, and the recent one is the word traditional. [I’ve heard] ‘Oh, you know, you’re just not what we were looking for, your skin is a little darker.’ Compared to what?! My skin is just my skin. It’s dark if you compare it to someone who’s lighter.”
On Meeting James Cameron: “I’m thinking he probably imagined some Amazonian girl [for Neytiri] – I had really long hair at the time – wearing really little shit with like, a bow and arrow. I had no idea she was blue and nine feet tall. But for some reason, he was like, ‘You look so much like her!’”
