From Far Away Galaxies to Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theatre, Zoe Saldaña Feted with SBIFF American Riviera Award

Building on her boffo box office career in big budget sci-fi franchises like Star Trek, Avatar, and Guardians of the Galaxy — she has starred in four of the six highest-grossing films of all time, including the top three (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Avengers: Endgame) — Oscar-nominated actress Zoe Saldaña added another level of accomplishment to her impressive career with her acclaimed singing and dancing and acting up a storm role in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez. 

In addition to Saldaña’s Best Supporting Actress nomination, the film is up for a total of 13 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. And along with her Critics Choice and Golden Globe Awards, the Montecito resident added another trophy to her mantle as the recipient of Santa Barbara International Film Festival American Riviera Award earlier this week. It was quite a celebration for the hometown crowd. Her three adorable sons —  twins Cy and Bowie, 10, and Zen, 8 — accompanied her on the red carpet at the Arlington Theatre, along with her sister and other family members. Rob Lowe, another famous Montecito resident, was also on hand to present the award to his friend and neighbor.

But first, moderator Scott Feinberg took Saldaña and the audience on a journey through her storied career. Trained as a ballet dancer, she said, “at 18, I realized that I had reached my ceiling with ballet. I didn’t have the feet.”  Her first film role was as a ballerina in Center Stage, which she characterized as being “a way to say goodbye to dance” and focus on her career as an actress. But dance continued to play a role in her life. “I don’t think I would have been able to book Avatar or Gamora (her Guardians character) if it wasn’t for ballet,” she said. “It gave me such a deep connection to my body. And as I was learning about the craft of acting, I knew that I needed to bring my body into every character I inhabited.”

Those characters included roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Terminal, Columbiana,  and Infinitely Polar Bear, all of which she discussed with Feinberg. Director Steven Spielberg mentored her throughout The Terminal shoot, encouraging her to watch old films and buff up her movie education. “I remember him saying, ‘In order to move forward, you have to know where you’re coming from,’” said Saldaña, who was born in New Jersey and whose background is 3/4 Dominican and 1/4 Puerto Rican.

Avatar director James Cameron was also important to her learning. “Avatar was such an intimate setting, it almost felt theater-like. Performance capture, I hope that all organizations can understand how much freedom it gives an actor. But it also gives actors proprietorship of their performance,” she said.

“Everything about that experience felt like it was going to school. It was so beautiful. … I felt like I had gone to a form of Juilliard,” she said. 

Losing her father when she was only 9 has also shaped her career. Both Columbiana and the TV limited series From Scratch helped her work through her grief. “If I have to be personal about it, I’ve always been trying to manage and understand my grief,” said Saldaña. “Losing my father at such an early age has probably been one of the most impactful things that has happened in my life.”

She continued, “I am constantly trying to heal myself through the work that I do. With both dyslexia and ADD, Saldaña said, “I didn’t think that I was cut out for heavy dialogue dramatic films.” But when Emilia Pérez’s director Jacques Audiard approached her she was intrigued. “Everytime I would see his movies there was always a before and after for me.” And with this film, “I might have felt in my life some of what Rita [her character] felt. The biggest thing I needed to do was to not get in my own way.” 

Accepting the award, Saldaña said, “As storytellers, we step into a person’s life and we learn about them. … Growth isn’t always comfortable, but you know that you belong in every room, in every genre, and in every story.”