Famed actress, Zoe Saldana reflects on her early acting days when she first embarked into the film industry. Saldana who played lead roles in box office hit movies: ‘Avatar‘, ‘Colombiana‘, ‘I Kill Giants‘, Marvel’s ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy‘, ‘Nina‘ (biopic film of the late Nina Simone) , ‘The Terminal’, and more reveals that her former manager advised her to change her birth name to a ‘stage name‘ that was more eye catching for movie producers.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Saldana says back in the year 2000 she was up for a ballet role in the film “Center Stage”.
“When I Did Center Stage, I Remember Being Discouraged By Management At That Time To Use My Name , But Their Intention Of Me Was To Never Stop Being Who I Am. They Celebrated Who I Was.” – Zoe Saldana
She went on to say that her former manager was a former ballet dancer and had done the same when she entered the entertainment industry back in the sixties era. “Everybody Does It “ – she told me. What is commonly truth here is that having a stage name is pretty common in the film, music, and entertainment industry and there are many celebrities that have done the same as Saldana to garner industry attention and get ahead in their careers.
What is controversial truth surrounding this topic is the unfair biases and or preferential treatment that is given to “rising stars” who are passable for on screen roles because they appear ‘mixed ish’ or ‘racially ambiguous’ to the larger audience. Back in 2013 , Saldana was heavily criticized when she decided to portray the iconic Nina Simone who she did not resemble at all. Despite Simone’s family request to choose a dark skin woman, producers of the biopic chose Saldana and went as far as to have her wear ‘black face’ and wear a ‘prostethic nose’ to resemble Simone. Four years later in August of 2020 Saldana apologized and says she regret playing the role and should’ve declined.
“Today That Advice Would Be Considered Poor, But I liked My Name ” – Zoe Saldana
American actor , comedian and tv personality Whoopi Goldberg was also advised to do the same earlier in her career. Whoopi whose birth name is Caryn Elaine Johnson is an exceptional talent on and off screen and if the plain field was leveled in Hollywood she could’ve amassed the same success with her birth name ‘as is’ but ‘Whoopi Goldberg’ was more favorable to open more doors of opportunity. Goldberg is a widely common jewish name that is usually not given unto a ‘black person’ born to black parents unless adopted, family relative or inter-culture relations.
Saldana, is a proud child of immigrants who were birthed in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico and revere’s herself as a prideful Black, Latina American woman nonetheless.
Zoe Saldana currently plays the love interest alongside Ryan Reynolds in the newly 2022 Netflix multi-verse film “The Adam Project”.