She did it! Zoe Saldaña becomes the first actress of Dominican origin to win an Oscar

She won. Zoe Saldaña won the Oscar for best supporting actress, which closes a successful awards season and makes her the first actress of Dominican origin to receive an award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Saldaña won the Oscar for her work in “Emilia Perez” and was competing with Monica Barbaro (‘A Complete Unknown’), Ariana Grande (‘Wicked’), Felicity Jones (‘The Brutalist’) and Isabella Rossellini (‘Conclave’).

The Hollywood star shined at this awards ceremony despite all the controversy that has surrounded “Emilia Perez,” a film that led the nominations with 13 nominations.

Her performance in “Emilia Pérez,” a film that has captivated both critics and audiences, has earned her a place among the best supporting actresses of the year, pocketing not only the Oscar, but also the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for best supporting actress, two of the major awards in cinema, as well as receiving recognition from the Hollywood Actors Guild (SAG Awards) and from specialized critics (Critics Choice).

The dancer who shone in Hollywood
Zoe Saldaña was born on June 19, 1978 in Passaic, New Jersey (United States) but grew up in the New York neighborhood of Queens. Dominican blood runs through her veins and those of her two sisters on her father's side and Puerto Rican blood on her mother's side.

Saldaña lived a childhood marked by tragedy when, at the age of nine, she lost her father in a car accident. Following this tragedy, the three sisters moved to the Dominican Republic with their paternal family.

Her mother, Asalia Nazario, stayed in New York to earn money and support them. Later, she married Dagoberto Galán. That's why the Dominican rapper Carlos Galán, stage name Nipo 809, is the actress's half-brother.

In the Dominican Republic, Zoe's vocation for dance and theater was awakened, and she began studying at ECOS Espacio de Danza Academy, where she fell in love with classical ballet. However, it was a temporary affair and she soon focused more on acting.

Back in New York, she acted with the theater group Faces and with the New York Youth Theater. Her jump to the small screen came with the series 'Law & Order' in 1999, and a year later, thanks to her dance knowledge, she debuted on the big screen with 'Center Stage' (2000).

Her dyslexia was no impediment to becoming the highest-grossing actress
Saldaña has built one of the most versatile and fascinating careers in Hollywood, from her beginnings in independent cinema to becoming an essential face of the highest-grossing franchises.

Zoe is the first actress to have four films gross more than $2 billion, including 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War." And her total box office earnings amount to more than $14 billion.

In none of these productions did she receive recognition from the Academy, not even for her acclaimed role in the first "Avatar" film, by successful director James Cameron, which represented a technological revolution in cinema.

Last year she revealed that she suffers from dyslexia and anxiety, two conditions that prevented her from accepting roles that contained a lot of dialogue.

"The challenges I have had have to do with my ability to learn," Saldaña told Variety. “I have dyslexia and anxiety, which has really kept me from getting roles — a lot of roles — that I know I could have played.”

The famed actress turned down the chance to star in Taylor Sheridan’s military series, Special Ops: Lioness, because she was intimidated by the prospect of having to learn a lot of dialogue. When she finally accepted the role, which Sheridan had written with her in mind, she requested her scripts weeks in advance and hired a line reader to go over them with her for a couple hours each day over Zoom.

“I would memorize, memorize, memorize, and when the scene came, it was an extension of who I was, like ballet,” she said, recalling the moment it all clicked. “The moment my brain realized that words are like a plié in a pas de deux, I was like, ‘Oh, a grand jeté is like a Taylor Sheridan monologue. ’”

Saldaña added that being “120% prepared” has helped her with her anxiety and dyslexia. “But always keeping in mind that there’s always an element of surprise that you have to let go because a lot of things can happen the morning of,” she says. “And if you miss them because you’re too deep in your head, then you miss everything.”

Her most important story
The actress’ filmography includes: ‘The Terminal’ (2004), ‘Blackout’ (2007), ‘Death at a Funeral’ (2010), ‘Infinitely Polar Bear’ (2014), ‘Nina’ (2016), ‘Live by Night’ (2016), ‘The Adam Project’ (2022), or ‘The Absence of Eden’ (2023); the latter directed by her husband, Marco Perego.

Because, as far as love stories go, Zoe Saldaña hasn’t lived as many off-screen as on. In June 2010, S

 Floranyi Jáquez

Santo Domingo, RD