Zoe Saldaña is one of the premier actors of her generation. For more than two decades, Saldaña has starred in some of the biggest blockbuster films of all time.
Saldaña is the first actor to star in four films that have grossed more than $2 Billion (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame). To date, her films have grossed more than $15 billion worldwide making her the second-highest-grossing lead actress and the fourth-highest-grossing actor in history.
For her latest role, Saldaña is starring in the second season of the spy thriller “Special Ops: Lioness.” Currently streaming on Paramount +, the series follows Joe (Saldaña) a CIA covert intelligence officer who leads undercover operations in the war on terror. She enlists special operatives known as Lionesses to accomplish her mission. Joe is also trying to balance her top-secret work with the government and all of her demands at home.
The stellar cast also features Morgan Freeman, Nichole Kidman, Laysla De Oliveira, and Genesis Rodriguez.
To prepare to reprise the role, Saldaña shared that she listened to some classic rap music that put in the right vibe.
“I went back to my New York roots, and I was listening to a lot of hip-hop. A Tribe Called Quest, a lot of Kanye, JAY-Z, and Nas were in the rotation. It was rewarding to reminisce on those times as well,” Saldaña told HOT97.com.
”Because Joe has such fire, anxiety, and intensity, I would also listen to music that helped me wind down. I was playing a lot with Carla Morrison, and this Belgian singer named Stromae,” she continued. “I really got into Italian pop so I was listening to this young group out of Italy called Tamango.”
Saldaña explained that she is a lover of many genres of music in various languages. Music is essential to her creative process.
“I’m a very global kind of listener of music. I don’t just stay with one language. To me, music is a feeling, and most of the time I’m just listening to instrumentals,” she said. “If I just need to stay in the world of a character and I just need her own thoughts in my head. I can’t listen to other people’s thoughts because that takes me out.”
In the series, Joe is attempting to repair her relationship with her daughter. Saldaña also spoke about how being a mother helped her tap deeper into the character who is facing challenges in her family.
“I’m a parent so I didn’t overthink the approach to playing Joe. I feel like a mother is a mother is a mother, whether she’s a stay-at-home mom, a therapist, an artist, or a doctor. We’re all super dedicated to our families,” Saldaña said. “In this season, she’s in the middle of repairing her relationship with her eldest daughter, Kate. Her daughter is at risk because of what she does, the bigger the fear becomes of her. Losing her life and never seeing her family.
When asked if she purposely chooses to play strong women, Saldaña said she tries to embody all facets of womanhood in her roles.
‘I don’t believe that I play strong women. I believe that I play women from different walks of life, with different experiences, different histories, and different weaknesses. My approach to each character I play is to start with her weaknesses. What is it that makes her vulnerable? What is she trying to contain and never reveal?” she said.
“But I do appreciate the fact that some of the characters I’ve played have an exquisite level of skill in whatever they do,” she continued.
As an Afro-Latina actress, Saldaña says she best represents her heritage by playing roles that give her artistic freedom to express herself.
“I made a decision early on in my career that the best way that I can serve my community is by following my heart and not picking a path that was just consciously driven by social justice. I respect and admire so many actors, peers, and mentors of mine who have done it,” she explained. “We need them in the same way we need people like me who are exercising their artistic freedom. That’s the strongest message that I want to give out to communities of color and communities that are marginalized.
“As actors, we are chameleons, and we have the right to be whatever we can,” she continued. “It’s not your obligation to always drive your art according to your race, gender, or creed because it kind of takes away from the whole purpose of reinventing yourself and inhabiting other bodies and spaces, right? I feel like that was a decision that I made a while ago and I’m happy with that.”
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