The 15 Best Zoe Saldana Movies, Star Trek to Avatar

2022 has been another awesome year for the actress, who had the number one series on Netflix this past October with her limited drama series From Scratch, and she’ll certainly be closing the year out strong with Way of Water. 

Saldana made her official introduction to Hollywood with 1999’s Center Stage, a film about a group of young ballet dancers from various backgrounds who enroll at the fictitious American Ballet Academy in New York City. Saldana portrayed Eva Rodriguez, a talented smart aleck with a lot of potential that is sometimes held back because of her bad attitude.

The movie was loosely based on the American Ballet Theater in New York, and focused on the novelties of the professional dance world, and the toll it can take on dancers. An actor's film debut is always memorable because it’s their first, and for Saldana, it was the beginning of the beginning.

If you are a 2000s kid that grew up absolutely loving Brittney Spears, then Crossroads holds a special place in your millennial heart. A classic teen drama road film produced by MTV films, Saldana starred alongside Spears as Kit, one-third of a small friendship trio, and the most popular girl at their respective high school. On graduation night, the trio reunites and decides to go on a cross country road trip to fulfill the wishes they wrote in their childhood wish box. Crossroads was a box office success, grossing $61 million worldwide.

Prior to Saldana becoming a mainstream superstar, she was known for her standout Indie films, one of which was the 2007 rom-com After Sex, which premiered at the Calgary International Film Festival in September 2007. In it, Saldana on the role of Kat, a lesbian an intimate relationship with her college roommate Nikki (Mila Kunis) who’s in denial about her sexuality in part due to the fear of her strict parents.

In our opinion, this is one of Saldana’s most underrated performances, and deserves more recognition amongst her film catalog.

We definitely had to remind people that Zoe Saldana was in Curse of the Black Pearl as well. While her role as the feisty Ana Maria was a small one, it was a preview into things to come in terms of her later roles with major franchises and as an action superstar. The Curse of the Black Pearl wound up being a huge box office success, grossing over $650 million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing movie of 2003.

First of all, if you haven’t seen Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (the original movie that this based on) with Katharine Hepburn, Sydney Poitier, and Spencer Tracy, then it is highly recommended that you do so because it truly is a brilliant film with incredible acting on the parts of Poitier, Hepburn, and Tracy. Second of all, if you haven’t seen Guess Who with Zoe Saldana, Ashton Kutcher, and Bernie Mac, then you absolutely need to do so for all of the same reasons.

Loosely based on the 1967 original, Guess Who is about an engaged interracial couple that faces disapproval of their relationship. A nice mid-2000’s film that you can kick back and watch on a relaxing weekend afternoon.

We still feel Vantage Point didn’t get the credit it deserved (though it was still a box office success). The story focused on an assassination attempt on the President of the United States (Dennis Quaid), and was told through multiple perspectives. Maybe I have a special affinity for Zoe’s role as news reporter Angie Jones because that is initially how I started my career before transitioning to writing, but this it’s pretty cool to see Saldana in a “smaller role” amongst the big wicks Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, and Sigourney Weaver just one year before her major breakout.

Does anybody else remember this movie and how hilarious it was? It was definitely one of the funniest movies of the year 2010, and it showcased Zoe’s comedic chops and timing, which is something that we don’t get to see too often from her. The movie centered around two brothers, Aaron and Ryan (Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence), who can’t get along even in the wake of their father’s passing.

In the film, Zoe portrayed Elaine, the cousin of Aaron and Ryan who tries (unsuccessfully) to play mediator between the two. A fun throwback movie for anybody who hasn’t previously seen the film (or wants to watch for old times sake).

With Nick Cannon at the pinnacle of his movie stardom fame, Saldana starred as his love interest in 2002’s Drumline, which is the story of a young drummer from New York (Cannon) who enrolls in the fictional HBCU Atlanta A&T University and bumps heads with the leader of his new school’s drum session. In addition to being the love interest in the film, Saldana was also a dancer/cheerleader, which once again gave her the opportunity to showcase her dance skills early on.

A year before becoming a bonafide action star with Colombiana, Zoe got some practice in with the 2010 film The Losers. Also starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Idris Elba, and Chris Evans, Saldana held her own in a team full of men as Aisha al-Fadhil, a Bolivian tasked with helping the “The Losers” (Morgan, Elba, and Evans). The preparation for her role as Aisha was intense, with the actress having to partake in extensive weapons and physical training along with gaining a few pounds for the role.

The highest-grossing movie in the Star Trek series to date saw Saldana reprising her role as Nyota Uhura, the female Human Starfleet communications lieutenant serving in the 23rd century. Saldana is one of just three women to portray Nyota, with Michelle Nichols (the original) and Celia Rose Gooding being the other two. 

By the year 2017, Saldana was fully immersed in her multiple franchises, reprising her role as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 three years after the release of the first film, which is a critical and box office success. Barring anything major that we are currently unaware of, the actress will be taking on the role of Gamora for the final time next summer with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.

Who could ever forget the heart-tugging Infinitely Polar Bear from 2014? Starring alongside fellow MCU partner Mark Ruffalo, the movie is about a Bostonian man in the 1970s diagnosed with bi-polar disorder (Ruffalo) who loses his job due to a psychotic break. With their family struggling, his wife (Saldana), has to step up to support the family. The film received good reviews from critics upon premiering at the 30th Sundance Film Festival in January 2014, and was released the following year nationwide.

2009 was the major breakout year for Saldana, which saw her appearing in two major franchise films—Star Trek and Avatar. The former was the first of the two, in which Saldana made her official debut as Nyota Uhura. Zoe received good reviews for her performance, gaining buzz for her next major role that year which would be, of course, Avatar.

The first Avatar was released in December 2009 to massive success, becoming the second highest-grossing movie of all time with a total of over $3 Billion. Starring as Neytiri, the daughter of the leaders of the Omaticaya, Saldana helped bring the character to life using performance capture along with pretty much the rest of the cast.

Following the acclaim, sequels to Avatar were quickly promised, but we had no idea that we would have to end up waiting thirteen years. The Way of Water is scheduled to hit theaters on December 16th, 2022, and we’ll have to see if it pulls in the record breaking numbers of the first film.

The decision to put Colombiana is an editor’s biased one, as the film is one of my favorite action movies of all time. Colombiana, which was Saldana’s first as the main character in an action film, was all about getting revenge in the name of your family, and it was captivating from the minute Cataleya (Saldana) was maneuvering through the vent system (if you know you know). Definitely a must-watch if you haven’t already.