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Zoë Saldana Discusses "Colombiana"

She’s bad, beautiful and good with guns.

Zoë Saldana is quite the versatile performer. A trained ballet dancer, the 33-year-old New York native made a name for herself in 2009’s blockbuster Avatar and is doing it again in Colombiana.

 

Playing an assassin who seeks to avenge her family’s death, Saldana tells the New York Daily News she was ready for the physical constraints of the role, as well as the gats she’d have to carry and shoot.

 

"I grew up around a family of hunters in the Caribbean and guns were always around," she says. "Now, I obviously didn't know about all the weapons used in this movie, but that allowed me to create my own sort of swagger."

 

The film, which hits U.S. theaters this Friday, is not without controversy however. Some Colombians are upset the actress is playing one because she’s Puerto Rican and Dominican, and that the film is too violent. To this the actress says, "Just because I'm Dominican doesn't mean I can only play Dominican roles.” She did play a blue tree-swinging princess quite well.

 

Noting Pam Grier and Sigourney Weaver as icons who inspire her, Saldana says, "These badass women always deliver great roles and never compromise their art form."

(Photo: Tristar Pictures)

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