Black Woman Star Trek

Hey you guys check out this article from Entertainment Weekly about Zoe Saldana staring role in "Star Trek."

When the original "Star Trek" TV series came out, actress Zoe Saldaña wasn’t even born, but her mother was always inspired by the strength and fortitude of Uhura, the African-American officer aboard the Starship Enterprise.

So in a way it seems appropriate that director J.J. Abrams chose Saldaña for the Uhura role in his new, updated "Star Trek" film, opening Friday.

"I never saw the series growing up," says the 30-year-old actress, who was born in New Jersey and raised in the Dominican Republic and Queens. "But what’s interesting is that in ‘The Terminal’ [2004] I played a character who was a Trekkie, and who in the film goes to a Star Trek convention."

Abrams’ film is set a decade or two before the original series, when James T. Kirk is fresh out of Starfleet Academy, and he and Spock meet for the first time.

Still, Saldaña had a sitdown with Nichelle Nichols, who played the role in the original series, and based part of her portrayal on that conversation.

"I wanted to embrace the fact that in the series, Nichelle is strong, stoic and commanding," says Saldaña. "But it would have been one-dimensional for me to have Uhura have it all together from the beginning — she’s a kid, she’s stepping into her own as the film is progressing. That gave me the liberty to play a young person who’s trying to find a way to be comfortable in her own skin."

This year looks like breakout time for the Dominican beauty. Although Saldaña has appeared in films like "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003) and "Center Stage" (2000), she’s hardly a household name.

But that might change with "Star Trek" and her starring role in the upcoming "Avatar," the first film in more than 10 years from "Titanic" director James Cameron, and another action-packed sci-fi film.

"In terms of roles for women, I don’t want to be home baking every day, or waiting for Spiderman to rescue me," she says. "I like strong roles, and Jim and J.J. are known for that. They are action filmmaking men, but they still have a feminine side to them."

Certainly feminine beauty is one of Saldaña’s strong suits. She has been on Maxim magazine’s Hot List, and in 2007 was chosen as one of that magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful People in the World.

But Saldaña also recognizes that sometimes she’s offered roles only because of her looks, and that’s not a direction she necessarily wants to take.

"I want to keep growing, and I want to be respected," she says. "The business sense in me knows it is a necessity to be considered hot to be marketable. It is a canker sore at times. I wish it was based more on my approach to my work, but people \[everywhere\] are judged on their looks; Hollywood is no different."

Saldaña has yet another card up her sleeve: her multicultural, multilingual background.

Asked how her various residences have affected her, she laughs and says, "I’m most Dominican in my loudness, I have a hard time allowing people to speak. My American side is my consciousness of saving money."

And what about her New York side?

"I’ll meet you on the corner and go off on you, I’ll mouth off. I have a truck driver in me, it’s the little New York beast that’s in every New Yorker."

Read more: "Zoe Saldaña, a rising 'Star'" - http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2009/05/06/2009-05-06_zoe_saldaa_a_rising_star_.html#ixzz0FHtzWZYa&A