Zoe Saldaña wins best supporting actress at Oscars 2025 for ‘Emilia Pérez’

From “Center Stage” to the golden stage! Zoe Saldaña’s talent is undeniable.

The star, 46, took home her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Emilia Pérez” at the 2025 Academy Awards on Sunday.

“Saldaña said while accepting her award.

She beat out Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”), Ariana Grande (“Wicked”), Felicity Jones (“The Brutalist”) and Isabella Rossellini (“Conclave”).

The accolade comes after Saldaña swept award season, taking home the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, BAFTA, and SAG Award for playing lawyer Rita Mora Castro.

The then 20-year-old actress made her acting debut in 1999 with a guest role in two episodes of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

At age 21, Saldaña put on her pointe shoes as she landed her first feature film role in the 2000 dance musical “Center Stage,” as ballet dancer Eva Rodríguez.

“I went in and I read the sides, and they liked what I did and then they asked me to come back and they put me with a ballet teacher in a room and they just video recorded me doing some moves,” she told Entertainment Weekly in 2022 about landing the part. “And then I met [the director] Nicholas Hytner for it.”

“So, once I booked the role of Eva Rodriguez, then it was just about learning the choreography and getting to meet the cast,” Saldaña recalled.

Reflecting on filming the project, she gushed, “That was a wonderful summer. We shot in the summer of 1999. I know I’m dating myself, but I love it. I turned 21 on that set and we shot it in Lincoln Center. Obviously in the city of my dreams. Being a New Yorker I love it. We shot it in Lincoln Center which was always a dream of mine to perform on that stage and I did.”

Saldaña then starred opposite Britney Spears and Taryn Manning in the 2002 rom-com “Crossroads.”

The trio played childhood best friends who took a cross-country road trip to California after graduating high school.

When asked if she would be open to a sequel, Saldaña told Variety in 2024, “Why not?”

But under certain conditions.

“I feel like it would only work if Britney comes back and plays her character again,” she elaborated. “And Taryn Manning does as well, and Anson Mount. And that we write realistic sort of scenarios for them. That would be beautiful.”

With two hit movies under her belt, the phone calls kept coming for Saldaña in the 2000s.

She starred in the 2005 flick “Guess Who” with Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac. Saldaña played a young woman who brings home her new fiancé (Kutcher) to meet her parents.

The actress shared that the director, Kevin Rodney Sullivan, allowed the cast to bring their own perspectives about biracial relationships to the project.

“I’m from New York, so this is not something that’s common for me,” Saldaña said while on “The Early Show” at the time. “My family is very, very diverse and very mixed, and it is not an issue in my house. I was very open about that. This is what I’m putting on my table: I don’t know about this topic, and I would love to explore it and take this message out — that was the sole purpose for everybody. We have a common message; let’s treat with respect; and at same time let’s laugh.”

By 2009, she joined James Cameron’s “Avatar” franchise, playing the role of Neytiri. Saldaña is set to reprise her role in the fictitious land of Pandora in “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” scheduled for release in December.

Saldaña also starred as Nyota Uhura in “Star Trek,” followed by “Star Trek Into Darkness” in 2013 and “Star Trek Beyond” in 2016.

As for the possibility of a fourth “Star Trek” film, Saldaña told The Playlist in 2024, “I still have hope,” calling the first three projects “a wonderful experience.”

She added, “I know that they’re always trying to sort of aim to wrangle everybody together, but I also know that Paramount is working on a new sort of fresh take on ‘Star Trek,’ which I think is such a wonderful franchise that should live for a very long time, whether or not us as the original remake cast can come back. I don’t know, but I certainly hope so.”

In 2014, she took on the character of Gamora in “Guardians of the Galaxy” before reprising the green-skinned warrior princess four more times: “Galaxy Vol. 2,” (2017), “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), “Avengers: Endgame” (2019) and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (2023).  

In 2023, Saldaña began playing CIA officer in the Paramount+ spy series “Special Ops: Lioness” alongside Nicole Kidman.

Speaking about working with Kidman, 57, Saldaña told The Wrap in Nov. 2024, “It’s so rewarding. I get to call her a friend. We have so many things in common — our dedication to our work, but primarily our dedication to our families.

“In the mornings, we’re constantly talking about what we’re going to be doing, in addition to breaking from our work and talking about personal things.”

Fast-forward to 2024 and the Netflix musical thriller “Emilia Pérez.”

The movie led the 2025 Oscars race with 13 nominations, coming only one nod shy of tying the record for most-ever nominations for a movie. The project also marked the most-ever nods for a film predominantly in a non-English language.

“Emilia Pérez” follows a Mexican drug cartel leader (played by Karla Sofía Gascón) who transitions into a woman.

When Saldaña took home the trophy at the 2025 SAG Awards, she took a moment to reflect on her career.

“To be in this room…this is my community, this is my circus,” she began. “Thank you to SAG-AFTRA. I got my first SAG card in 1998. I didn’t even know what SAG was. I am grateful that my mother and father and sisters looked it up and helped me educate myself to know what it means to be a part of a union that protects me so I can make a living out of this crazy industry.”

“I am proud to be a part of a union that allows me to be who I am. I’ve never been questioned where I come from or judged for how I speak or what my pronouns are,” Saldaña continued.

“Everyone has the right to be who they are. ‘Emilia Perez‘ is about truth and love and us actors really have to tell stories that are thought-provoking and beautiful and live within the spectrum of artistic freedom.”