ZOE SALDANA
Afro-Latina (Dominican, Puerto Rican — African, Indigenous Taíno, Spanish)
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Zoe Saldana — heritage & background
Quick answer: Zoe Saldana is Afro-Latina, not mixed race in the traditional Black-and-white sense — her father, Aridio Saldaña, was Dominican, and her mother, Asalia Nazario, is half Dominican and half Puerto Rican. She is approximately three-quarters Dominican and one-quarter Puerto Rican, with African, Indigenous (Taíno), and Spanish roots running through both sides.
Is Zoe Saldana Mixed Race? Is She Biracial?
No — in the traditional American sense of biracial (one Black parent, one white parent), Zoe Saldana is not biracial. Both of her parents are Afro-Latino — her father was Dominican and her mother is Dominican-Puerto Rican. Her racial background is that of a Black Latina: she carries African, Indigenous Taíno, and Spanish heritage through her Dominican and Puerto Rican roots, but both sides of her family share the same Afro-Caribbean cultural background.
Saldana herself has taken complicated stances on race and identity over the years. She has described herself as "Yo soy una mujer negra" (I am a black woman) in some contexts, while in others she has said she finds it "uncomfortable" to be asked about race constantly and that she prefers not to be categorized. In 2025, upon receiving an award in the Dominican Republic, she said simply: "I was raised in a way that represents Dominican culture. I am purely Dominican."
Zoe Saldana's race, background, and heritage are best understood through the lens of Afro-Latina identity — a category that encompasses Blackness and Latinidad simultaneously, without requiring a white parent or a mixed-race binary. Her ethnicity is Dominican and Puerto Rican; her heritage is African, Taíno, and Spanish. The terms "Afro-Latina," "Black Latina," and "Latina of African descent" all apply to her background.
What Is Zoe Saldana's Ethnicity?
Zoe Saldana's ethnicity is Afro-Latina, rooted in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. She describes herself as three-quarters Dominican and one-quarter Puerto Rican. Her Dominican and Puerto Rican backgrounds both carry the complex mixture of African, Indigenous Taíno, and Spanish colonial ancestry that characterizes the Caribbean.
Born Zoe Yadira Saldaña on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey, Zoe grew up between New York and the Dominican Republic. Her father died in a car accident when she was nine years old, after which her mother moved the family to the Dominican Republic, where they lived with their grandparents. This childhood in the DR shaped Saldana's deep identification with Dominican culture, language, and identity.
Her grandmother Argentina Cesse, who left the Dominican Republic in the 1960s in search of a better life, is one of the family figures Zoe has cited publicly. The family's story — migration, loss, cultural rootedness — is quintessentially Caribbean American.
Father's Side: Dominican Roots
Zoe Saldana's father, Aridio Saldaña, was born in Cotui Province, Dominican Republic. He was of Dominican heritage, carrying the African, Indigenous Taíno, and Spanish ancestry characteristic of Dominican identity. Dominican culture was forged over centuries through the encounters — often violent — of West African enslaved people, Spanish colonizers, and the indigenous Taíno people of Hispaniola.
Aridio Saldaña was killed in a car accident when Zoe was nine years old, a loss that has profoundly shaped her life and public persona. She has spoken about how his absence defined her relationship with her Dominican identity and motivated her close bond with her mother and sisters.
His paternal roots in Cotui — a city in the central Cibao valley of the Dominican Republic — connect Zoe to the heartland of Dominican culture, a region known for its strong African musical and cultural traditions as well as its mestizo (mixed) heritage.
Mother's Side: Dominican-Puerto Rican Heritage
Zoe Saldana's mother, Asalia Nazario, is half Dominican and half Puerto Rican — making her the source of both Zoe's Dominican continuity and her Puerto Rican heritage. Puerto Rican identity, like Dominican identity, encompasses African, Taíno, and Spanish roots, though with distinct regional emphases.
Asalia Nazario moved her three daughters — Zoe, Cisely, and Mariel — to the Dominican Republic after Aridio's death, raising them in a Spanish-speaking, bicultural household. This upbringing gave Zoe fluency in Spanish and a deep grounding in Caribbean Latino culture that she has maintained throughout her Hollywood career.
The Nazario family's Puerto Rican roots likely connect to the island's African and Spanish heritage, particularly through the coastal and plantation regions where African cultural influence has been strongest. Puerto Rico's Afro-Caribbean traditions — in music, cuisine, religion, and identity — run through the Nazario line of Zoe's family.
Grandparents: A Complete Picture
Paternal Grandfather — [Unknown], Dominican: Aridio Saldaña's father — Zoe's paternal grandfather — was Dominican, carrying the African, Taíno, and Spanish heritage of the Dominican Republic's central region.
Paternal Grandmother — [Unknown], Dominican: Zoe's paternal grandmother was also Dominican. Her family's roots in Cotui Province connect to the Cibao valley tradition of mixed Dominican heritage.
Maternal Grandfather — [Unknown], Dominican: Asalia Nazario's father — Zoe's maternal grandfather — was Dominican. His family represents the Dominican half of Zoe's Puerto Rican-Dominican maternal heritage.
Maternal Grandmother — Argentina Cesse, Puerto Rican: Zoe's maternal grandmother, Argentina Cesse, is Puerto Rican. She migrated from the Dominican Republic (or Puerto Rico) to the United States in the 1960s in search of a better life — a journey typical of Caribbean migration patterns of that era. Zoe dedicated her 2025 award acceptance to Argentina Cesse, publicly honoring her grandmother's sacrifices and legacy.
Spouse's Ethnicity & Children's Heritage
Zoe Saldana married Italian artist Marco Perego in London in June 2013. Marco is of Italian descent — born in Brescia, Italy, he is a painter and filmmaker whose European heritage stands in contrast to Zoe's Afro-Caribbean roots. When they married, Marco took Zoe's surname, becoming Marco Perego-Saldaña — a decision that made headlines for its reversal of naming conventions.
Together they have three sons: twins Cy Aridio Perego-Saldaña and Bowie Ezio Perego-Saldaña (born November 2014) and younger son Zen Perego-Saldaña (born February 2017). Their boys carry both Dominican-Puerto Rican Afro-Latino heritage from Zoe and Italian European heritage from Marco — a multicultural combination that Zoe has spoken about with pride.
Zoe Saldana in Her Own Words on Race & Identity
"I was raised in a way that represents Dominican culture. I am purely Dominican." — Zoe Saldaña, upon receiving the Gran Soberano award in the Dominican Republic, March 2025
This statement reflects Zoe's consistent centering of her cultural identity — Dominican — over the racial categories that American media has tried to impose on her. She has been simultaneously praised and criticized for her views on race, with some celebrating her refusal to reduce her identity to a Black/white binary, and others critiquing her for distancing herself from Blackness in ways that feel evasive.
In earlier interviews, she stated: "I cannot wait until the word ethnic is erased from our everyday vocabulary," and has described feeling "uncomfortable" when forced to discuss her identity in racial terms. These statements must be understood alongside her own declaration — "Yo soy una mujer negra" — that she is a Black woman. The contradiction is not inconsistency but the reality of navigating Afro-Latina identity in a U.S. racial framework that was not built to accommodate it.
Is Zoe Saldana Alive?
Yes, Zoe Saldana is alive and actively working. Born June 19, 1978, she is currently 46 years old. Her most recent major projects include the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), the Avatar sequels, and Emilia Pérez (2024), for which she received an Academy Award nomination. She continues to be one of Hollywood's highest-grossing actresses.
Visual Family Tree
Zoe Yadira Saldaña-Perego
Aridio Saldaña (Dominican — African, Taíno, Spanish)
[Paternal Grandfather] (Dominican) · [Paternal Grandmother] (Dominican)
Asalia Nazario (Dominican-Puerto Rican — African, Taíno, Spanish)
[Maternal Grandfather] (Dominican) · Argentina Cesse (Puerto Rican)
Sources
Interviews & Direct Quotes
- Zoe Saldaña receives Gran Soberano award in Dominican Republic — Hola!
- Zoe Saldaña: "I Find It Uncomfortable" Talking About Race — BET
- 'She Said She's Not Black' — Atlanta Black Star (2025)
Genealogy & Ethnicity Research
- Zoe Saldaña — Wikipedia
- Who Are Zoe Saldaña's Parents? — LatiNation
- What Is Zoe Saldana's Ethnicity? — Yahoo Entertainment
Family Background
EthniCelebrity Research Team
Ethnicity & Heritage Writers
Our team specialises in researching and documenting the ethnic backgrounds, nationality, and ancestry of public figures — drawing on genealogical records, interviews, and verified biographical sources.