Zoe Saldana: Graceful Confidence

Beautiful Zoe Saldana was that cute, cocky lady pirate sailing with Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean and a feisty guard lady matched up with an airport worker by Tom Hanks in The Terminal. She made Nick Cannon's heart go boom boom in Drumline and will hook up with hottie Orlando Bloom in an island paradise (envy, envy) in Haven.

Now, you can catch Zoe as Theresa Jones, the gal who brings Ashton Kutcher home to meet the parents in Guess Who? When this graceful woman enters a room, she kind of floats; it's that ex-ballet dancer in her. Ashton noticed her grace and commented on it. She's opinionated, funny, smart, self-confident, classy and takes no prisoners. Looking a little Bo-Ho in her string strap camisole, jeans, green fringed shawl and long gold dangle earrings, Zoe sat down with us at the 4 Seasons Hotel in Bev Hills and spilled the goods on Ashton, racial stereotyping, Orlando Bloom and what she wants in a man. You go, gurl...

TeenHollywood: How did this role come to you?

Zoe: Well, Kevin (Rodney Sullivan, director) had been very honest about wanting to meet me for the part and I received the script and I thought it was very cute and very funny. Just the fact of working with Bernie [Mac] and Ashton was very intriguing to me. I flew out here and met with Kevin, screen tested and then I left for Alabama to do a film there. Then I had sort of just moved on. Then he called and said 'You've got it'. So I was flying like every weekend while I was doing that film in Alabama to rehearse with Ashton and Bernie and Judith and Kelly and everything.

TeenHollywood: How did you feel about stepping into the shoes of the original film which starred icons like Sidney Pointier and Katherine Hepburn?

Zoe: I never felt I was stepping into anybody's shoes. It was not a remake at all. If anything, it was a story that was inspired by Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?. There's not just one way of telling the story of bi-racial relationships. Obviously, these issues are still occurring right now in certain parts of America, not as frequently as they were in the '60's of course, because we have gone a long way. But, what would happen if it were shown in the reverse direction? It's a Black family, very hard-working, middle class and, all of a sudden something very new and foreign comes into their lives and puts everything they thought they knew, into perspective. The parents taught their children to love unconditionally and then all of a sudden, she brings it home, 'this is my unconditional love' and he[her dad] falls off the chair.

TeenHollywood: Do you think movies have the power to change people's minds?

Zoe: I think they do. Even throughout history, theater organizations have the capability to start up a revolution in a nation. I do believe it [a movie] has the power in a very subliminal manner, to influence people and keep them open while they're laughing, while they're crying. Your subconscious thinks it's a story but there's such a strong message and it stays with you. Because it was so beautiful and so passionate, you just incorporate it into your reality and become a firm believer in it. This cinema has that kind of power.

TeenHollywood: We talked to Ashton and he had a nice compliment for you. He said that he knew you were a dancer not because he saw you dance, but just looked at you move. How does having dance in your background aid you as an actress?

Zoe: [she smiles] That's a great compliment, actually. Being a former classical dancer, it informed me as a human being just in terms of the grace I guess. You become very aware that your body and your mind are working in conjunction. That kind of helps you in acting as well. It's like making your mind communicate this character into your body so that you can bring it to life and physicalize it. I do believe that dance gave me that awareness of my body.

TeenHollywood: Do you still dance?

Zoe: No. But eleven years was enough for it never to leave my system. I do sometimes warm up.

TeenHollywood: Everyone who has come from dance talks about how much they miss it.

Zoe: Of course. I'm a ballet aficionado. I still go to the theater and watch all my friends from the ABT and New York City Ballet. In my mind and heart, I never stopped dancing but, as soon as I think about physicalizing that, the passion is not strong enough as I feel toward acting.

TeenHollywood: How does Ashton measure up as a dancer?

Zoe: I don't think he was bad. I'm very critical but Bernie and Ashton pulled it off very good. I don't care what the feet were doing because they have a little bounce to them, but their shoulders were very straight so they looked really elegant.

TeenHollywood: What about Ashton's singing?

Zoe: I think he's a great singer (she laughs).

TeenHollywood: Had you met Ashton before doing this film?

Zoe: No. We have a couple of friends in common and I had always heard so many great things about him. Just by watching his growth, since he started from modeling into 'That '70's Show', a couple of films that he did, you sort of have the sensation that he is a very committed person and he knows exactly where he wants to go.

TeenHollywood: But because of his 'Punk'd' reputation, do you enter working with him with a degree of wariness? [note: after this interview Ashton did punk Zoe!]

Zoe: Of course. Because that's what he wants you to feel. He gets off on knowing that you have this fear that he might be behind you. He watches everything. But, when it comes to 'Punk'd', I have to high five him because it was a very, very smart idea, a very catchy concept and he's been so successful at it because he's so creative, just with the plots he makes up. Sometimes I feel embarrassed for the person and I can't watch it.

TeenHollywood: Did Ashton ever pull any pranks on you?

Zoe: No. On the set, if anybody comes in and says 'no, I wasn't worried about Ashton punking me', they're lying because the first week that you meet Ashton, it crosses your mind but then we were so committed to what we were doing that we had no time to think about anything else and we didn't want to.

TeenHollywood: What is your relationship like with him on a personal level?

Zoe: He's far beyond his years. He's a very mature human being because he's not forgotten where he's come from. He's very family-oriented. I am as well. I tend to identify with people who have that kind of passion in life where family always comes first and family is the reason why you wake up in the morning. He's a very intelligent young man. He reads a lot. We sort of had the same interests in terms of our reading and we were always spiritual searchers and alchemists and had topics to talk about. He's a very charming young man.

TeenHollywood: Was your character worried that her family would not accept her guy because he was white?

Zoe: I never felt that Theresa hid Simon from her family because of a racial issue. Her mother is a teacher so she knows how to size a man up academically and her father is a loan officer so she knows the kind of financial status she's looking for. And then, can he open the door, can he cook? Theresa was a very intelligent young woman but she was raised with unconditional love. You go home to Mommie and Daddy and consult with them because whatever they say, you're going to take over anything that the world might think. So, she wanted to talk to her dad. 'When I look at Simon, I see Simon. I don't see a White man'.

TeenHollywood: What values did your parents instill in you growing up and what kind of guy are you attracted to?

Zoe: A Man! Trust me. I'm from New York. I'm 26 years old. I've loved openly and I have to thank my parents for that. I come from a very diverse family that goes back probably four generations. Being mixed, Latinos are the youngest race in the world so there's no such thing as racism. It does occur but it's ridiculous. Not in my family. So I never grew up with any type of barriers. [As a child] you see is a certain type of thing on TV or all the Barbies are blonde and you ask your mom 'what am I?'. She would look at me and say 'you're Zoe'. It's not like 'honey, the world will always see you as a Black woman' because that's not true. If there is a battle you will have to fight in life, it's being a woman. Everything else is just a sub-category that is completely insignificant. So, that's the way I was raised.

TeenHollywood: You seem very comfortable with yourself and your power.

Zoe: When I go into a room for a meeting or a party, I don't think that I'm going as a Black Latina, I'm going in as Zoe. And, when I go in for an audition, I don't care who's up for it, they'd better watch their backs because I'm going to go there to give the best that I can because I believe in my world, that people are cast to do a job according to their potential. That's the way it should be. Call me oblivious but I'm happy in my own little box.

TeenHollywood: Did your parents ever object to boys you brought home?

Zoe: My parents have been apprehensive about boys that I've brought into the house and they had every reason to but it wasn't because there was a racial issue, it was because, they didn't have a job or lived with their mammas and were over 21, things like that that everybody should be worrying about but race? If anything it was more like 'all nations welcome and please bring some food from your country'. It was about learning.

TeenHollywood: How did it work when you went to a boy's house? Was it different?

Zoe: No. I believe that it's the way you carry yourself. I never go into any boy's parent's house thinking 'I hope they like me'. It's 'I hope I like you' because I know my potential, what I can bring to the table. I was raised by a very cocky, hippy mother. It could be anybody's house. They have to impress me because I am just as worthy as they are.

TeenHollywood: Can you talk about Haven, your movie with Orlando Bloom?

Zoe: Haven was shot in Grand Cayman by a young director called Frankie Flowers who is amazing and very talented. He wrote this amazing script and it's young and hip and very, very deep and dark. It's about what happens when you abuse the privilege of living in a haven which is what Grand Cayman is for tax reasons, for crime reasons, whatever. It's a very blessed country and sometimes you become comfortable and spoiled and ungrateful. The film takes place a day four months before and then a day and a night four months later. It's like the actions and the aftermath and what you do about it.

TeenHollywood: Who do you play?

Zoe: I play Andrea and I'm from the Cayman Islands and my family is very well-off. Orlando plays a British Caymanian who has been living there since he was three years old. It a love story, sort of like a Romeo and Juliet. Families don't want us to be together for political reasons and it's tragic and beautiful and lovely and dramatic.

TeenHollywood: Talk a little about your friendship with Orlando.

Zoe: Orlando and I met on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean and we were two kids, basically. He was coming right off of Lord of the Rings and we were just excited to be doing a Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney film that was 150 million dollars! We would just sit on the side and go 'we're working with Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush' and go (makes a Wow face). Then, later that year, we met in Grand Cayman doing Haven so it was great. We were like 'why is it that every time we work together, we're in the Caribbean having margaritas? Isn't life just awful?' He's amazing. I respect him so much and the one thing Orlando has that Ashton possesses as well, is that they're very committed and very professional and you can count on them knowing their lines and knowing their characters and having your back.

TeenHollywood: Do you stay in touch, e-mail?

Zoe: No, not e-mail but if he's in New York or I am out here, wherever we're at, if we have the opportunity to get together, we do.

TeenHollywood: Are you going to make a re-appearance in the next "Pirates" movie?

Zoe: I don't know. I wouldn't say no if they called but to be honest with you, if they don't, I was in the first one and that, to me is amazing. The experience that I had with working with Gore [Verbinski] and slapping Johnny Depp, I will take that to my grave and I will die a happy woman, trust me.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertianment journalist and produced screenwriter.