Zoe Saldaña has already achieved garnering a diverse array of roles in a wide variety of genres of film. They run the gamut from Center Stage, Crossroads, Drumline, The Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl, The Terminal, Guess Who, and Vantage Point. At 30 years old, Saldaña has now secured what will inarguably be her most iconic. It’s as chief communications officer Nyota Uhura in J.J. Abrams’s new film adaptation of the classic science-fiction TV series Star Trek. To secure the role, the cast had to endure martial arts training and be in top physical condition to perform the many stunts in the film. But, for Zoe, she says she was already prepared for the physical task involved. “Well, actually, I was coming out of a film that I was shooting for two years called Avatar,” Saldaña recalls, “And so, I had been training for a little over two years throughout the production. And so, by the time I got to Star Trek and they presented me with the outfit I was going to be wearing, I was very relieved that I didn’t have to begin to reshape and rechange everything. I just continued doing everything that I was doing, which was Pilates and eating better.” One of the boldest changes in J.J. Abrams’s big screen vision of the series was the development of a budding romance between Uhura and half-alien Mr. Spock, which Saldaña was candid to share her thoughts about. “Well, I have so many reactions and they react in different stages,” she remarks, “And the first one was I really thought J.J. was out of his mind to do something like that. It was so bold. But after reading the script and having all these different characters sink in, Spock and Uhura really make sense to have, whether you call it a misinterpretation of emotions or a deeper friendship or simply love, you know, it made sense to me, given their personality types. She’s very driven, he’s very logical, he’s excellent at what he does, she strives for perfection, she absolutely hates Kirk, therefore anything that resembles the opposite of who he is is something that she can be drawn to.” “And I was very overwhelmed also with how dear it was for Spock to break in such a way and for her to be allowed to have that presence of that,” Zoe adds, “And for her to be allowed to by this man to call her by her first name, to let you know that there’s a bond there that’s much bigger and deeper there than can be imagined. You know, what better linguistic is there than a talented tongue, right?” This particular Star Trek< role was as much historic as it was iconic in American pop culture. Nyota Uhura was one of the first prominent black female characters of the emerging feminist age. However, Zoe, who is of Dominican ethnicity, while the significance of playing Uhura is undeniable, does not see playing the role herself in purely racial terms. “Inheriting that strength and the importance and significance of that hat when she was first born in the series and then, four years later, being someone to get into presence at and be in this beautiful family, is probably one of the most humbling sensations, not just as a woman of color, but as a woman, period,” Saldaña states, “I never get as far as sub-dividing myself in sub-little boxes and categories. It’s completely unnecessary when the biggest and most obvious thing that I am is a woman.” She is also quick to note though that Uhura’s race only scratching the surface to just how truly ahead of its time Star Trek really was in the world of American television. “And for Gene Roddenberry, too, and the creators of Star Trek, to have that space, that time,” she notes, “Not only did they envision a Russian man working along with a Japanese American for the common goal of peace and an alien, too, and to go, you know what, there’s still room for one more person, it needs to be a woman.” “And it needs to be a very strong woman and she’s going to be sexy and she’s not going to apologize for it and she’s going to do her job well,” Zoe continues, “That time, I felt they must have been out of their minds. But what I felt it did, not only for women in America, but women worldwide and for me to be born 15 years later and inherit that strength, and even though I was not very familiar with the series, I knew who Michelle Nichols was. It just goes to show that some things are very significant and I just feel really happy.”