Zoe Saldana was immortalized today on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Since appearing in the 2009 Star Trek film the actress has rocketed to stardom, appearing in Avatar, which remains the highest grossing film of all time, along with two Guardians of The Galaxy films and of course two other Star Trek films. She also has an important part in the just-released Avengers: Infinity War, which could very well pass Avatar as the highest grossing film of all time.
Hailed as queen of the universe
At the ceremony today, producer/director James Cameron noted that they were taking a break from shooting the Avatar sequels for the event. He also talked about how Saldana has starred in three major sci-fi franchises, noting:
“Zoe pretty much owns outer space. I may be king of the world, but she is queen of the universe. Her iconic characters – Uhura, Neytiri, Gamroa – are role models for young women. These are women of courage and integrity, women who are unbound and authentic, women who stand for something.”
Accepting the honor, Saldana talked about her journey, explaining that you need to risk failure and “build from somewhere, step by step,” adding:
Having a dream is just step one. Step two: sleeves up, hard work, persistence, passion, perseverance. Fail often and fail forward. If at first you don’t succeed, you dust yourself off and you try again. I learned to love what I do and do what I love and that has been my mantra. From Burger King commercials, to Law and Order episodic, to a ballet movie. I got to be a pirate, an INS officer, a xenolinguist on the Enterprise. I got to be an alien warrior – well, multiple alien warriors.
Saldana is the first star from the Kevlin-verse series of Star Trek movies to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Of course many other actors and creatives from Star Trek history have their own stars, including creator Gene Roddenberry and the main cast of the original Star Trek. Nichelle Nichols, the original Uhura, received her star in 1992.
Proud of her work in sci-fi
Speaking to Variety before the event, Saldana talked about her history with the sci-fi genre, saying:
“Science fiction is a universe where a person like me who is unimaginable is imaginable by so many filmmakers like J.J. Abrams and James Cameron and James Gunn,” says Saldana. “I got to really flourish in this genre. I got to be brave and I got to be strong and I got to play characters that weren’t only the daughter, the wife, the girlfriend. I was a warrior and I was relevant to the storyline, and I’m very proud of the path that I’ve chosen for myself by avoiding falling into stereotypical boxes.”
Zoe Saldana as Uhura in Star Trek Beyond
You can watch video of the entire event (via Variety).
Congratulations to Zoe on this well deserved honor!
I used to think that an entertainer getting a star on the Walk of Fame was something spectacular until I learned that they have to apply for a star and essentially pay for it ($$$). They are not given or awarded anything.
Yeah, the ‘celebrity’ pays $40,000 for the privilege.
Well, what do ya know, Zoe done bought herself a nice shiny ‘award’.
WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT!!!
(this is about as stupid as it gets)
Well, what do ya know, we have a moronic comment from someone who does not know what they are talking about.
No, this is not accurate at all.
This is the process:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/07/16/how-to-get-a-star-on-the-hollywood-walk-of-fame/
Ironic that you got this so wrong and have the comment up there about “stupid,” eh?
RE: VoR
EXACTLY !!!
You may feel free to take exception to the process, or even that the W of F is a tourist attraction, Harry. Celebrities don’t just buy themselves a star on the Walk of Fame, however.
Phil,
Re: W of F is a tourist attraction
That should be kept in mind as that’s the reason they have the selection committee, i.e. to make sure a star only brings positive publicity to the city. It might surprise some to know that it started with 8 “prototypes” that were only temporary.
So that explains how trump has one.
Just no. You are deliberately spin-doctoring this to make it sound like you can buy this. You are correct in that you have to pay for the registration, but you failed to leave in the critical fact that the selection committee only picks from candidates that it considers to have provided something iconic to the movie/TV industry. They reject dozens of applications every year.
Whoops!
Dozens? Wow, tough competition!!!
Your level of ignorance is only eclipsed by your level of belief in how funny and clever you think you are.
Last I read, neither Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Dustin Hoffman, Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee, Steve Martin, Carrie Fisher, Brad Pitt, Diane Keaton, David Lynch, Leonardo DiCaprio nor George Clooney have stars on the Walk of Fame.
Conversely, Bill Cosby, Randy Quaid, Charlie Sheen, Britney Spears, Donald Trump, Backstreet Boys, Ryan Seacrest, Vanna White, The Olsen Twins, The Victoria’s Secret Angels, The Rugrats and Absolut Vodka do have them.
Draw from that what you will.
Choosing to make selective choices among competing evidence, so as to emphasize those results that support a given position, while ignoring or dismissing the predominate set of findings that do not support it, is a practice known as “cherry picking” and is a hallmark of manufacturing unsupported conclusions in public debate, as is frequently used in the promulgation of ‘fake news’.
Most of the people you listed who don’t have a star don’t have it because THEY refused it. They have this option too.
What about that list of people who do have it? You can’t just ignore that.
Congrats! Nyota means star ;)
I prefer seeing awards like this after a lifetime of accomplishment.
Agreed.
Wow, the haters are out in force today. I just don’t get it — she has consistently delivered great performances in three of the biggest movie franchises of all time. Maybe you don’t like the scripts, but her performances have been outstanding, and she is the lead female actress in scifi today!
Congrats, Zoe. You are the only actor playing a regular crew member on Star Trek to ever achieve A-list status in the movie world!
While Zoe is inspiring to younger actresses of all races (as they say so), it’s worth to mention that she also is an afro-latina and thus representation to black people with latinx heritage who are underpresented and stereotyped by Hollywood (especially when there are folks like Gina Rodriguez who complain about lack of representation for latinos, but contribute to the stereotypes and erasure themselves when they ignore non-white latinas. There is still too much confusion about the difference between race, ethnicity and nationality).
Recently, her own production company created an online platform to tell latinx stories (she said they start with latinos but in the future it will include other minorities too).
In general, she’s a good example of sci-fi having merits too. She gets roles in different genres too (Colombiana, Live by Night, etc) but she definitely is a sci-fi queen.
In trek, her Uhura should get more and is wasted at times by a franchise that is still too stuck in the past and thus a myopic focus on male characters, but her version is an upgrade of the old one and what poor Nichelle was allowed to do. Of that I’ll always be grateful.
In the end, after Chris Pine she is the only one of this cast who makes trek get awards noms where it usually doesn’t even get them because of the competion of other, more popular, sci-fi franchises.
Surely a tad more deserved than Chris Pratt’s own star, imho.
Great points! And yes, Pratt’s seems about 5 years too early IMHO.
I don’t think the issue for these so-called “haters” is Saldana. It’s the Walk of Fame itself.
You haven’t been paying attention then. Harry Ballz and a few others here have been slamming Zoe on this site for years.
Oh, get off your high horse. Zoe has been in the supporting cast of some big hits, but never starred in one. Any time she headlined, the movie tanked. So much for “star” quality.
Yawn.
NEXT!!
Thanks for validating my point about your negative opinion of her, gramps.
PS: She was co-star in the biggest grossing movie of all-time
That’s funny. Zoe is the leading lady of the highest grossing movies of all the time so far. What movies tanked? Colombiana, were she was the main character, wasn’t a hit but still solid enough they are thinking about a sequel when her filming schedule will allow it (never, probably since she always has movies to film). In infinity war, she is one of the leads because her character’s story is the one that is the most tied with the villain, and she is one of the most praised right now.
And not to be petty here, but your downplaying the woman might backfire because judging by the arguments you use for her, then I have to guess you must think Pine, Quinto, Urban and others are not even c list..
She deserves it, I’d put her in the same category as Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton as playing strong and kick ass characters who dabble in sci-fi and action flicks.
Sigourney Weaver got her star at the age of 50; Linda Hamilton has never received a star.
Linda Hamilton never receiving a star makes me question the validity of this, but what I was trying to say that Zoe Saldana has already got herself into the kick ass ladies category. I would also include Scarlet Johannson in the same category too.
See my post above. Yes, there is an issue here, and poor Thompson didn’t even realize that he was essentially validating that unfortunate double-standard. Of course Hamilton deserves one — that’s the point!
Please then defend Chris Pratt getting his at a year younger than Zaldana, when she has had more major movie roles than him?
I find it telling that you only bring up female actors in your examples here? I’ve just looked at a list of Hollywood Stars given out in recent yeas, and disturbingly you have unintentionally made a good point — male actors seems to get this honor much younger in life than female actors. So you are basically saying “that is OK” with your comments and examples here. I strongly disagree.
I was just trying to say that many actors deserve this honor at a younger age, I couldn’t believe that Mark Hamill got his Star just a couple of months ago.
Well if Hamill had done something half-notable other than some animated voices between 1984 and Dec 2017, I am sure he would have received a star years ago.
I think it is wonderful and fitting that after his great performance in The Last Jedi, he gets it now. It makes perfect sense. No issue here.
I thought his Joker was very notable and memorable, but then voice acting is considered to be a red headed stepchild of normal acting I suppose. I don’t know if he has one, but I would give Peter Cullen an award too for his voice performance as Optimus Prime.
Good points!
Mark Hamill is one of the most prolific voice actors in the industry, he’s brought to life dozens of iconic characters over the years, many of which are *the* definitive versions of the characters to entire generations of fans. But it’s a little harder to achieve starpower recognition when you work in a recording booth.
The actual selection process is a bit of a mystery, really. I remember fans lobbying for James Doohan for years before he finally got his star (and Chris Doohan being a bit frustrated, if memory serves).
Congratulations, Zoe!
Congrats to Zoe! I’ve loved all of her moments that she had in the Kevlin Trek films from the moment we meet her in 2009, to her showing her skills and being placed on the bridge, her moment with Spock in the turbolift, being the one to speak Klingon in one of my favorite scenes in Into Darkness to the way she was better utilized in Beyond throughout that entire story. I’m more a DC guy than Marvel but I’m a fan of both so I loved her as Gamora and she really brought Neyteri to life in Avatar. One would be so lucky to have those types of roles in the world of Sci-Fi right now.
If she hadn’t kept the attack on the Klingon fleet by Nero to herself, Vulcan could have been saved!
It’s pretty clear that no matter what, Nero was going to destroy Vulcan!
Dude, her intercepting that message, and kirk being able to do 2+2 with what he knew, saved the enterprise and possibly earth too. However, there is no way they could stop Nero from destroying vulcan when no one, including her, knew he existed and that had a weapon like the red matter that was from the future. Not even spock prime could do something, and he had been on that ship and knew about the red matter and the rest more than anyone. Blame him too, since you are at it?
Nice try but it is really stupid.
Dude, that was not Zaldana who did that? They was Uhura, as written for her in a script that she was given by the writers/director to act on? Come on man, Zoe didn’t destroy Vulcan…LOL
Congratulations to a talented, attractive young woman, who despite those attributes will never be Nyota Uhura to me. Nothing personal.
Perhaps a little jealous as you have not received yours yet? Dexter was decent, but you have not done much of note since. Nothing personal.
She may not be Uhura to you but she is the only canon NYOTA Uhura so far since tos never bothered to give Nichelle’s Uhura a canon first name, and she thus was only Uhura to you.
LOL. Yea, this actor makes his view sound so sentimental, yet “Nyota” wasn’t even coined until a comic book was published 13 years after TOS ended.
Excellent correction! Zoe is in fact the only Nyota Uhura in Star Trek. We can’t even be sure if that is Uhura’s first name in the Prime timeline, as only what we see on screen can be canon.
BorgKlingon,
Re: only what we see on screen can be canon
The term “Prime timeline” never occurs on screen. You are trying to make a canon distinction for a concept that’s nonsense by the very definition of canon which you correctly cite.
Are you a politician?. If not, you should consider that field – you certainly have the skill set.
Disinvited,
It’s puzzling how you always find the most silly, nitpicking excuses to derail people’s points and point up the obvious in the most useless, pretentious way. It’s like you want to teach other people about water being wet, but it might make you come across as being the one ‘dense’.
Is it the first time you read someone calling tos ‘prime timeline’ or prime trek (or Nimoy Spock as ‘Spock prime’) in fanboards or..?
BorgKlingon didn’t say that ‘prime timeline’ is a canon definition, they are just calling it like that for convenience in order to make it clear they aren’t talking about the reboot reality; to make an out of universe distinction. The actual point is that Uhura’s first name is only canon in one trek iteration, however you choose to call these iterations to make this point come across. It is unsure if you agree or disagree with the actual point since you are, once again, not really replying to it.
Jemini,
Re: It’s puzzling
It’s ironic, to attempt to use canon to prop up a “Prime Timeline” designation which canon, by the very definition cited, does not support.
Also, there’s nothing “convenient” about using that term. The first series had other universes and alternate timelines without recourse or need of it. For 43 years with oodles and oodles of universes and timelines introduced Trek never had need to introduce that particular turn of phrase.
If you check Memory-Alpha you will find no entry for it, as the resource both Orci and Pegg said was invaluable only recognizes its on screen canonical designation “alternate reality” whose timeline they designate as “alternate timeline.”
The use of the, nonsense in canon, terms “Prime Timeline” and “Prime Universe” are not a “convenience” when attempting to use canon to make a point. They are newspeak. An attempt to persuade and win hearts and minds for the introduction of a nonsense concept through repetition and obfuscation in a thinly disguised attempt to make it seem as if it is a part of canon when the reality is that it is not.
Sigh!
From Memory Alpha:
“Background information: Memory Alpha uses the terms “prime timeline”, “prime reality”, and “prime universe” to describe the main or original timeline of events in the universe depicted in the various Star Trek episodes and movies prior to the 2009 movie Star Trek, in which an alternate reality was created. The term “prime” is derived from the film’s credits, where the character played by Leonard Nimoy was disambiguated from Zachary Quinto’s Spock as “Spock Prime”.”
Please try just a bit harder to get your facts straight, Disinvited. I mean, how hard would it have been to spend 10 minutes looking around Memory Alpha to find this reference? Like, duh!
Re: Jemini (to Disinvited)
“It’s puzzling how you always find the most silly, nitpicking excuses to derail people’s points and point up the obvious in the most useless, pretentious way. It’s like you want to teach other people about water being wet…”
Great observation, Jemini. This personality trait I think is best defined by this underused word: “obtuse.”
BorgKlingon,
Re: Please try just a bit harder
I did take 10 minutes.
I looked for a wiki entry which the term should have if it was in use:
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/prime_timeline
“Memory Alpha does not yet have an article with this name.”
And I used their search to see if the wiki article for it would burble out in the results:
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Search?query=prime+timeline
I also searched for “Prime” and “Prime Universe” to try to cause the wiki article for that term to appear in the results
and flipping through the search results pages, still could find no article with that term or variants in its title.
Do you have any explanation why, if they invented the term nine years ago as you found, they still have no retrievable wiki article for it? It seems odd to invent a term and not simultaneously provide an entry for lookup.
Thank you for finding a footnote confirming that the term wasn’t in use for 43 years as I stated, and that I spelled it correctly in my searches for it in their wiki.
And I will try harder, as you suggest. Next time I’ll better search the site using Google and its plethora of tools instead of relying on the glowing praise of Pegg and Orci on its research capabilities.
By all means, next time, please let me know, and I will be more than happy to assist you to find a hard-to-locate reference on MA. Those of us who use it a lot are aware of a lot of information that is in the background areas (which you can’t always find in the individual entries), which has information that, in many cases, applies globally to sets, and sometimes all, entries.
I do understand that the casual user can easily miss this, so sorry if I was a bit hard on you in my response above.
BorgKlingon,
Thank you for your kind offer.
And apology accepted.
Congrats Zoe!
And loved her in Infinity War which I rewatched last night not very far from her new star.
Ha, Cameron uses the occasion of Zoe’s special day to call himself “king of the world” yet again. Cameron gonna Cameron. Only with the completion of Avatar 5 will Cameron be Allfather of the 9 realms.
Mirror Galt,
Well Cameron also declared Zoe “Queen of the Universe” several times which seems to be him being humble and generous, which I believe he, indeed, is being. Unfortunately in my long life, I’ve run into despicable sexist who believe a Queen can never equal or best a King, i.e. for them, even the Queen of the most high can’t best the King of the least.
Is it possible to just wish someone well for an honor received? Be nice, just because, instead of tearing someone down?
trek fanboys being nice? On trekmovie? In articles about the kelvin timeline and its cast? In articles about a woman of color?
The impossible.
Unfortunately, I think you “broke the code” here by bringing this up. Very sad!
Agreed…it’s like of bunch of malcontents can’t enjoy her getting some minor attention for one day because they blame her for BR’s script re-writing of a character?
Weird and dysfunctional??? I don’t get it???
Regarding the attacks below: Maybe social media helps? As I recall from the fact that it took decades for many of the TOS stars to get them, one factor was that there was a long campaign of letter writing, fundraising, etc. Maybe it’s easier now that someone can tweet “Zoe Saldana deserves a star” and a million followers like it. By no means am I saying she doesn’t deserve it, but there’s probably a good reason Doohan or Koenig took forty years or so and she got it relatively quickly.
Doohan was the 4th star in just one major franchise with most of his appearances being on a TV show, and Koenig was the 7th star in just one major franchise with most of his appearances being on a TV show.
Zoe was a top 3 star on three major movie franchises — not TV shows.
Zoe’s level far eclipses Doohan’s and Koenig’s. I love Doohan and Koenig as much as anyone, but they only were iconic on one TV show and a few movies, and played supporting roles, not core team leading roles.
IT IS WHAT IS IS
PS: I do agree though that social media probably accelerates things like this these days.
Yeah, you have a good point there.
BorgKlingonKlingo & Nachum,
I live in SoCal and I have walked on The Hollywood Walk of Fame many many times. It’s a wacky notion that you two are trying to concoct that having your star there is some kind of measure of relative headlining import.
The entity, Disneyland has a star, as do the fictional Rugrats and Minnie Mouse, and the animals, Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.
Those are all “iconic” characters or entities, which is part of the selection criteria. You just unintentionally proved the opposite of what I think you were rather clumsily trying to convey.
Also, for any subjective honaria with a selection committee, anyone can come up with cherry-picked contrary examples that ignore the preponderance of selections which most of the public would agree are obviously deserved. So what?
BorgKlingon,
Re: You just unintentionally proved the opposite
Really? Cite the movies that had Disneyland or Minnie Mouse as headliners?
And if I was trying to prove anything it would be that the Hollywood Walk of Fame exits first and foremost to make the city look good and promote it. That’s why they bend themselves into pretzels making exceptions and not every star on it is there because the entity represented is a headliner.
Wendy Barrie has a motion picture star. Can you cite from your memory the films she headlined?
“Wendy Barrie has a motion picture star. Can you cite from your memory the films she headlined?”
Sigh! You obviously didn’t bother to read my full post to you earlier. Again:
“For any subjective honaria with a selection committee, anyone can come up with cherry-picked contrary examples that ignore the preponderance of selections which most of the public would agree are obviously deserved. So what?”
Like, duh!
BorgKlingon,
Re: Icons
But if you want to change the focus from headliners to icons, fine.
Please explain to me how you determined that Doohan’s Scotty, with his character’s name permanently etched in the pop culture’s psyche with the oft repeated misquote “Beam me up, Scotty!”, which I still hear repeated by strangers in the throng to this day, is less iconic than the Uhura character?
Huh? Doohan has a star on the Walk of Fame?
I thought your living in SoCal and having the walked those sidewalks multiple times made you a self-proclaimed expert on this???
Perhaps you may want to re-walk those sidewalks soon, “expert”
PS: You used the term headliner, not me. The selection criteria actually says “iconic,” BTW. I guess your sidewalk walking and stopping at Starbucks near Hollwood and Vine didn’t teach you that.
BorgKlingon,
Re: Doohan has a star on the Walk of Fame?
Of course he does. I was objecting to your apparent premise that the committee always processes those with “star billing” with greater expedition. And it seemed to me, there was also some presentation that Doohan deserved to wait 12 more years for being second tier. That was what I was objecting to.
First you falsely claimed I used the term “headliner,” which I never used once. Now you are saying I used “always” in my point, where multiple times I have acknowledged that there are exceptions to the preponderance of cases where the honaria is given to those who the public would generally agree are deserving.
Sorry that I can’t be more cooperative and say the right words that you would prefer I’d have said, so as to assist you in making your points here. This ain’t Fox News.
BorgKlingon,
Re: First you falsely claimed I used the term “headliner,”
I NEVER quoted you as using that term. I used that word to summarize my understanding derived from the following statements:
“Zoe was a top 3 star on three major movie franchises — not TV shows.
Zoe’s level far eclipses Doohan’s …” — BorgKlingon
I took your meaning to be Zoe is a top bill performer, i.e. a headliner — a factor contributing to the speed with which her star was processed by the committee.
You object? Fine. Help me to understand what you meant.
Your quotes of mine above are clear and concise — what’s not to understand about them???
“Zoe was a top 3 star on three major movie franchises — not TV shows.” “CHECK”
“Doohan was the 4th star in just one major franchise with most of his appearances being on a TV show, and Koenig was the 7th star in just one major franchise with most of his appearances being on a TV shows.” “CHECK”
“Zoe’s level far eclipses Doohan’s and Koenig’s. I love Doohan and Koenig as much as anyone, but they only were iconic on one TV show and a few movies, and played supporting roles, not core team leading roles.” “CHECK”
“I do agree though that social media probably accelerates things like this these days.” “CHECK”
Feel free to disagree with these assessments, but I am still comfortable with them. I said what I meant to say, period
Nothing personal, but you seem like a rather obtuse individual who is use to having it your way here. Sorry that I am not playing along and wilting like I have seen others do in response to your aggressive, know-it-all style here.
BorgKlingon,
Re: Nothing personal
I can see how, with your communication skills set which involves falsely claiming that I falsely cited your use of the term “headliner,” that you might actually convince yourself that you sincerely feel that way.
Re: I am not playing along
But I, for one, am grateful that contrary to your assertions otherwise, you did what I wanted and dropped all pretense and ruse that your responses were any attempt on your part to communicate more effectively to me on the topic at hand by engaging in feedback, but rather, were in service of your tilt to wilt me, whatever that involves. A whale of a windmill that I suspect you’ve been pursuing ever since you praised my political skills.
Thanks for coming clean.
This facade of a conversation is ended.
I am happy for you that you have come up with a rationale that let’s you save face here after making those false accusations of what I said and unsuccessfully trying to spin-doctor what a I was saying into some alternate forced discussion you would have preferred I have with you.
This discussion is over – yes, we finally agree on something.
BorgKlingon,
Re: I am happy for you …
Thank you. May you find yours, as pleasant.
You are most welcome.
I believe that all the fictional entities- that is, anything that’s not an actual person- is simply paid for by the corporation that owns it. (An exception would be The Three Stooges, for example, who were of course real.) Like you said, it’s all for PR and a good cause, so who cares about the details?