'I’m a lady. My mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother raised ladies,' says Zoe Saldana as we sit outside Los Angeles coffee shop Lamill, sipping on iced chai lattes. Mugsy, her wire-haired rescue pup, laps water from a bowl at our feet, and Saldana dances excitedly in and out of Spanish when searching for an exact word or turn of phrase. 'We don’t breed skanky, coquettish, giddy little girls. We breed women.' Stalwart in her convictions—and laid endearingly bare in her performances—Saldana, 35, is one of the most outspoken actresses in Hollywood. She can afford to say what she wants: Saldana starred in Avatar (the highest-grossing film of all time) and a blockbuster franchise (Star Trek), which together earned over $3.6 billion and prompted Jon Stewart to thank Saldana on The Daily Show for being “the foundation of the American economy.” In what spare time she has, she wins endless Best Dressed accolades.. Words by Durga Chew-Bose
Zoe Saldana by James White for Flare January 2014