All About Zoe Saldaña's Parents, Asalia Nazario and Aridio Saldaña

Zoe Saldaña credits her parents, Asalia Nazario and Aridio Saldaña, with giving her a strong work ethic and an even stronger sense of self-confidence.

The actress was born in New Jersey on June 19, 1978 to a Puerto Rican mother and a Dominican father. As a first-generation American, Zoe faced challenges, but her family was always there to help guide her.

“I had what others might not have: imperfect people loved me immensely,” she said Net-A-porter. Zoe grew up in a bilingual household, speaking both English and Spanish at home, and “in an environment where everything was [geared] according to education.”

Along with her Afro-Latina background, her parents gave her and her sisters confidence. “Growing up, I was taught to believe that I was capable of doing anything a man could do,” she said Hey! News. “This family philosophy has shaped who I am today and is a belief that will always follow me through life.”

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For the first 10 years of her life, Zoe lived in Queens, New York, with her parents and two sisters, but then tragedy struck in 1987 when Aridio died suddenly.

“My father was amazing,” she said in the first episode of her AOL series, Zoe Saldaña Presents My Hero. The actress added: “When we lost him, it was difficult. It was very, very tragic. He was a really good guy.”

After his death, Asalia sent Zoe and her sisters to live with relatives in the Dominican Republic, while she stayed in New York trying to earn enough money to support the family. “It gave her more strength to keep working and to keep making sacrifices,” she said, citing her mom as her biggest inspiration.

Here’s everything you need to know about Zoe Saldaña’s parents, Asalia Nazario and Aridio Saldaña.

Zoe’s parents Asalia and Aridio had three daughters

Zoe Saldana and family.

Zoe Saldana’s Instagram

During their relationship, Asalia and Aridio had three children: Mariel, Zoe and Cisely.

After Avatar the actress grew up with a close relationship with her sisters, together they started a business, Cinestar Pictures, a production company focused on telling women’s stories.

“Respect is a platform for good friendship with your siblings,” Zoe said in a Cinestar YouTube video.

“We are really protective of our nuclear family. Without it, we are broken,” added Cisely.

Since then, their family tree has continued to grow. Mariel, the oldest, has two children of her own: Eli and Kasey. Zoe is also a mom because she and her husband Marco Perego have three sons: twins Cy and Bowie and Zen.

Timeline of Zoë Saldana and Marco Perego’s relationship

Zoe’s dad died when she was a child

At the age of 9, Zoe lost her father. In 1987, Aridio died in a car accident. Speaking with Emmy magazine, the actress spoke about that day and learning about her father’s death from her grandmother.

“I remember her drinking coffee and saying, ‘We’re going to get through this. Dad wants us to get through this. But please understand this part of life: death has knocked and taken one of us,’ she said.

Zoe went on to describe the impact on their family, saying: “Losing our hero, the strongest person in the room, who walked on water, and then seeing our beautiful, strong mum just fall apart and not be able to get out of bed to drive us to school .”

Because of this, part of her childhood was marked by sadness. “Everything that was supposed to be super colorful and bright turned gray. I learned early about the fragility of life,” she said Marie Claire.

Zoe’s mom sent her and her sisters to the Dominican Republic after her father’s death

Zoe Saldana and her mom Asalia Nazario.

Zoe Saldana’s Instagram

After their father’s death, Zoe and her sisters went to live with their grandparents in the Dominican Republic, while their mother stayed in New York. Dealing with all these changes, along with their grief, proved difficult.

“There’s no winter, no Santa, no grapes or apples – it’s mangoes and guavas,” Zoe said Emmy magazine. “Everything was always new and changing, changing, changing. It sounds like small things, but they add up in a day. It was hard.”

During that time, Asalia remained in the U.S. working two jobs — as a courtroom interpreter and hotel maid — to support the family, according to Allure.

“Our mom, being a single parent, didn’t want us to grow up in a dangerous place, so she moved us to the Dominican Republic,” Zoe explained to W magazine. “[She] she would live with us there for a year and then spend a year in New York so she could earn money to send home for us.”

Despite how difficult it has been for them, Zoe admires her mother for all she has done and acknowledges the sacrifices she has made to give her daughters a better life.

“New York was not a good place to raise children in the late 1980s and 1990s,” she said in an interview with The Telegraph. “She made the best decision – we’re here because of that decision.”

Zoe cites her mother Asalia as her hero

Zoe Saldana and her mom Asalia Nazario.

Zoe Saldana’s Instagram

In 2014, Zoe and her sisters created an original AOL web series called Zoe Saldaña Presents My Hero. The series focused on celebrities and the people who inspired them. Each of the 10 episodes followed one celebrity as they paid tribute to someone special in their life.

The first episode focused on Zoe, who expressed her admiration for her mom. Speaking of series that Entertainment Weekly, the actress stated that it is not in doubt who she would name as her hero.

“As a parent, she put us first — and we lost a parent, so she had to become those two anchors in our lives,” she explained. “She’s not perfect, but she’s always done her best and that’s something that’s worth recognizing.”

Zoe went on to praise Asalia for allowing her and her sisters to learn and grow. “[She] really let us find our own voice,” she said. “My mom never manipulated us into becoming what she wanted us to be because it was better for her.”

During the episode, Zoe also talked about losing her father and how it affected her mother.

“It was more difficult for my mother. It took her a few years to sort of break free from that spell,” she said. “You could see on her face that she was defeated. She just felt defeated.”

But instead of giving in to her grief, Asalia was determined to provide the best life for her daughters. “She would just keep walking, one foot in front of the other,” Zoe said. “My mom was just trying to make ends meet and we had to become each other’s emotional support.”

“I’ve never met anyone with the strength that my mom has,” the actress continued, noting that while she could be “strict” and “strict” at times, she was also “such a loving, flexible mother.”

Zoe’s mom eventually remarried

Zoe Saldana with sisters Cisely and Mariel and parents Asalia Nazario and Dagoberta Galan.

Cisely Saldana’s Instagram

Although it was difficult for her after Aridi’s death, Asalia found love again. She married a Dominican named Dagoberto Galán. It is not clear exactly when the two married, but Galán became part of the family. In fact, Zoe considers him a second father.

“My dad, Dagoberto Galán, was a savior for all of us,” she once told the Huffington Post. “His patience, wisdom and sense of humor keep all the women in my family healthy.”

She continued: “There’s a reason why I don’t call him stepdad but dad, because from day one he was my sisters and me—father.” He is our species insanely beautiful!”

Zoe finds ways to honor and remember her father

Galán might be a strong father figure in her life, but Zoe still finds ways to keep Aridio’s memory alive.

During the interview with The Telegraph, she shared some of her favorite things about her dad.

“He was very possessive of his daughters,” she said. “And he had the best laugh. He laughed with his mouth open: my sister and I are told that we laugh like that. You would never think that the way I smile belongs to my body. I laugh like an old Latino.”

The actress also paid tribute to Aridio when she became a mom. In November 2014, she and Perego welcomed twins, Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio. The couple chose their middle names after their grandfathers. (Ezio is the name of Pereg’s father.)

Zoe Saldaña’s Three Children: Everything She Said About Parenting

Asalia was a big influence on Zoe’s career

After her father died, Zoe began taking dance classes and studying ballet in the Dominican Republic. “My mother was trying to find ways to keep us busy,” she told Time. “It saved my sanity. That really set me on this path to be an artist.”

Those early dance lessons came in handy when she started acting, as she played a ballet dancer in her debut film, Center stage.

Zoe later starred in various science fiction films. “I have to say that the penchant for science fiction that I unconsciously have came from her,” she told za Entertainment Weekly. “My mom loved reading about it 2001: A Space Odysseyand [was] just always curious about the unknown – not questioning, but wondering. And she gave that to my sisters and me.”

However, Zoe has joked in the past that her mom doesn’t always remember what role she plays.

During the performance at The Late Show with James Corden In 2019, Zoe joked that Asalia often confuses her with another actress: Thandiwe Newton, saying: “My mom still thinks I’m in Western world.”

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Source: HIS Education