Zoe Saldaña has achieved an extraordinary career spanning blockbuster franchises, Oscar-winning performances, and now her own dreams of becoming a director. At the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, the 46-year-old star delivered a powerful and deeply personal speech that left audiences in no doubt: she is ready to take the camera into her own hands.

Receiving a Special Honorary Pardo from festival director Giona Nazzaro, Saldaña spoke candidly about everything from her childhood in New York and the Dominican Republic to her current and future projects, including the third season of Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness and the fourth instalment in James Cameron’s Avatar series.

The Childhood That Shaped Her

Saldaña described the cultural shock of moving from a vibrant New York upbringing — where one could meet the world simply by stepping outside on one’s block — to the homogenous island of the Dominican Republic, where “it’s very homogenous and it’s one religion, one form of being.”

The transition was difficult, but the growth was profound. “It was quite difficult for us to be torn from a New York kind of culture… That’s rich to grow up in a culture like that. And then I went to a small island where it’s very homogenous… and though the growing pains were big, so was the growth.”

The Ballet Dream and the ‘Wrong-Shaped Feet’

Her early training as a ballet dancer was cut short when she discovered she had the “wrong-shaped feet.” “You have to have the right bridge. And only Russian women are born with this blessing. That’s what you’re told your whole life.”

The lesson was harsh but formative. Ballet taught her discipline, resilience and an outsider’s perspective — skills that would later serve her brilliantly in science-fiction roles. “I feel like I have more than enough experience of feeling isolated and othered. And so maybe that’s why when I look at a character like a woman like Neytiri or a woman like Gamora, I feel like I can put so much more into them.”

The Moment She Knew She Could Direct

Saldaña’s passion for storytelling runs deep. At the festival, she admitted: “I have a feeling that I can only watch other people’s direction for so long until I kind of say: ‘Give me that camera!’ Because women, we all think that we’re right because we are half the time. So I would like to prove myself.”

She cited James Cameron’s The Terminator as the film that changed everything. “This man’s storytelling spoke to me when I was 7 years old. I knew that when he wrote and conceived The Terminator, that he was tapping into something incredibly human and foreseeable… I wanted to be her.”

That early encounter with Sarah Connor’s fierce determination planted a seed. Years later, when she worked with Cameron again on the Avatar trilogy, she felt seen as an artist — not just “the woman from the Dominican Republic” or “the actress who plays Neytiri,” but simply as Zoe, capable of bringing a character to life.

A Husband Who Turned Her into a Filmmaker

Saldaña’s husband, Marco Perego, has also influenced her. The couple made the 2023 film Absence of Eden, a powerful cross-border story about human trafficking, immigration and ICE. She credited him with the idea when their governments were changing in 2016. “We found ourselves — me as a first-generation American, and my husband as an immigrant who had just gained his citizenship… We were welcoming a family while witnessing families being torn apart due to immigration laws that were shifting.”

The experience deepened her commitment to authentic, urgent stories.

Future Projects and the Stories She Wants to Tell

Saldaña is currently filming the third season of Lioness, which has just premiered. She has also teased a family drama set in post-war San Francisco, following a traumatized veteran and his wife who suspects her husband is gay. “I’ve never seen a film with that theme told through the lens of a family of colour,” she said. “So, if no one else is doing it, then one day I would love to be the director to tell a story like that. And it can very well be a Chinese American family… A ‘Far from Heaven,’ but with a family of colour that we’ve never seen before. I think it’s important. I think these communities need that. I think queer communities of color need that.”

She has worked with giants of cinema — Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Gore Verbinski — and credits each with seeing her as an equal artist. “They saw me as an artist that is equal to a man, to another woman, to a white person, to a Black person… To also accentuate a complement to all of these people, I do believe that they all possess a level of inclusivity that they unconsciously live by.”

The Road Ahead

Zoe Saldaña’s career is defined by range, ambition and authenticity. From her Oscar-winning turn in Emilia Pérez to her iconic roles in Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avatar series, she has become one of the highest-grossing actors in film history.

But behind the blockbuster fame lies a woman who still believes she can direct. “Give me that camera!” she told the Locarno audience — a bold, joyful declaration that the future of her storytelling may soon include her own vision.

As she continues to break boundaries on screen and off, Zoe Saldaña proves that talent, determination and the courage to dream big can take you anywhere. Whether she’s acting or directing, one thing is certain: the world is lucky to have her.