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

Mar. 15, 2025

Zoe Saldana and mother Asalia arrive at the 2010 Crystal + Lucy Awards A New Era on June 1, 2010 in Century City, California. ; Zoe Saldana’s father Aridio Saldana.Photo:Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic ; Zoe Saldana Instagram

Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic ; Zoe Saldana Instagram

Zoe Saldañacredits 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.

Along with her Afro-Latina heritage, her parents gave her and her sisters a confident outlook. “Growing up, I was taught to believe that I am capable to do anything a man can do,” she toldE! News. “This family philosophy has shaped who I am today, and is a conviction that will always accompany me through life.”

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

“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 hard. It was very, very tragic. He was a really good guy.”

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

Zoe’s parents Asalia and Aridio welcomed three daughters

Zoe Saldana and family.Zoe Saldana Instagram

Zoe Saldana Instagram

Throughout their relationship, Asalia and Aridio welcomed three children: Mariel, Zoe and Cisely.

After theAvataractress grew up being tight-knit with her sisters, they started a business together,Cinestar Pictures, a production company focused on telling female stories.

“Respect is the platform to having a good friendship with your siblings,” Zoe said ina Cinestar YouTube video.

“We really protect our nuclear family. Without that, we’re broken,” Cisely added.

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, as she and her husband,Marco Perego, share three sons: twins Cy and Bowie and Zen.

Zoe’s dad died when she was a child

At the age of 9, Zoe lost her father. In 1987, Aridio was killed in a car accident. Speaking toEmmymagazine,  the actress opened up about that day and learning of her dad’s death from her grandmother.

“I remember her drinking coffee and saying, ‘We’re going to get through this. Papa wants us to get through this. But please understand this part of life: death came knocking and took one of us,’ ” she shared.

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 how our gorgeous, strong mom just fell apart and couldn’t get out of bed to take us to school.”

As a result, part of her childhood was marked with sadness. “Everything that should have been super-colorful and bright became grey. I learnt about the fragility of life early,” she toldMarie Claire.

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

Zoe Saldana and her mom Asalia Nazario.Zoe Saldana Instagram

“There’s no winter, no Santa Claus, no grapes or apples — it’s mango and guavas,” Zoe toldEmmymagazine. “Everything was always new and changing, changing, changing. These sound like small things, but they add up in a day. It was hard.”

During that time, Asalia stayed behind in the U.S. working two jobs — as a courtroom translator and a hotel maid — to provide for the family, according toAllure.

“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 toWmagazine.“[She] would live with us there for one year and then spend one year in New York so she could make money to send back home for us.”

Despite how hard it was for them, Zoe admires her mother for everything she did, and acknowledges the sacrifices she made to give her daughters a better life.

“New York was not a good place to be raising kids in the late 1980s and 1990s,” she said in an interview withThe Telegraph.“She made the best decision — we are here because of that decision.”

Zoe cites her mother Asalia as her hero

In 2014, Zoe and her sisters created an AOL original web series titled 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 centered around Zoe, who expressed her admiration toward her mom. Speaking about the series toEntertainment Weekly,the actress said that there was no question as to 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 always did 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 to become something that she wanted us to become because it was better for her.”

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

“It was harder for my mom. It took her a couple of years to sort of get out of that spell,” she said. “You would see it in her face, that she was defeated. She just felt defeated.”

But rather than give 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 really trying to make ends meet, and we had to really become each other’s emotional support.”

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

Zoe’s mom eventually remarried

Zoe Saldana with her sisters Cisely and Mariel and parents Asalia Nazario and Dagoberto Galan.Cisely Saldana Instagram

Cisely Saldana Instagram

Although it was hard for her after Aridio died, Asalia did find love again. She married a Dominican man named Dagoberto Galán. It’s not clear when exactly the two wed, but Galán has become a part of the family. In fact, Zoe considers him another father.

“My dad Dagoberto Galán has been a lifesaver to all of us,” she once toldThe Huffington Post. “His patience, wisdom and sense of humor keeps all the women in my family sane.”

She continued, “There is a reason I don’t call him my stepfather but my dad, because since day one that’s what he’s been to my sisters and I — a father. He’s our kind of crazy beautiful!”

Zoe finds ways to honor and remember her dad

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

During an interview withThe Telegraph,she shared some of her favorite things to remember about her dad.

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

The actress also honored Aridio when she became a mom. In November of 2014, she and Perego welcomed twin boys, Cy Aridio and Bowie Ezio. The couple chose their middle names after their grandfathers. (Ezio is Perego’s father’s name.)

Asalia has had a huge influence on Zoe’s career

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

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

Zoe later went on to star in various science-fiction films. “I have to say, the sci-fi inclination that I have unconsciously came from her,” she toldEntertainment Weekly. “My mom used to love reading about2001: A Space Odyssey, and [was] just always curious about the unknown — not questioning, but wondering. And she gave my sisters and I that.”

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

During an appearance onThe Late Show with James Cordenin 2019, Zoe joked that Asalia often confuses her with a different actress:Thandiwe Newton, saying, “My mom stillthinks I’m inWestworld.”

Asalia witnessed Zoe earn her first Oscar

Asalia Nazario and Zoe Saldaña in 2025.Stefanie Keenan/VF25/WireImage for Vanity Fair

Stefanie Keenan/VF25/WireImage for Vanity Fair

“I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands, and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award and I know I will not be the last,” Zoe said during her acceptance speech.

source: people.com