Time Magazine has named actress Zoe Saldaña to the 2026 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Saldaña is featured on one of the four worldwide covers for the issue. Saldaña has repeatedly described herself as a Dominican-American, being the daughter of a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother. She spent her formative years in Santo Domingo, where she got her first training in the arts.
The tribute for her inclusion was written by Oscar-winning film director James Cameron, who highlighted her status as the highest-grossing actor in history and praised her versatility and pride in her Afro-Latina roots. The recognition follows her 2025 Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Pérez.
James Cameron stated:
“So … How to describe the phenomenon that is Zoe Saldaña? An Academy Award–winning actor, she has starred in films that together have grossed more than those of any other actor in history, male or female. She is known to many by her vivid, non-human characters: the surly, deadpan Gamora and the ferocious warrior-mother Neytiri. To those close to her, she is the most gracious, loyal, loving, and fiercely protective mother, wife, friend, and all-around incredible human being we know.
“Through her roles in Star Trek, Emilia Pérez, and others, she celebrates her Afro-Latina roots with fierce pride and courageous dignity. She can shape-shift before our eyes from heartbreaking vulnerability to the strongest icon of female badassery ever seen. In her work and in life, Zoe moves through the world with grace and beauty, elevating all of us whom she touches. She is one of one in the universe, and I am grateful every day to be among her creative partners.”
Time Magazine posted on Instagram:
“Thanks to massive franchises like ‘Avatar’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ @zoesaldana has become the highest-grossing actor in the history of film. “People like me never even imagine breaking a record,” she says. Saldaña is on the 2026 TIME100.
She tells us that she’s focused primarily on promoting the stories of women these days, hopefully by writing and directing films herself. She cites ‘The Substance’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ as the kinds of female-directed films she would like to usher to the screen.
She spent hours discussing the former film—its themes around the futility of trying to fight aging, its savage humor—with her mother.
And she went to the steamy romance with a group of girlfriends for a raucous screening, though her husband spent the whole time texting her suggestive photos. “I love the fact that the movie made me smile, and he made me smile.” Both experiences, she said, felt uniquely feminine and too fleeting.
“We’re complex creatures,” she says, “that deserve more screentime.”
16 April 2026