Actress Zoe Saldana Reveals Dyslexia Battle in Award Winning Speech – BlackDoctor.org
Award-winning actress Zoe Saldaña added Golden Globe winner to her already impressive resume after tearfully accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress in Any Motion Picture at the Golden Globes on Sunday. The star of the hit series “Lioness”, and star of Emilia Perez, for which she won the award, opened up her speech by admitting: “I know I don’t have much time. And I have dyslexia, so I tend to forget, when I’m really anxious and I’m filled with adrenaline.”
The reference to the learning disorder was brief, but it resonated so much with fans.
On YouTube, as she spoke in her post-awards ceremony interview, user @missidljkingofkings9063 wrote, “Thank you so much for sharing, Zoe. I really appreciate it. I also have dyslexia, which mainly causes me to mix up letters and words, colors, and well as struggle with memorizing lengthy materials. I have suffered from shame and feelings of inadequacy for a long time because of it. I’ve missed out on many opportunities due to my embarrassment about dyslexia. Thank you, Zoe, for being such an inspiration!”
But this wasn’t the first time that Saldaña has spoken of it. She has told Variety that for a while, she was scared to take on certain jobs because of it. “The challenges that I’ve had, they have to do with my learning abilities,” she told the publication. “I have dyslexia and anxiety, which prevented me from really going after roles — a whole lot of roles — that I know I could have done.”
Reportedly, she felt more comfortable sticking to films like Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers and Star Trek and all of their sequels, so as not to put herself in a situation where her dyslexia would be tested. Joining the cast of Special Ops: Lioness, the Paramount+ show in which she plays alongside Nicole Kidman, was particularly scary for her, because she anticipated it would involve big, passionate, and long, drawn out speeches. Saldaña said that she requested her scripts weeks in advance and hired a line reader to work with her daily when she accepted the role.
“I would memorize, memorize, memorize, and by the time that scene would come, it was an extension of who I was — like ballet,” she said. “The worst thing that [the writer Taylor Sheridan] can do is to change a scene last minute or add dialogue. That’s when I’m like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, that’s dyslexia 2.0’ — that will be the next step.”
How Dyslexia Affects the Brain
Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects a person’s ability to read and write accurately and fluently. It’s caused by a neurobiological issue that affects the phonological component of language.
Some characteristics of dyslexia include:
- Difficulty with verbal memory, verbal processing speed, and phonological awareness
- Poor spelling and decoding skills
- Problems with reading comprehension
- Reduced reading experience
Dyslexia is a chronic condition that can be managed by a medical professional. While there’s no cure currently, many symptoms can be improved.
Dyslexia can affect people of any gender or socio-economic background, and it occurs in all languages. It’s most often identified in elementary school, but a diagnosis can happen at any age.
Some strengths of people with dyslexia include: Curiosity, Imagination, Ability to understand new concepts, Large vocabulary, and Enjoyment of puzzles.
Dyslexia affects people of all races, cultures, genders, and socioeconomic groups. However, it’s often under-identified in minority communities, especially African-American and Latino communities. Some reasons for this include:
- Lack of education and funding
- Teachers may not be aware of dyslexia
- Reading issues may be attributed to a lack of intelligence or effort
- Stigma within communities
- Racist narratives about Black people and intelligence
- Structural racism in the education system
Saldana Had Very Humble Beginnings Before Hollywood
Saldana was born on June 19, 1978, in Passaic, New Jersey and raised in Queens, New York. Her parents are Aridio Saldaña, who was Dominican, and Asalia Nazario, of Puerto Rican ancestry. In an interview with Wired, Saldaña has said that she is Dominican and Puerto Rican. She and her two sisters, Cisely and Mariel, were raised bilingual in English and Spanish; the latter was their first language at home. At the age of nine her dad was killed in a car accident. Saldaña and her two sisters were subsequently sent to live with their late father’s family in the Dominican Republic. Their mother remained in New York to earn enough money to pay for her daughter’s Dominican private school.
The widowed mother Asalia married Dagoberto Galán, who became the stepfather of the girls. They consider him fully their father. As a child, while Saldaña lived with her mother and two sisters in the Dominican Republic, she returned to New York City along with her family after her sophomore year to escape political unrest.
Known primarily for her work in science fiction film franchises, she has starred in four of the highest-grossing films of all time (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame). Films she has appeared in have grossed more than $15 billion worldwide and, as of 2024, she is the second highest-grossing lead actress and the highest-grossing actress overall. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.
A trained dancer, Saldaña began her on-screen acting career in 1999 with a guest role in two episodes of Law & Order. Her first film role was in Center Stage (2000) in which she played a ballet dancer. She received early recognition for her work opposite Britney Spears in the road film Crossroads (2002).
Beginning in 2009, Saldaña achieved a career breakthrough with her roles as Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek reboot film series and Neytiri in James Cameron’s Avatar film series. She portrayed Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).
In addition to franchise work, Saldaña has starred in the science fiction film The Adam Project and the romantic drama miniseries From Scratch, both for Netflix in 2022. In 2023, she began playing the lead role of a CIA officer in the Paramount+ spy series Special Ops: Lioness.
