Zoe Saldana becomes highest-grossing actress of all time

Thanks to the recent box-office success of the feature film Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zoe Saldana — who also has an Academy Award to her name — has officially become the actress whose films have generated the highest cumulative box-office revenue of all time, the American magazine Variety reported.

Zoe Saldana had already appeared in the films occupying the top three positions on the list of the highest-grossing movies in history — Avatar (2009) and its 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, ranked first and third respectively, as well as Avengers: Endgame (2019), which ranks second. She is also the first actress in the world to appear in four films that each grossed more than $2 billion globally, thanks to her role in the 2018 blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

In addition to her roles in the Avatar franchise and her appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as Gamora — including three films in the Guardians of the Galaxy series — Saldana also portrayed Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek film trilogy, which earned more than $1 billion worldwide.

By 2024, the actress’s global box-office total exceeded $14 billion, placing her third among the highest-grossing actors of all time, behind her MCU colleague Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. However, Zoe Saldana rose to first place following the December 2025 release of the third installment of the Avatar franchise, which has so far grossed $1.23 billion. At present, her films have accumulated a combined total of $15.47 billion in box-office revenue, according to figures compiled by The Numbers.

Zoe Saldana enjoyed an exceptional year in 2025. In March, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her powerful performance in Emilia Perez, becoming the first American-Dominican artist ever to win an Oscar. The bold musical, directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, also earned her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered, as well as sweeping major honors during awards season, including the SAG Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Critics Choice Award.

In Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zoe Saldana reprises her role as the warrior Neytiri of the Na’vi tribe, whose relationship with human soldier-turned-Na’vi leader Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) lies at the heart of the franchise’s storyline. To transform the Afro-Latina actress into a blue-skinned humanoid standing 2.4 meters tall, the film employs an innovative form of full-performance capture technology — including body movement, facial expressions, and voice — developed by director James Cameron.

As reported by CE Report, industry experts expect Zoe Saldana to return in the next two films of the Avatar franchise — Avatar 4 (scheduled for release in December 2029) and Avatar 5 (set for December 2031) — meaning the American actress is likely to continue starring in films that achieve strong results at the global box office.

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