Zoe Saldana has become the highest-grossing actor in global box office history, a milestone secured by the December release Avatar: Fire and Ashes. The latest part in James Cameron’s The sci-fi saga has propelled Saldaña past every other performer, cementing her position at the top of an industry meter long dominated by blockbuster franchise stars.
According to box office figures from The Numbers, Saldaña’s films have now grossed a combined $15.47 billion worldwide. She was previously ranked third, behind Marvel regulars Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson, but Fire and asheswhich has earned $1.23 billion to dateelevated her to the number 1 spot.
The achievement is rooted in a rare run of box office dominance. Saldaña is the only actor to appear in the three highest-grossing films of all time: Avatar from 2009, Avengers: Endgame from 2019 and Avatar: The Way of Water from 2022. She is also the first actress to star in four films that crossed over 2 billion dollars globallyincluding Avengers: Infinity War.
Her record reflects both scale and consistency. Beyond Avatar and her role as Gamora across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Saldaña anchored the modern Star Trek trilogy as Nyota Uhura, a series that exceeded $1 billion worldwide.
On Tuesday, Saldaña acknowledged the milestone in a video on social media, crediting collaborators including James Cameron, the Russo brothers, James Gunn and JJ Abrams, while emphasizing the role of audiences in sustaining these franchises. She concluded with a pointed note of encouragement, expressing hope that the next record-breaker would also be a woman.
The blockbuster performance comes the same year Zoe Saldaña won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez, becoming the first Dominican-American to take home an Oscar. IN Fire and ashesshe echoes Neytiri, again relying on Cameron’s performance-capture technique to ground the spectacle in character-driven work. With Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 already scheduled, Saldaña’s historic run seems far from over.
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