Zoe Saldana, the highest-grossing actress in history

Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña has officially become the highest-grossing actress of all time, after the box-office success recently recorded by the feature film “Avatar: Fire and Ash”, reports the American Variety magazine on Tuesday, quoted by News.ro.

Saldaña has starred in the three highest-grossing films of all time — 2009's “Avatar” and its 2022 sequel, “The Way of Water,” which is No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, and 2019's “Avengers: Endgame,” which is No. 2. She is also the first actress to appear in four films that have grossed more than $2 billion globally, including “Avengers: Infinity War” in 2018. In addition to “Avatar” and other appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Gamora (she starred in three “Guardians of the Galaxy” films), Saldaña also played Nyota Uhura in the “Star Trek” trilogy, which generated more than $1 billion worldwide.

In 2024, the worldwide grosses of her films totaled over $14 billion, placing her in third place on this list, behind her MCU co-stars Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson.

However, Saldaña climbed to the top spot after the December release of the third film in the “Avatar” franchise, which has grossed $1.23 billion to date. His films have now grossed a total of $15.47 billion, according to a calculation by Numbers.

Zoe Saldaña had a big year in 2025: in March, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “Emilia Pérez” and made history as the first Dominican-American to win an Oscar. The musical, directed by Jacques Audiard, earned Saldaña awards at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered, as well as a number of awards season honors, including a SAG Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award.

“I feel great,” Saldaña recently told Variety about now having the prefix “Oscar winner.” “My husband (director Marco Perego Saldaña) is very funny. He has a joke that he always says, 'Z, you can't do anything now without people calling you 'Oscar winner'. You can't rob a bank, because it's going to be like, 'Oscar winner…' I'm like, 'Oh my God,'” she said, laughing. “But it's true. I'm honored. I'm very happy. But I also say to myself: 'OK, let's keep working.'

In Avatar: Fire and Ash, Saldaña reprises her role as Na'vi warrior Neytiri, whose relationship with human soldier-turned-Na'vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is central to the franchise's story. To transform the Afro-Latina actress into a blue-skinned, 2.4-meter-tall humanoid, the film uses an innovative form of performance-capture technology pioneered by director James Cameron.

“The reason this world is so real to so many people is because acting was the most important element for Jim,” explained Saldaña. “Performance capture gives the actor the ability to not depend so much on all the things that can sometimes be a lot of fun in regular live-action movies. Performance capture gives you the gift of connection and giving your whole heart and energy into that scene, at that moment.”

Zoe Saldaña is expected to return for “Avatar 4” (scheduled for December 2029) and “Avatar 5” (scheduled to debut in December 2031).