Photo-Illustration: Stevie Remsberg; Photo Grey Goose/Juan Veloz

Zoe Saldaña has spent much of her career inside larger-than-life worlds and ideas: There’s the blue-body epicness of Avatar, the tactical intensity of Lioness, the operatic feelings of Emilia Pérez. And these days, she’s most interested in protecting her energy. The actress, producer, and mother of three has entered the kind of chapter where saying “yes” is no longer just about the script, the director, or the character — though those still matter. It is also about whether her family can come with her, whether the people around her feel aligned, and whether the work leaves enough of her intact to go home.

For “How I Get It Done,” Saldaña talked about lifting weights, raising her sons while working across continents, and the ambition shift that made her realize she no longer wants to move through life too quickly. “I want to walk,” she says. Below, she explains what that looks like now.

What does starting the day actually look like for you?
I can’t really function if I haven’t brushed my teeth and washed my face. Sometimes you wake up in the morning and you’ve perspired at night, so I like to remove all of that. I’m also very big on fitness, because I feel like it’s great for my mental health. It helps me organize my day. So I do that, lemon water, and then being with the family. Connection is really important before I start to connect with work and other people. I like to connect with my loved ones first.

What does movement look like for you right now?
I’m lifting. I did Pilates my whole life after ballet, and I think that it really helped me. I still do it, but I supplement it with weights. At my age, and where I’m at in my life, I like to feel strong. Lifting weights makes me feel stronger.

At first, it was training for a part. I do a show called Lioness, and there are certain requirements for my character, Joe. I have this amazing trainer, Duffy, and they designed this whole look and workout for me and my character. What started out as a work thing became a personal goal. I like the way Joe feels, and I like to take those parts of Joe home with me. It’s been four years now that I’ve been lifting weights, and I feel really great.

At this stage in your life and career, when do you know saying “yes” to a project is worth your time?
The script, the story, the character. Then it’s the team behind it, the visionary behind it. I really need to have chemistry with the director, the crew, and the cast.

But it’s mainly the story and the character that get me excited. Then I’m able to bypass all of those little perks I would want in order to feel comfortable. For some of us working moms, we do not have the ability to leave our children behind. We bring our children with us and everything and everyone that comes with that in order for the family dynamic to be consistent.

I wish I could just say it’s the script and the director and the chemistry, but now that I’m a mom, and it’s been this way for the past ten years, how and where I go and how my children and my family fit into all of that is also one of the main factors I have to consider.

Has motherhood changed the way you protect your energy on set?
In life, yes. I’ve become very selective in terms of where I put my energy. What’s important for me is to have really good energy for my life and everyone in it.

When I started my family and everything was very new, there was still this old pattern of putting it all elsewhere and then coming home a shell of myself. That really wasn’t beneficial to me growing a nice, beautiful, healthy family — not just for the children and my partner, but also for the people I’ve had to recruit to keep this village alive and functional and healthy.
I find myself being very efficient with how I manage my energy, and also very disciplined. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. Sometimes calls can be forced, and you put the crew and the film and the project before you and your best interests. But when you can’t only speak for yourself, when you speak on behalf of others who depend on you, those decisions become easier to make. I can say, “I’m so sorry, I hear you, but it’s going to have to wait until tomorrow. I have to get home.”

What does delegating look like for you? How do you know what to take on yourself and what to hand over?
Relinquishing control is important. In order to do that, you really have to curate the people you surround yourself with. You have to ask yourself: Is this person a wonderful addition to my operation? Will I gain more by being in good company, or will this hurt me or cost me more time, energy, effort, and sometimes money?

That’s not something you learn to do very early on. It comes with experience, and sometimes those experiences aren’t always wonderful. Managing people and working with people is very difficult. But with wisdom and experience, you learn there’s nothing you can’t communicate with love and respect. You can even set boundaries with love and respect. That way, everybody feels safe. You are safe for people, and you are safe with people.

I’m constantly designing a community for my children. I’m pulling them away from a foundation that is consistent and set in one place. The least I can do is be consistent with the human beings I recruit and gather around my family. Let them be good people. Let there be moral alignment, organizational alignment, work alignment, spiritual alignment. When I step out, and this community steps in to take care of my sons, they’re only gaining. It’s not like the moment I leave, there’s a void that cannot be filled.
I had to surrender this idea that I was always in control. My sons are in control as well. When we have a staff we travel with, how they feel and how they weigh in matters a great deal, because it only helps us flow better.

As a producer and as a mother, what kinds of stories do you want to make room for now?
As a woman of color, I am yearning to see more content that places people of color throughout history in different roles than the conventional roles we’re used to seeing people of color in. That excites me. I’ve never really seen Bridgerton because, lady, I have three kids and I work nonstop, but I love what Shonda Rhimes did. I think you have to be a diverse person, a person of color, to understand what that means and how important it is.

My sisters and I have taken it upon ourselves to help people like Shonda Rhimes by taking inspiration and finding IP that puts us in places where we’re dealing with many more matters in life besides civil war, slavery, housekeeping, injustice, activism. What about a marriage in the 1940s where you’re just trying to get by? Maybe we don’t give so much importance to what goes on outside the door of our home because what really matters is what’s going on inside.

That’s what I’m interested in. In a selfish way, it’s what I like to watch. I like to watch humanity unfold in all different spaces with all different faces. That’s how I curate the content I consume as an artist, so it only makes sense that I produce content like that as well.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received about longevity?
I think all of us women today are having this awareness of ourselves and each other. It is less and less about how the patriarchy may perceive us, or turning off the patriarchy, or scaring off the patriarchy, or being afraid of the patriarchy. It has given us this strength. The strength is coming from solidarity.
We are connecting as strangers, as women of different ages and in different stages. I’m no longer as anxious as I was in my 20s about getting old. I’m here, and I don’t give a f who calls me that word and who doesn’t. I know that I am the master of my own time and how I would like to live it. I’m practicing that every day and encouraging other women to do the same.
I had this wonderful conversation with an actress yesterday evening. I went to a screening of her film, and she’s a little older than I am. This is a role where she killed it. The film isn’t finished yet, and we’re peers, colleagues, friends, sisters in a way. She had this vulnerability where she admitted, “This is the first time that I’m playing a character that is of an age I never wanted to touch.” The character was much older than she is, and she was being compelled to face herself and where she is today versus living in this ideology of “I’m still the same as I was 25 years ago.”

I felt honored that she felt safe enough to have that moment. My role was not to gaslight her or lie to her. It was to be there with her. I’ve never seen her look so beautiful. I’ve never seen her be so bold and brave. That comes from the fact that I am no longer feeding the taboos and stigmas of “we don’t talk about this.” Let’s fucking talk about it. You know what’s not cool about being 47? My body aches. That’s the only thing that’s not cool about it. Everything else is incredible.

What did you used to think ambition required from you that you no longer believe?
I was just feeding the anxiety. That fear of missing out, that fear of stopping and, God forbid, something unimaginable occurs because I slowed down. There was a time when I didn’t even know what I wanted. I just didn’t know how to stop. I didn’t know how to say “no.”

My goals have shifted. I keep saying it’s this Forrest Gump moment, that montage where he starts running and then all of a sudden he’s done running. He turns around and says, “I think I’ll go home now.” The thought of that feels amazing. Just to sit on a bench and wait for my boys to get out of school. I welcome that. I want to honor that as well. Back then, I never wanted to slow down. Right now, I just want to stop running. I want to walk.

When you do have a moment to celebrate — big or small — and what does that actually look like for you? 
I like hiding with my favorite people. That’s how I celebrate. I yearn for that connection with people I truly trust and feel super-safe with. The past year has been a whirlwind, so I make sure to prioritize plans that allow me to be present and savor the moment. For me, that means seeking moments of joy, whether that’s a family vacation or at-home summer entertaining with my new favorite cocktail, the Grey Goose Berry Rouge Royale. The cocktail is made with its Berry Rouge vodka, lemonade, rosé, soda water, and fresh berries … it’s refreshing and flavorful, and I’m so excited for everyone to try it this summer.

What’s keeping you up at night lately?
Ignorance is keeping me up at night. The level of ignorance I feel we’re surrounded by is overwhelming. It makes me feel trapped and sad.
On a more personal note, it’s overall health. If you’re a mom, you think: Did they drink enough water? What was the sugar content of the day? I have to cut their ends. Have I cut their nails? You think about your partner, whether they’re okay, whether they’re too tired, whether they ate well.
I’m very much a nurturer. It’s the way I take care of my loved ones and think about them. Those are the things that keep me up at night, and extended family as well — their health and things like that.

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