Star Trek gained a new Academy Award-winning actor when Zoe Saldaña won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Rita Mora Castro in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez. Saldaña played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond. Zoe’s Oscar win puts her in rarified air alongside the handful of other Star Trek actors who won Academy Awards.
Zoe Saldaña redefined the role of Lt. Uhura, which was originated by Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek: The Original Series. In Star Trek‘s alternate Kelvin Timeline, the younger Uhura was a genius at xenolinguistics, and a Starfleet Academy peer of the future Captain of the USS Enterprise, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine). Uhura was also in a relationship with Commander Spock (Zachary Quinto). Lt. Uhura played a pivotal role in the Starship Enterprise’s saving the galaxy in all three J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek movies.
Zoe Saldaña Is Star Trek’s Newest Academy Award-Winning Actress
Saldaña Joins Michelle Yeoh & Holly Hunter As Star Trek Oscar Winners
With her Best Supporting Actress win for Emilia Pérez, Zoe Saldaña joins Michelle Yeoh, Holly Hunter, Jamie Lee Curtis, and others as Oscar-winning actors in Star Trek. Yeoh played Captain Philippa Georgiou and Emperor Philippa Georgiou before winning the Best Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once. Yeoh’s Everything Everywhere co-star, Jamie Lee Curtis, also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and Jamie Lee cameos in Star Trek: Section 31, which was headlined by Michelle Yeoh.
Zoe Saldaña stars in three of the six highest-grossing films of all time.
Star Trek‘s next series in production, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, stars Holly Hunter, who won the Best Actress Oscar for The Piano, and has three other Academy Award nominations. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 1’s recurring villain is played by Paul Giamatti, who was Academy Award-nominated for his roles in Cinderella Man and The Holdovers. Along with her Oscar, Zoe Saldaña stars in three of the six highest-grossing films of all time: Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Zoe Saldaña’s Oscar Is Proof Star Trek 4 Needs To Be Made ASAP
Star Trek 4 Could Also Be Different After Zoe’s Oscar Win
Zoe Saldaña hasn’t played Lt. Uhura since Star Trek Beyond in 2016. Still, Zoe, along with her fellow Star Trek actors Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, and Sofia Boutella, has publicly expressed her desire to return to the Starship Enterprise. Star Trek 4 remains in development hell despite a 2024 report that Steve Yockey was hired to write a new script. Perhaps Saldaña becoming a newly-minted Oscar winner could be the impetus to put Star Trek 4 on the fast track.
However, Zoe Saldaña’s Oscar could also change Star Trek 4, if it happens. Lt. Uhura is generally considered a supporting character, although Saldaña’s version has had more agency in her Star Trek movies. It’s possible Zoe’s Oscar could make Uhura more of a lead character and make Star Trek‘s big three of Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy a quartet. It would be logical for Star Trek to take advantage of the gift that Zoe Saldaña is now an Academy Award-winner to put more urgency into getting Star Trek 4 made.
