In Colombiana, Zoë Saldaña shines as Cataleya, a fierce assassin on a mission of revenge, making it one of the most gripping action thrillers of the 2010s. Her powerful performance, alongside standout roles by Amandla Stenberg and a dynamic supporting cast, proves that Afro-Latina leads belong at the center of high-stakes cinema.
The casting of Zoë Saldaña as Nina Simone in the 2016 biopic sparked widespread backlash for perpetuating colorism and erasing Simone’s unapologetically dark-skinned identity. From the use of blackface to a prosthetic nose, the film failed to honor the legacy of a woman whose artistry was rooted in her experience as a proud, dark-skinned Black woman.
