Zoe Saldana ditched dancing for acting

Zoe Saldana began acting when she realized she would never be the best dancer in the world.

The 33-year-old beauty began her career as a ballet dancer, but decided she should give Hollywood a shot when she realized she had peaked at her first love and wouldn’t get any better.

“Dancing was my passion for so many years and then one day I realized that I wasn’t going to be as good as I wanted to be. I felt that my body had reached its potential. I wasn’t OK with just being in the corps,” she said.

“But I knew that I wanted to continue exploring the arts.”

However, it wasn’t acting in particular she was fascinated by, but simply by the idea of using her voice.

“Acting was something I was curious about, because when I was dancing I felt something was missing,” she said.

“I realized it was my voice I loved using my voice so I stared acting in theater.”

Movie roles were steady from 2000, but it was only in 2009 she hit the big time with major roles in Star Trek and Avatar, and she admits it took time to sink in she had made it.

“Months went by after the Oscars and while prepping for Columbiana it kind of sunk in. It started with Star Trek and culminated in Avatar and the fact that both those films were so well received, globally. I just felt very overwhelmed,” she added.