Zoe Saldaña’s Oscar glory was long overdue, according to her Avatar director James Cameron.
The Oscar-winning Titanic filmmaker shared his reaction to Saldaña taking home the Best Supporting Actress prize for Emilia Pérez at the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 2.
“I was so happy to see Zoe acknowledged as the world-class performer we in the Avatar family have always known her to be,” Cameron, 70, told Variety in a statement.
“Her acceptance speech was a noble reminder of what immigrant families bring to the U.S. and to Hollywood,” he added.
Cameron has directed Saldaña in 2009’s Avatar and its sequel, 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water. She reprises her role as the blue alien Neytiri in the next installment, Avatar: Fire and Ash, in theaters December 2025.
Saldaña, 46, said in January that Cameron was one of the first people to contact her after her Golden Globe win for Emilia Pérez to congratulate her.
She told reporters in the press room backstage on Jan. 5, “I was sitting in the audience and I received a message from James Cameron, who’s somewhere in New Zealand right now cutting Avatar: Fire and Ash. And he, after all these years, believes in me.”
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“That, to me, nourishes my desire to continue growing as an artist,” Saldaña added of Cameron’s continued support.
Saldaña’s breakout role came in the 2000 film Center Stage, and she has since gone on to star in the highest-grossing film franchises of all time, including Avatar, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Trek.
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On Instagram the morning after her big Oscar night, the star wrote on Instagram, “Wow! Winning this award is truly surreal.”
“To be recognized among such incredibly talented women is an honor in itself, and to win for Emilia Pérez, a project that means so much to me, makes it even more special,” she wrote.
“This journey has been deeply personal, and I’m so grateful to everyone who supported, believed in, and poured into this with me. Thank you to The Academy for this recognition and to my amazing peers for the inspiration. This moment is one I’ll cherish forever!”
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