Zoe Saldaña Makes Box Office History as the Highest-Grossing Actor of All Time
Zoe Saldaña has officially reached a milestone that puts her in a league of her own. Thanks to the continued global dominance of Avatar: Fire and Ash, the actor now holds the title of the highest-grossing actor of all time, a record built on franchise power, longevity, and a run of films that audiences keep showing up for.
With Avatar: Fire and Ash adding even more fuel to the fire, Zoe Saldaña has surpassed Scarlett Johansson and now sits comfortably ahead of heavyweights like Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., and Chris Pratt. Collectively, her films have pulled in more than $15.4 billion worldwide, an achievement few performers can even come close to touching.
What makes this even more impressive is how consistently Saldaña has been part of massive cultural moments. She’s played Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Neytiri in the Avatar saga, and Nyota Uhura in the modern Star Trek films. Combined, they’ve turned her into a box office force that just keeps climbing.
Back in 2023, Saldaña already made history as the first actor ever to appear in four films that each crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide. Now she’s added another record on top of that, reinforcing just how rare her career trajectory has been in Hollywood.
Her resume stretches back to the early 2000s and includes appearances in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, all three Avatar films released so far, five MCU entries including the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, along with the trio of Star Trek reboot films.
On top of all that blockbuster success, she also picked up an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress last year for her performance in Emilia Pérez.
Right now, Saldaña can be seen on the small screen leading the Paramount+ series Lioness, while fans continue to look ahead to what’s next for Pandora. James Cameron said of that:
"I don't know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does," he said recently, leaving the future open-ended. "I'm not going to rule it out. I mean, I've got to make it in a vigorous way, to handle the kind of volume and energy of the work for another six or seven years. You know what I mean? I might not be able to do that.”
For now, Avatar 4 remains on the calendar with a theatrical release date set for December 21, 2029. And Saldaña’s place in movie history is locked in.