You would kind of have to live under a rock not to have heard of Zoe Saldaña. The Dominican-Puerto Rican actress is the highest grossing actress of all time and starred in 4 of the 6 highest grossing films of all time! Seriously!
But did you know she speaks Italian too? She married Italian artist, Marc Perego and they speak Italian in their home. In fact, they intentionally speak Italian, Spanish and English in their home to raise their three sons to be multilingual.
Zoe and her husband Marc strive to turn gender roles on their head. They raise their sons in a gender neutral home, celebrating and exploring activities and qualities regardless of how society classifies them as feminine or masculine. Marc even took her last name! She is Zoe Saldaña Perego and he is Marc Perego Saldaña. She actually tried to talk him out of it, as he navigates machista Italian and Latin American cultures, but he stands firm!
Zoe grew up surrounded by strong women and a supportive family that showed her that women need not be limited by society’s expectations. She was a sci-fi fan growing up and later was surprised to know that wasn’t typical for most girls. Zoe chooses roles carefully – she likes strong female roles. It is imperative to her that the roles she plays are consequential to the plot, not just eye candy or “fluff” as she puts it. She also loves doing her own stunts, which is aided by her background in dance!
Imagine her story wrapped up in a little book, written in simple Spanish replete with unique illustrations, that your students from Spanish 1 to AP will enjoy. Imagine you could make everyone in your class a copy, or just put a few copies in your FVR library. Imagine it only cost $2. Well, imagine no more! Click HERE.
Storytime con Sra. Jensen 