Known for playing tough-as-nails heroines in science-fiction fantasies like Avatar, Star Trek, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Zoe Saldana is bringing her big-screen persona to Taylor Sheridan's upcoming espionage thriller series Special Ops: Lioness.
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Featuring other superstars like Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman, the show is based on a real-life CIA program and follows a young recruit as she navigates the dangers of her first assignment: bringing down a terrorist organization. Saldana will play the role of the station chief tasked with training new undercover female operatives. She (along with Kidman) is also serving as an executive producer.
"This is something that I wanted to do for a very long time," she said in a recent interview with ET Canada, adding that she's felt stuck in franchise land for the past decade. "I gave it my all, and it feels good."
Her commitment to franchises like Guardians and Avatar is about as long as her marriage to her husband, Marco Perego Saldana. So who is the man who captured the heart of one of Hollywood's strongest leading ladies? Here's everything we know about Zoe Saldana's long-time love.
They Met On A Flight
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In a true meet-cute fashion, Zoe and Marco met in 2013 while on a flight to New York. According to her, it was love at first sight—only from behind.
"I just saw him from behind," she told USA Today in 2015. "It was 6:30 in the morning, I was on a flight to New York. And I can't even describe to you, it was a vibration. He turned in that moment because he felt the vibration as well. I know people don't believe in it; I didn't believe in it. I'm a very Sigmund Freud person, I'm very logical.
"But I'm OK not having an explanation for that. Because I don't need to explain that. It was enough that I felt it. And that was it."
Even though that was the first time they met in person, Zoe had been aware of Marco's artwork for years prior. He's an Italian painter whose artwork has been featured in iconic places like Art Basel, the Royal Arts Academy in London, Zurich's Galerie Gmurzynska, and the Museo Tuscolano in Rome. And it seems like her knowledge of his existence only sped up their already speedy courtship.
She told The Hollywood Reporter that months after they met: "we both made the decision to do what we both individually vowed never to do—to get married."
He Took Her Last Name
For a couple as seemingly untraditional as Zoe and Marco, the fact that he took her last name isn't surprising. According to her, he saw it as becoming part of her family and representing her father's legacy, who passed away when she was a child.
"I tried to talk him out of it," she said in a 2015 interview. "I told him, 'If you use my name, you're going to be emasculated by your community of artists, by your Latin community of men, by the world.' But Marco looks up at me and says, 'Ah, Zoe, I don't give a sheet.'"
She later posted about his decision on her Facebook: "Men, you will not cease to exist by taking your partner's surname. On the contrary—you'll be remembered as a man who stood by change. I know our sons will respect and admire their father more because their father lead by example."
Marco's dedication to his wife is clear not only by his new last name but also by the fact he has her face tattooed on his arm. "It was the most romantic thing," she later told PEOPLE. "I did sort of try to talk him out of it. I've done crazier things than that, and I'm pretty sure he has, too."
He's In Showbiz
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In addition to being an artist, Marco is also a director and producer. His work includes The Absence of Eden, Black and White Stripes, and Met + Her. But it looks like his main gig as of now is helping Zoe raise their three boys: Zen, Cy Aridio, and Bowie Ezio (who are twins).
The couple has opened up about how they're teaching their kids three languages and trying to raise them in a gender-neutral household. "My husband participates in a lot of tasks that were normally given to women and vice versa," she told Us Weekly 2018. "I get to do a lot of male things, which is, I don't know, put the TV together, fix things that break. We're sort of a very gender-fluid household. I think it's important to raise boys in that environment, and girls as well."
They're Still Very Much In Love
After 10 years together, this couple is still going strong. On Valentine's Day in 2021, she posted a tribute to Marco on her Instagram.
"He can juggle three children, a mercurial wife, his work, the house and the weight of the world in the same way he kicks this ball. After 8 Valentine days together, you still manage to take my breath away just by walking into the room."
Even with their whirlwind romance clearly, these two are in it for the long haul.
READ MORE: 'Special Ops: Lioness' Cast: Meet the Star-Studded Cast of Taylor Sheridan's CIA Thriller
