While box office reports and collections don’t define an actor, they are still metrics which are commonly used to measure their success. Names like Samuel L Jackson, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and Dwayne Johnson have often been associated with being the highest-grossing actors, but according to recent reports, none of them have clenched the crown. It is actually Zoe Saldana, who has now become the highest-grossing actor of all time, and according to industry tracker The Numbers, her movies have amassed over $15.47 billion (Rs 139k crore) at the box office.
This statistic seems less surprising once you take a gander at Zoe’s filmography. She once escaped the politically unstable Dominican Republic with her family, and has since worked in franchises like Avatar, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek, and The Avengers, with some other box office hits sprinkled along the way. Zoe has starred in the top three highest-grossing films of all time, which are James Cameron’s Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, at the number 1 and 3 spots, and also Avengers: Endgame by the Russo Brothers. All three films have collectively made over $8 billion (Rs 72k crore) worldwide.
Zoe also starred in Avengers: Infinity War, which amassed $2 billion (Rs 18k crore), and the Star Trek trilogy that made over $1 billion (Rs 9k crore) worldwide. Previously, she was trailing behind Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson, who also starred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But after the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash, which has earned $1.23 billion (Rs 11k crore) to date, Zoe ascended to the top spot. The actor even posted a video on her Instagram account, thanking her fans and contemporaries for supporting her in this journey.
She said in the video, “I just want to express my sincerest gratitude for the extraordinary journey that has led me to become the highest-grossing film actor of all time today. An achievement made possible entirely by the incredible franchises and the collaborators that I have been fortunate enough to be a part of, to every director who placed their trust in me.” She mentioned the Russos, Cameron, and Abrams for their support and for “believing in my potential, for seeing something in me that I have not always seen in myself, and for challenging me to always rise to the occasion.”
