Zoe Saldana Reveals Why She Turns Down Selfies with Fans in Front of Her Kids

Zoe Saldana graces the cover of the latest issue of PorterEdit, out now.

Here’s what the 39-year-old actress had to say…

On how some of her Hollywood peers look down on superhero movies: “I’ve been in rooms with people in this industry who are great at what they do, but they’re absolutely elitist and they look down at movies like the Marvel films or actors like myself. They think we’re selling out in some way. Every time they speak I feel so disappointed in them, because whenever you see pictures of people in this industry who donate their time to children in need, it’s these actors that live in the world that you feel is selling out. It’s these actors that understand the role that they play inspires a five-year-old who has one dying wish to meet a superhero. That actor takes time out of their life and sits down with that five-year-old and says, ‘I see you, I hear you, and you matter.’”

On being told that she couldn’t audition for certain roles due to her skin color: “Every time I read a script, even if it was a period piece, I read it thinking that I was going to go after the lead role. It wasn’t until I would come across the introduction of a supporting ethnic role that I realized, ‘Oh’. I wasn’t even allowed to try to get that main role, because ‘they want to go traditional on the part’. I would hang up on that conversation from my agents, thinking, ‘What about me is non-traditional’? It was a very hard pill to swallow.”

On turning down selfies with fans because she’s teaching her children about strangers: “It has been confusing to [the boys] when they see us approached for a picture; it shifts their behavior. So I talk to that person: ‘I’m teaching my sons about strangers, and [taking a picture with you] will be very confusing to them.’ The response is 100% receptive. People go, ‘My God, we get it,’ and walk away, knowing why I turned them down.”

For more from Zoe, visit Net-A-Porter.com.