It’s already hard being a working parent but, for a celebrities like Zoe Saldaña, I imagine it can feel impossible. Juggling raising kids and traveling from one new location after the next can be difficult. And, in Saldaña’s case, the hard work really speaks for itself, since she holds a box office record that makes her the highest-grossing lead actor of all time. Despite the success, though, the A-lister recently talked about not being immune to the “challenges” that come with being a working mom and a Hollywood star.
The topic came up while Saldaña was promoting the third season of Lioness, which just recently premiered as part of the 2026 TV schedule. She with People about what she and her character, Joe McNamara, have in common and, now, I can’t help but think of the parallels. She explains:
It almost feels unfair to try to compare, I would say the challenges that I face as a working mom to the challenges that Joe [McNamara] faces. But there are similarities. The only thing is that mine are more diluted. I am going through, you know, a time when my kids are getting older, and they’re really being vocal about how they want to live and where they want to live. And the life of an artist means it’s a nomadic life. You’re here today, you’re somewhere else tomorrow. And it’s not necessarily for every family.
While for her the obstacles are more “diluted,” this doesn’t make it easier to do a juggling act. She may be focusing on the premiere of Lioness now but, just last year, she was promoting two films. She had a voice part in Pixar’s imaginative Elio, and she did extensive press for Avatar: Fire and Ash, in which she reprised her role as Neytiri. And all that came only a year after her whirlwind of a press run for Emilia Pérez, for which she won an Oscar.
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It seems Saldaña (understandably) wants to work but also have time for her three children, whom she shares with husband Marco Perego. Speaking of which, her sons don’t watch her movies. And it’s not just because they don’t want to see their mom on screen but, as she explained, “They don’t like violence.”
Going back to her challenges in being a working mom, though, the Guardians of the Galaxy star is fully aware that her circumstances differ from those of other women as well as her Lioness character:
And so I can only imagine. I’m only dealing with one decimal of what Joe has to deal with.
I’m sure Joe wishes she had fewer bullets to deal with and more late-night shoots. But, while Zoe Saldaña has given the credit to Taylor Sheridan for his creating strong female characters, critics have loved her (and fellow actresses) performance. When the series premiered, critics praised it. The show, which can be watched with a Paramount+ subscription, only seems to be getting better, so Saldaña’s work hasn’t been done in vain.
Between stunts and knock-out emotional performances, Saldaña makes being a working mom in Hollywood look easy, even if it’s anything but. It surely takes a village, but I applaud her for navigating all that.