Zoe Saldaña has struggled with dyslexia her whole life but only recently started speaking publicly about the diagnosis.
“I don’t have much time and I have dyslexia so I tend to forget when I’m really anxious,” the actress said when accepting her Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in January 2025. “I’m filled with adrenaline.”
Saldaña took home the award for her role as Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Pérez and was immediately brought to tears. She later addressed her speech and the decision to bring up her dyslexia during an interview after the awards show.
“I think that was the reason why I was having so much anxiety, you know, days coming up to this award ceremony,” Saldaña explained to Extra at the time. “I know that when adrenaline kicks in and nerves kick in, you stop breathing and you just go blank. I was just so afraid of not recognizing people, acknowledging people onstage that are responsible for me being where I am. I’m very hard on myself so I take responsibility for everything that I do, so it was that.”
Celebs Who Scored Simultaneous TV and Movie Golden Globes Nominations
She continued, “This morning, I got so many messages from loved ones, saying, ‘Let it all go and just breathe and be in the moment and speak from truth,’ and I did, and all of a sudden, the words came.”
Keep scrolling for more quotes from Saldaña about her battle with dyslexia:
Being Hard on Herself
“I just didn’t think I was good,” Saldaña said in a January 2025 interview with The New York Times. “I always felt overlooked, but overlooked in the sense of, ‘Well, if I’m overlooked, I deserve it.’”
Her ‘Lioness’ Role
Saldaña said that taking on her role as Joe in the Paramount+ series allowed her to “believe” that she can take on any role — especially if she works “really hard.”
“I think addressing my dyslexia and my anxiety was the reason why I sort of embarked on this challenge to do a Taylor Sheridan sort of show,” she told People in October 2024. “He’s very dialogue-heavy. It’s very wordy. There’s a cadence to the way he wants the sort of the dialogues in the scenes to be said.”
The actress said she was “120 percent” prepared when stepping foot on set. “I dared myself to believe that maybe I can pull it off,” she added.
Overcoming Her ‘Challenges’
Saldaña addressed “the challenges” she had regarding her “learning abilities” during an October 2024 interview with Variety.
“I have dyslexia and anxiety, which prevented me from really going after roles — a whole lot of roles — that I know I could have done,” she explained. “I would memorize, memorize, memorize, and by the time that scene would come, it was an extension of who I was — like ballet.”
Zoe Saldana’s Proposal Story Sounds Like the Plot of a Rom-Com
She noted that the “worst thing” that could happen is changing “a scene last minute” or more dialogue. “That’s when I’m like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, that’s dyslexia 2.0’ — that will be the next step,” Saldaña added.
Being Afraid of Certain Roles
When it came to taking on her Lioness part, Saldaña said she was afraid to tackle show creator Taylor Sheridan’s writing.
“You have to follow good material wherever good material is. But it’s my fear because I know that [Sheridan] has big monologues with his characters,” she said at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024. “I’m dyslexic. Spanish is my first language.”
Getting a Diagnosis
Saldaña said she was actually “undiagnosed” with dyslexia and ADHD in a video recorded for the Child Mind Institute in March 2020.
“Something that my older self would tell my younger self is rely on those people that really believe in you and are really willing to genuinely listen to you,” she said. “It does get better, but please speak up. Don’t live in silence, because who you are and what you do and what you’re going through is not wrong.”
Going Public With Her Struggles
She shared her journey with dyslexia and ADHD during a 2018 video shared with the Child Mind Institute.
“Growing up with ADHD and dyslexia meant school was challenging,” Saldaña said. “I can’t imagine how hard a year like we’ve just had would be for kids who face the same classroom struggles that I did. Adjusting to remote learning, trying to stay focused on a screen hour after hour.”
