Interviews with Latinos shaping entertainment

Zoe Saldana and Benicio del Toro on Guardians

Updated April 2026

“Guardians of the Galaxy,” one of the most anticipated films this summer, is finally arriving to theaters this Friday!  What’s best is that Zoe Zaldana and Benicio del Toro, two prominent Hollywood-Latinos, have amazing roles in the film. In this interview, they discuss their roles in-depth and the reasons they decided to be a part of the film.

Saldana plays Gamora, a humanoid assassin also known as “the deadliest woman in the whole galaxy,” yet another huge part that will catapult her in the Hollywood ranks and solidify her A-list status.

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During the interview, the Dominican actress spoke about what attracted her to the film. “James Gunn and the possibility of joining the Marvel  family and doing a Marvel movie,” she said.

In terms of her role as Gamora  she explains that  she was drawn to it because “she  was such a wonderful asset to the Guardians and…has this perfect sense of justice.”

Although she loved playing the heroine, physically becoming her  was not a thrilling process for the actress. “That was a bit of a canker sore I have to say…Doing the old-style way where you get to sit down and you kind of go through the Michael Jackson/Eddie Murphy process of transformation is not easy if you are a very ADD person,” she joked. “It was everyday for five months, but the end result was so rewarding that it made it all worth it.“

In the film, Benicio del Toro plays the immortal villain “Elder of the Universe” also known as The Collector.

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During an interview he explains that  he really liked the collaboration with James Gunn. “I could sense when he liked an idea and when he like and idea, that gave me like the green light to explore that idea,” he said. “That was a great collaboration and made it a lot of fun to work on this.“

Both of these actors bring an important layer to the film and to the overall Marvel franchise as Latinos look to see more of  themselves in films.

Saldana has a great track record when it comes to the sci-fi genre already having played Uhura in “Star Trek” and Neytiri in “Avatar,” so the following that she has garnered with those films will be looking to see how she transforms herself into another great female warrior. Now, speaking of females, The actress will also bring in a huge number of women. As I established before, this summer the ladies are sticking it to sexist Hollywood and supporting more kick-ass female leads by spending their money on films like “Lucy” and “Maleficent,” so Gamora will definitely call strongly to this audience.

Since 2009 Saldana’s career has been taking off with key roles in “Star Trek” and “Avatar,” and in the past year she’s been hard at work , which hopefully turns into plenty of nominations next award season. Aside from “Guardians of the Galaxy,” the controversial “Nina,” and “The Book of Life” are set to be released this year.

What do you think of these two Latinos and their roles in “Guardians of the Galaxy? Share your thoughts in the comments below.