…Well, at least this is how Peter Howell of The Toronto Star, opens his article, entitled “For Avatar, Star Trek actress Saldana, a very good year” on the steep climb of Saldana’s career this year. So I guess Sergio’s crystal ball gazing in his post here in May this year in which he names her “the next black actress destined for a major breakout, Hollywood, A-list career since Halle Berry” was certainly prophetic. It’s interesting to note, however, that the article doesn’t mention any of the other less block busting roles she has/will appear in beween this year and next, most of which seem to be ensemble pieces - The Skeptic, Takers, Burning Palms, The Losers, and Death at a Funeral.

I hope, for Saldana’s sake, however, that her career takes a better turn than Berry’s. Since winning her Best Actress Oscar in 2001 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, Berry’s career has been somewhat luck lustre, with only the ensemble film X-Men: The Last Stand seeming to keep her ranked among the top 10 actresses who give a return on investment according to Forbes Magazine, as I posted here back in October (Berry came in at number 7).

So while Saldana has had roles in two of this year’s hotly anticipated and well received films, Star Trek and Avatar, the real test of her star quality will surely be whether or not she can carry a film on her own, or at least one in which she plays the female lead, sans CGI, 3D animation, blue skin… If she can do this, either by being the main draw or by starring up against one of Hollywood’s already leading men or an equally new ”It Boy” (who, yes, Accidentalvistor, will most likely be white ), then I’ll say that her place in the fermament will be secured. At 31, however, and with Hollywood’s tendency towards ageism when it comes to leading ladies, such a role had better happen sometime soon in the next few years or she may just lose her window of opportunity. My money though, would be on her doing a Meryl Streep and parlaying her way into a career with some depth and longevity - even though she hasn’t quite started off on the same footing as Streep, who has always been valued more for her acting than her looks.

Whatever the case, I’ll gladly rejoice in her success this year and hope to see her do more and more in 2010 and the years to come.

Here’s an excerpt from the Toronto Star interview, in which she talks about her role in Avatar:

“It was the character that challenged me the most in my entire career. We were shooting under the technology of performance capture; it wasn’t as easy as everybody thinks where you just show up and lend your voice and have these visual illustrators try to create a character out of it. Everything we did – 95 per cent of it – was translated onto the screen.”

Click here to read the full article.