Zoe Saldana Dethrones Scarlett Johansson as the Highest-Grossing Actor of All Time

With the box office gross of Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zoe Saldaña has officially taken the position of the highest-grossing actor of all time.

The accolade is easy to come by if, like the Oscar-winner, 47, you can boast having starred in the three highest-grossing films of all time. The first is 2009’s Avatar, followed by its 2022 sequel, The Way of Water. According to Variety, those two films sit at No. 1 and 3. At No. 2 is Avengers: Endgame, in which Saldaña costarred in the packed cast as Gamora from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Additionally, the Special Ops: Lioness star is the first actress to appear in four movies that have generated more than $2 billion globally, thanks to the 2018 movie Avengers: Infinity War.

Obviously, the Avatar franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are reliable box office draws, but it’s also worth noting that Saldaña portrayed Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek trilogy that kicked off in 2009 and went on to generate $1 billion worldwide.

All these factors considered, Variety reports that Saldaña’s global box office total is more than $15 billion after the release of Fire and Ash. She’s officially toppled former highest-grossing stars Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson, her fellow MCU costars.

It seems the actress simply can’t stop choosing lucrative roles. In 2025, she won best supporting actress at the Oscars for her role in the musical Emilia Pérez. She also made history at the ceremony as the first Dominican American person to win an Academy Award ever.

In addition to her Oscar win and the third Avatar movie, Saldaña lent her voice to the Disney and Pixar animated film Elio in 2025.