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How Sci-Fi Star Zoe Saldaña Got Her Big Break Starring in a Burger King Commercial (WATCH)
Jimmy Fallon surprised the Avatar actress by showing the vintage ad during her recent Tonight Show appearance.
Zoe Saldaña might be a "sci-fi queen," but she started out with the king. Burger King, that is.
On March 28, the Avatar actress appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to talk about her role in the new movie, The Absence of Eden, and also filming additional scenes for the highly-anticipated Avatar 3.
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In addition to discussing her future sure-to-be blockbusters, Host Jimmy Fallon asked Saldaña about the beginning of her acting career. "Was there ever a moment in your career where you go, 'I made it?'" he inquired.
"Yes. When I was 19, I booked a Burger King commercial," she answered. "I didn't think it was a big deal, but when I came home after shooting it, my family, they were all waiting for me outside. When you're from Jackson Heights [Queens], you live in a building, and one block is filled with like six buildings. They were all outside and they had called the neighbors. They called everybody in the Caribbean, like, 'She's in a Burger King commercial! She's eating a french fry, and they're singing this song.' It was funny."
"And I felt like, 'Oh I think I'm going to go places after this,'" Saldaña recalled with a cheeky smile.
Zoe Saldaña's vintage Burger King commercial
Fallon then pressed the Star Trek star for more details about the Burger King commercial. Saldaña said she was "just eating a french fry. It was really stale and cold, but I made it seem like it was the most delicious french fry."
"Well we actually knew that you were coming on the show, so we found this commercial," Fallon revealed to a surprised Saldaña. He rolled the vintage ad, which featured a young Saldaña sitting on a city stoop enjoying a burger and fries while "Just the Two of Us" by Bill Withers played.
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After the commercial ended, Saldaña stood and took a bow, as Fallon exclaimed, "That's your big break!"
"But it was a big break because I got my SAG card from that commercial," she explained. And she ultimately was right: She did go places. Between the Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avatar film franchises, Saldana has had one ahem, whopper, of a movie career.
