Zoe Saldana made it a family affair at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Wednesday evening.
The 46-year-old actress hit the red carpet at The Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, California on Wednesday evening.
She was joined with her three children – 10-year-old twins Cy and Bowie and 8-year-old Zen – who she shares with her husband of 11 years, Marco Perego.
The Avatar star was being honored with the American Riviera Award for, ‘outstanding achievement in American film.’
Previous honorees include Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Stewart and Brendan Fraser, with the award coming off her critically-acclaimed role in Emilia Perez.
She’s up for her first Academy Award this year, and has already won a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her portrayal of Rita in the film.
![Zoe Saldana hits the red carpet with her three children before she accepts the American Riviera award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival Zoe Saldana hits the red carpet with her three children before she accepts the American Riviera award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/13/08/95162367-0-image-a-46_1739433724790.jpg)
Zoe Saldana made it a family affair at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Wednesday evening.
![Zoe Saldana hits the red carpet with her three children before she accepts the American Riviera award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2 The Avatar star was being honored with the American Riviera Award for, 'outstanding achievement in American film.'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/13/08/95162373-0-image-a-47_1739433736779.jpg)
The Avatar star was being honored with the American Riviera Award for, ‘outstanding achievement in American film.’
Saldana stepped out in a stunning and sleeveless black shimmering gown on the red carpet Wednesday evening.
She had her black hair pulled back into a long braid and accessorized with unique diamond earrings and several rings.
She completed her look with black pointed-toe pumps for the evening, as she also posed on the red carpet alongside Rob Lowe, who presented the award to her.
The actress opened up about her performance in Emilia Perez during the Q&A at the film festival.
‘It just felt like I was reconnecting with parts of me that I felt I had left behind when I left New York and I came here to Tinseltown,’ she said.
‘And the last couple of years I had been sort of having this desire to reconnect, but never in a million years would I have ever imagined it was going to come in the form of a Jacques Audiard movie,’ Saldana admitted.
‘It was just everything I had asked for, but in one story,’ she added of this role of a lifetime.
When asked how the film was pitched to her, she revealed that after director Jacques Audiard pitched the film to her agency, CAA, her agents started calling her, ‘incessantly.’
![Zoe Saldana hits the red carpet with her three children before she accepts the American Riviera award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 3 She completed her look with black pointed-toe pumps for the evening, as she also posed on the red carpet alongside Rob Lowe.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/13/08/95162369-0-image-a-48_1739433991496.jpg)
She completed her look with black pointed-toe pumps for the evening, as she also posed on the red carpet alongside Rob Lowe.
![Zoe Saldana hits the red carpet with her three children before she accepts the American Riviera award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 4 The actress opened up about her performance in Emilia Perez during the Q&A at the film festival.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/13/08/95162365-0-image-a-49_1739434616058.jpg)
The actress opened up about her performance in Emilia Perez during the Q&A at the film festival.
![Zoe Saldana hits the red carpet with her three children before she accepts the American Riviera award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 5 'It just felt like I was reconnecting with parts of me that I felt I had left behind when I left New York and I came here to Tinseltown,' she said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/13/08/95162363-0-image-a-50_1739434622050.jpg)
‘It just felt like I was reconnecting with parts of me that I felt I had left behind when I left New York and I came here to Tinseltown,’ she said
![Zoe Saldana hits the red carpet with her three children before she accepts the American Riviera award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 6 'And the last couple of years I had been sort of having this desire to reconnect, but never in a million years would I have ever imagined it was going to come in the form of a Jacques Audiard movie,' Saldana admitted.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/13/08/95162361-0-image-a-51_1739434625917.jpg)
‘And the last couple of years I had been sort of having this desire to reconnect, but never in a million years would I have ever imagined it was going to come in the form of a Jacques Audiard movie,’ Saldana admitted.
‘We have this conversation and I just hear Jacques Audiard and I’m like, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”‘ she admitted.
‘They proceed to tell me it’s this drug lord who was always meant to be a woman and they hire this professional lawyer, that would be you, to help him transition,’ she said.
Then her reps casually added, ‘It’s going to be a musical, by the way, and in Spanish,’ as the Santa Barbara crowd started to laugh.
Emilia Perez is up for 13 Academy Awards, including Saldana for Best Supporting Actress and Best Picture.