Yahoo Lifestyle Zoë Saldaña's Husband Encouraged Her to Audition for 'Emilia Pérez'
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ICYMI, actor Zoë Saldaña has been married to her husband, artist Marco Perego Saldaña, for over a decade (!!). And together, the cute (and, like, seriously stunning) couple shares three children—10-year-old twins Cy and Bowie and eight-year-old Zen—and constantly collaborates on cool projects together.
Despite their busy lives in the public eye, Zoë and Marco are a pretty low-key couple, so there's not a ton of intel on man who's been in the Emilia Pérez star's life all these years. Enter: us, with our PhD's in professional snooping and highly-advanced sources (Instagram and the internet). Let's get into what you should know about Zoë's husband Marco, shall we?
Zoë and Marco met on a flight.
Talk about a meet-cute! These lovebirds met back in 2013 on a trip to New York (Marco moved to the city from his native Italy to pursue a career as an artist), and sparks flew before the Golden Globe-nominated actor even saw what Marco looked like.
"I just saw him from behind. It was 6:30 in the morning, I was on a flight to New York," Zoë dished to USA Today during a 2015 interview. "And I can't even describe to you, it was a vibration. He turned in that moment, because he felt the vibration as well."
Zoë added it was a new feeling for her considering she was definitely a skeptic about the concept of love at first sight: "I know people don't believe in it; I didn't believe in it. I'm a very Sigmund Freud person, I'm very logical. But that—I'm okay not having an explanation for that. Because I don't need to explain that. It was enough that I felt it. And that was it."
What makes their whole 'ship even more ~fated~ is the actor had actually known of Marco's work since 2008—prior to even meeting him IRL! During a separate convo with The Hollywood Reporter in July 2014, she dished, "I've known my partner for five years. I knew of his work. I knew of him. Then we met." So 😭 happy 😭 for 😭 them 😭.
They got married after 3 months of dating.
Yep, these two wound up tying the knot in June 2013 in a super-secret wedding ceremony that took place in London. The whole affair was hush-hush, but one insider spoke with People at the time and confirmed the obvious: Zoë and Marco were "very happy."
These two managed to keep things so low-key that the first time they were photographed wearing their wedding rings was a whole three months later in September after they left Loulou's members club in Mayfair together.
Years later, when speaking about her decision to marry Marco with Marie Claire, Zoë confessed, "I don’t do the ABCs, I do what my heart says, what my heart feels. So, from the moment I met my husband, we were together. We knew."
The actor also explained that learning "not to settle" was the most important thing she valued in relationships. "If you're not happy with a person, leave. And wait until you find that one person who makes you feel good about yourself every single day and is not expecting you to change, but to grow."
That same month, Zoë told The Hollywood Reporter that she and Marco had "both individually vowed" to never get married—that is, until they met. "And as soon as we decided we were going to get married, we didn't wait," she said. "We did it three weeks later. That part was very, very quick."
But the proposal didn't exactly go as expected.
In April 2024, the couple made an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show to discuss their marriage—and the story of how their engagement didn't exactly go as planned.
During the episode, Marco explained that prior to asking the actor to marry him, he flew to the Dominican Republic—where much of Zoë's family lives—to visit her father's grave and film himself asking permission to marry her.
"Zoe is a little spicy as a Latina, and I say to Zoe, 'I'm going to New York. I need to do something for work,'" the filmmaker recalled. "I actually went to the Dominican Republic, [to say] thanks [to] her stepfather and all the family who support me."
"But when I arrived back to London...she said, 'Where you been?' And I say, 'I've been in a place, but you need to wait a couple of hours and I'll let you know,'" he continued. Zoë—understandably!—didn't take the info well and proceeded to get out of the taxi they were in...while in the middle of traffic!
Marco then continued to detail how he told his now-wife he needed to speak with her. "And she said, 'Absolutely not.' And I say, 'No, but please I need to say something to you.'" Eventually, however, Zoë relented and Marco was able to show her the vid—and ask her to marry him.
Truly a story for the books!
Marco took Zoë's last name. 🥺❤️
A fact that I will most certainly be hammering home to my future husband! Marco took his wife's last name when they got married in 2013. It was in a 2015 Facebook post that Zoë first opened up about it. The message read, in part:
"Fathers, sons, brothers, men everywhere: Your legacy will not perish if you take your partner's surname, or she keeps hers...I felt proud that my husband decided to take my last name as his own...and I his…He also asked me, 'Why not? What are you so afraid of?' And it made me wonder...What am I so afraid of? Why is it so surprising, shocking- eventful that a man would take his wife's surname? Women have never been asked if its ok for them to give up their names—why doesn't that make the news? Men, you will not cease to exist by taking your partner's surname. On the contrary—you'll be remembered as a man who stood by change. I know our sons will respect and admire their father more because their father lead by example."
In the years since, Zoë has spoken about the decision a few times when asked, including with InStyle in 2020. "I told him, 'If you use my name, you're going to be emasculated by your community of artists, by your Latin community of men, by the world. But Marco looks up at me and says [she puts on his Italian accent], 'Ah, Zoë, I don't give a sheet,'" she recalled to the mag. I mean, talk about iconic!
The actor more recently talked about the reasoning behind the decision during a January 2025 convo with the New York Times, saying that Marco was eager to take her last name. “I didn’t ask him for it,” she said. “I was like, ‘Marco, are you sure?’ And he was like, ‘Of course I’m sure. It’s your father’s name, it’s your name.’”
Marco is a creative.
We love a man who can do it all! On top of being an ~artiste~, Marco also just so happens to be a producer, writer, and director. And he doesn't just say that for show! He acted as an executive producer on 2016’s Black and White Stripes: The Juventus Story, as well as a producer on the 2014 short film "Me + Her."
Most recently, Marco wrote and directed the 2023 drama The Absence of Eden and the 2024 short film "Dovecote," both of which he got to work on with his wife! Side note: "Dovecote" recently made it onto the Oscars shortlist, which is a very big deal—and apparently Marco struggled to get a hold of his wife to share the good news. The reason: She was busy celebrating her Emilia Pérez Golden Globe nom.
"She was not picking up [her phone] because she was busy with Emilia Pérez at the lunch for the Golden Globes," Marco told GoldDerby in December 2024. "And I kept calling and saying, 'Please answer this call!'" Relatable, save for the major award nominations.
They have three kids.
The couple had their first two children—twins Cy and Bowie—in 2014 and their third son Zen in 2016. Three years later, in 2019, Zoë opened up to Us Weekly about her future bb plans. Hint: There are none! But hearing Zoë's take on it is beyond 🥺.
"I pulled my feminist card out. I [told my husband], 'No. The answer is no.' I’m like, 'You only give me boys so just get over it. You need to come to terms with this.'…It’s like, 'Let’s raise amazing, elegant men that will bring home even better women,' you know? That’s it," she said.
In December 2024, the family of five even made a rare red carpet appearance at the premiere of Emilia Pérez in Turin, Italy. And the pictures = everything.
Marco is Zoë's biggest cheerleader.
During her recent New York Times interview, published in January 2025, Zoë explained how she *almost* backed out of her audition for Emilia Pérez—but her husband convinced her to go through with it. "Don’t you want to work with Jacques Audiard?" Mario had asked her, to which she replied, "It would be a dream." And the rest is history.
Oh, and he also encouraged her to display her Cannes trophy in their new home after Zoë initially felt shy about it. We stan a supportive partner!
That's pretty much all we know for now, but here’s to wishing Zoë and Marco much more private bliss…and many more photogenic moments!
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