Zoe Saldaña, a well-known Hollywood actor with several blockbuster roles, has experienced sexism in the industry.

A producer once told her, “I hired you to look good in your underwear holding a gun.” Saldaña rose to fame with her roles in Star Trek and James Cameron’s Avatar, which helped her establish herself as a bankable star.

Despite her accomplishments, Saldaña’s talent was once overlooked for her looks.

Saldaña did not reveal the name of the project or the producer, but she shared that when she was hired for the project, she was told that the executives loved her work and wanted to work with her.

She was encouraged to provide input and share her opinions throughout the filming process.

However, she soon learned that her input was not valued.

“A producer said, ‘I hired you to look good in your underwear holding a gun,” Saldaña told Allure.

She thought she was doing what she was hired and asked to do by giving her opinions, but the producer was so annoyed with her that he branded her as difficult.

Saldaña shared that the producer was bothered by the fact that he had to disrupt his vacation to call her and tell her to stop being a difficult b****.

This experience was a realization for Saldaña that sexism and mistreatment of women in the industry is real.

She wished she had recorded the conversation to “play it for every girl in elementary school and tell them never to let anybody treat them that way.”

It’s possible that the movie Saldaña was referring to was The Losers, which was released in 2010.

Pirates of the Caribbean is another groundbreaking movie that gave Saldaña notoriety.

However, Saldaña had a difficult time behind the scenes, which almost made her quit the movie.

She spoke to The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, stating that “those weren’t the right people for me.” She clarified that she wasn’t talking about the POTC cast, who were lovely, but was referring to “the political stuff that went on behind closed doors,” which almost made her quit the movie.

Saldaña claimed she was treated less than favorably on the set and that it was “very elitist.” She was disrespected by people who looked at her number on a call sheet and thought she was not important.

Saldaña started her acting career as a member of the theater group Faces.

She appeared in an episode of Law & Order in 1999 and did her first film a year later.

She starred in various projects, including Crossroads, Drumline, POTC: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and The Terminal.

It wasn’t until 2009 that Saldaña would get her breakthrough, appearing in Star Trek, which was a success and pivoted her career.

Her second high-profile project was Avatar, which grossed $2.7 billion at the box office.

Saldaña continued to appear in The Losers, Columbiana, Takers, and Death at A Funeral before joining the Marvel franchise with The Guardians of the Galaxy.

Saldaña’s roles in Avatar, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame make her the only actor to appear in three of the five highest-grossing films of all time.

Despite her success, Saldaña has faced sexism and mistreatment in the industry, which she hopes to change for future generations of women.