Zoe Saldana Premieres "Colombiana" in Miami

Hitting the red carpet to promote her latest theatrical effort, Zoe Saldana looked stunning at the Miami screening of TriStar Pictures' "Colombiana" in Miami, Florida on Monday evening (August 22).

Held at Regal South Beach, the "Avatar" beauty dazzled her way down the arrivals area as she gears up for the Olivier Megaton-directed film's August 26th release.

Also starring Michael Vartan and Amandla Stenberg, "Colombiana" tells the story of "a young woman who, after witnessing her parents' murder as a child in Bogota, grows up to be a stone-cold assassin."

In the film, Miss Saldana plays the assassin - a role in which she recently told the AP that she was quite comfortable with thanks to having hunted during her childhood.

The 33-year-old dished, "I was really prepared for the fighting and the guns. I knew I would have to learn new fighting techniques since Cataleya (Zoe's character) has a unique fighting style that she learned through her uncle on the streets. But the guns weren't an issue. I grew up around a family of hunters in the Caribbean and guns were always around. I've gone hunting before, too. I have a lot of respect for weapons. Now, I obviously didn't know about all the weapons used in this movie, but that allowed me to create my own sort of swagger."

She added, "The fight scenes were certainly easier for me because I'm a dancer. The fight scenes were all about reacting and deflecting, and that doesn't always look graceful. It takes a lot of rhythm and physical grace." 

Miss Saldana is currently featured on the cover of Latina magazine's September issue, and inside the publication she talks about a dark period she experienced following the massive success of 2009's Avatar. 

"I was traveling all over the world, waking up in different time zones," she explains. "Your body gets exhausted, and by the end of the year I just collapsed." 

The actress' nonstop work schedule continued to take its toll when she began training for Colombiana in Paris. "I was sitting in my hotel room, and I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't stay awake. I must have slept for an entire month," Saldana says.

"It took me the rest of the year, even as I was working and shooting Colombiana, to pick myself up. Thank God my family was there."

These days, Saldana - whose currently engaged to Keith Britton - says she lives a much more relaxed lifestyle.

"I just stay at home and do absolutely nothing. When I was younger, that would have made me feel like such a failure. Now that I'm older, I know what it means to shut down," she says. "I don't shower if I don't want to. I don't answer e-mails. It's a healthy way of being selfish. You know you're old when gardening, the Food Network and voice notes from your nieces and nephews blow your mind."

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