She's pointed in a positive direction

Ballerina Zoe Saldana wanted to express herself -- not just with her body but with her voice. So six years ago she traded pirouetting onstage for acting onscreen. It was a nifty decision: Now she's costarring as Bernie Mac's daughter and Ashton Kutcher's fiancee in ''Guess Who."

The movie is a comedic turnabout on the 1967 interracial drama ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" with Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, and Katharine Hepburn, which won two Oscars.

Saldana, 26, who comes on like a force of nature, isn't shy about expressing herself offscreen as well.

''I really don't care if people [criticize] that a Latina was cast to play Bernie Mac's black daughter in 'Guess Who.' If I have attributes to play Arab or Indian or Filipino or black or Latina, why should anybody hold that against me?" says the actress.

Saldana has a second home in the Dominican Republic, where she lived year-round for seven years after being raised for the first 10 years of her life in Queens, N.Y. Saldana's late father was Dominican -- ''a combination of so many beautiful races," she says. Her mother is half-Latina, half-Lebanese.

''When people look at me, they see this big concoction," she says. ''But the Latin race is a beautiful mix -- like rice and beans, you know?"

In ''Guess Who," Saldana's at the center of a power play between her stockbroker fiance and her father, who is in denial that his little girl is all grown up. When she brings home the man she intends to wed -- a Caucasian -- Dad is aghast. Moreover, he suspects the chap is a fraud and sets out to zap the relationship.

Saldana says she ''can't personally identify" with the racial issues ''Guess Who" raises. ''They do occur in Latin America -- as in every part of the world -- but not in my family. When I'd bring home a boyfriend, it was never about his culture. It was more about: 'Does he have a job?' "

But Saldana's own businessman dad never saw his middle daughter bring home even one date. He was killed at age 38 in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. Saldana was 9.

Just after he died, Saldana's mother moved the family -- Zoe and her two sisters -- from Queens to the Dominican Republic, where both of Saldana's parents were born. Most of her relatives were there, and the young widow wanted to rear her girls in a protective environment that stressed wholesome family values.

''It was like a seven-year-long vacation," Saldana says. ''But we had to adjust to the different culture -- the language, the food, Christmas with coconut trees and no snow."

When Saldana turned 17, Mom thought the girls were ready to cope with the rigors of NYC, and the four relocated back to Queens.

''I found that half my childhood friends were pregnant before they were 17," says Saldana. ''So my mom really saved us from a lot by moving us to the Dominican Republic. I'm not saying we would have ended up that way, but she didn't want to take the chance."

In the Dominican Republic, Saldana started ballet lessons and began dancing professionally at age 10.

''I was a very hyper child. I'd climb a tree, and they'd have to call the fire department to get me down," she says. ''Ballet gave me a lot of peace."

Saldana's life as a dancer peaked with a role in the 2000 ballet film ''Center Stage." Since then, she has drawn attention for playing an immigration officer in ''The Terminal" and as the sole female pirate in ''Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." Future releases include ''Lucy," based on a Jamaica Kincaid novel, and ''Dirty Deeds," a teen comedy.

And with such a busy work schedule, Saldana says she only spent 90 days at home in New York last year. So, she has moved out of a pricey downtown duplex and into a more modest-rent place in a lovely part of Queens, five blocks from Mom.

''Sure, I've got the money for Manhattan," Saldana says, ''but that doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to give it away!"