Honestly, if you only know Marco Perego-Saldana as "Zoe Saldana’s husband," you're missing out on a guy who is basically the human embodiment of a Renaissance man. He’s an Italian artist, a former professional athlete, and a director who seems to operate on a completely different frequency than your average Hollywood spouse.
Most people first started asking who is Zoe Saldana married to back in 2013 when the pair tied the knot in a ceremony so secret it barely made the tabloids until it was already done. But the real headline-grabber wasn't just the wedding itself. It was the fact that Marco did something that made a lot of traditionalists lose their minds: he took her last name.
The man behind the name: Who is Marco Perego-Saldana?
Marco wasn't born into the glitz of the film industry. He grew up in Salò, Italy, where his dad worked as a waiter and his mom was a homemaker. Before he was ever painting abstracts or walking red carpets, he was a rising star in the soccer world. He was actually recruited by Venice’s professional team at 17.
Then, at 21, everything broke.
A massive leg injury ended his career instantly. It’s the kind of personal hardship that would crush most people, but Marco moved to New York City and started over from zero. He bused tables in Spanish Harlem and taught soccer to pay the bills while he taught himself how to paint. Eventually, his art started selling for $15,000 to $30,000 a pop, and he earned the nickname "The Pirate" because of his long hair and rugged look.
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That "vibration" on a 6:30 AM flight
How they met sounds like something straight out of a script, which is fitting. It was 2013 on a 6:30 AM flight to New York. Zoe has described it as a "vibration." She saw him from behind, he felt her looking, and they both just knew.
They didn't wait around. They were married three months later.
Their engagement story is equally intense. Marco actually traveled to the Dominican Republic to visit the grave of Zoe’s late father, Aridio Saldana, to ask for his blessing. He filmed the whole thing to show her later. When he finally proposed in London, things got a bit spicy and dramatic in the middle of a street, but clearly, it worked.
Why he took her last name
The decision for Marco to become a Perego-Saldana wasn't Zoe's idea. In fact, she tried to talk him out of it. She was worried he’d be "emasculated" by his community or the Latin culture they both come from.
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Marco’s response? "Ah, Zoe, I don't give a sheet."
He wanted to represent her family’s legacy. He felt that a real man leads alongside his partner rather than just expecting them to follow tradition. It was a huge statement about identity and masculinity that still gets people talking today.
Raising three sons in a "gender-neutral" home
Fast forward to 2026, and the couple is busy raising three boys: identical twins Cy and Bowie (born in 2014) and their younger brother Zen (born in 2016). They’ve been very vocal about raising their kids in a gender-neutral environment. Basically, they want their sons to see their parents doing everything—Zoe fixing things around the house, Marco cooking or being domestic—so the kids don't grow up with rigid "male" and "female" roles.
They’re also a trilingual household. The boys are growing up speaking:
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- English
- Spanish (Zoe’s heritage)
- Italian (Marco’s heritage)
It’s a lot of laundry and a lot of noise, but they seem to thrive in the chaos.
Collaborating on the big screen
Lately, Marco and Zoe have moved from just being a couple to being creative partners. Marco directed the 2024 film The Absence of Eden, which starred Zoe as an undocumented immigrant. It wasn't just a "husband giving his wife a job" situation; they spent years developing the project together. Marco also directed her in a short film called Dovecote, which was actually filmed inside a working women's prison in Venice.
They clearly don't do things the easy way.
Quick facts about their relationship
- Married since: June 2013
- Children: Cy, Bowie, and Zen
- Home base: They split time but are frequently seen at major international film festivals like Venice or Turin.
- Career shift: Marco has transitioned from fine art (painting/sculpture) into high-end film direction and production.
If you’re looking to follow in their footsteps regarding a creative partnership or just want to see how they manage the work-life balance, the best thing to do is look at their recent interviews together. They’re surprisingly open about the friction that comes with working together, noting that they had to learn how to "not be a couple" when they were on set. It takes a lot of maturity to separate the marriage from the movie set, and they seem to have cracked the code.
Keep an eye on Marco's upcoming directorial projects, as he’s increasingly moving into the space of "prestige" filmmaking that challenges social norms, much like his personal life does.