All about Sisley and Mariel

Zoe Saldana has always been open about how important family is to her, including her bond with sisters Cecily and Mariel Saldana.

Her relationship with her siblings is so strong that they decided to spend their lives working together. The three sisters started a film and media production company called Cinestar, where they produce reality TV, feature films, television shows, and more.

“We really protect our nuclear family. Without it, we’re broken,” Cicely said of her sisters in a CineStar YouTube video. “It’s always been a blessing that together we’re stronger, apart we’re nothing, and I think we We knew this from the beginning and we’re really proud of the work we’re doing.”

In addition to film and TV production, CineStar also has a YouTube channel featuring short-form unscripted content, like the Rosé Roundtable series, on which the three sisters share hot topics and life lessons with other inspiring women, including fellow actresses, models, and personal Let’s discuss. coach.

“I’m grateful for my family, especially my sisters — my partners in crime, my soulmates, together we’re rockstars,” Sisley said on a Thanksgiving-themed episode of the Rosé Roundtable.

Here’s everything to know about Zoe Saldana’s sisters – Cicely and Mariel – and their relationship with the actress.

He grew up in Jackson Heights, New York

Zoe, Cicely, and Mariel all grew up in the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights in New York City.

“We started CineStar because we are all about stories. Stories are what took us from Queens to Hollywood, Zoe said in a video on the company’s roots.

Jackson Heights is known for being one of the most culturally diverse areas of the Big Apple, and Zoe touched on this in a video about holiday traditions, including her neighbors from China, Bangladesh, Poland, and Colombia .

“I loved attending any holiday party because I always felt like an accidental tourist,” Zoe said. “You don’t have to go to any restaurant on Friday, you can just go to any of your houses.”

While his early childhood began in Queens, he also spent most of his young life in the Dominican Republic, where his mother lives.

“Growing up in New York, our family would send us back to the Dominican Republic for the summer,” Mariel shared in a family recipe video on the CineStar YouTube channel.

Mariel is the oldest

As the eldest sisters, Cicely and Zoe admit that they depend on Mariel for support.

“Mariel helped raise Zoe and me, which made her emotional,” Cicely said in a video on Cinestar’s YouTube channel. “I know faith because of you. I know my creator because of you and that means a lot.

Zoe also emphasized how Mariel is a mother figure to her siblings, and she also praised her ability to be present in the moment.

She said of her older sister, “She’s motherly, she’s super-mature… but she also has this teenage quality that forces you to let go and be fully present.” “When you’re running around and trying to chase your tomorrow, Mariel is just there.”

Sicily is the youngest

In the Rose Roundtable episode on motherhood and childbirth, Zoe explained that Cicely’s reservations about pregnancy and childbirth stemmed from being the youngest in the family and having to witness both her and Mariel’s pregnancies and births.

“(Cicely) was the one who was in the hospital every day, wiping buttocks, cleaning babies, changing diapers,” Zoe said.

In another video titled “Meet the Saldana Sisters”, Mariel and Zoe explain what Cicely means to them and the kind of person she is.

“He’s the epitome of loyalty,” Zoe said of her younger brother. “She doesn’t give up and she’s extremely stubborn, but that’s because her intuition is always right.”

“She’s the baby and she’s the boss,” Mariel said. “She’s very creative.”

Together they founded a film production company

In January 2013, the Saldana sisters started a film production company called Cinestar Pictures. All three women work as producers on the company’s projects.

“We’re all different, we’re all interested in really different things. We want to portray the everyday woman… We all come in different shapes, sizes. We are not all bound to the same mold. What we have in common is that we need to love each other,” Mariel explains in a video on why she founded CineStar.

“We want to create content where you feel respected, you feel seen, you feel educated, you feel entertained and the content that we’re creating makes you feel so much that you want to reach out to us and point us in the right direction.” I want to keep pointing out. Direction,” Zoe said.

CineStar releases “reality rom-coms”, which are unscripted, documentary-style feature films that follow real women on dating adventures in different cities. The idea first came to fruition with their 2023 release, meet me in ParisAnd with the sequel, meet me in romeWhich was released on Roku Channel in February 2024.

Both reality rom-coms were team efforts with Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s media company, with both Zoe and Reese in charge of directing.

Cinestar has also released more traditional films as of 2018 honor rollStarring Karrueche Tran, Sasha Pieterse and Arden Cho.

They have created more shows like Netflix from the beginning and hbo max Gordita Chronicles.

Mariel is the mother of two children

Mariel has two children: Eli and Casey.

Ellie was born on 12 May 2003. On her 20th birthday, her aunt Zoe posted a sweet message about her love for her on Instagram, sharing photos and videos of Ellie meeting the family on set.

“On this day, 20 years ago, you made us the luckiest family in the world,” he wrote. “Thank you for spreading your stardust on everyone you meet. You are kind, caring, pure, funny, hilarious, sensitive, intuitive, forgiving, and a wonderful person to hang out with.

“My first love! Te amo,” she said, translating into Spanish, “My first love! I love you.”

Ellie is involved in the work of her mother and aunt, spending time on set for some films and even tagging along on press trips.

Despite being very young, Mariel is also dedicated to introducing Casey to the arts. In July 2018, she posted a photo of 5-year-old Casey at an art gallery for an exhibit exploring Latinx identity.

“We are proud, we are Latina, we are raising our children to know who they are,” Mariel wrote.

“Casey is in the gallery!” Zoe commented, showing her enthusiasm for her niece’s art.

They like to share family dishes

One of the series featured on the CineStar YouTube channel is a cooking series called “My Family Recipe”, where people are encouraged to share the recipes of their favorite family dishes.

Both Mariel and Cicely have demonstrated cooking some of their favorite family recipes on the channel.

Sisley chose to cook her grandmother’s recipe for moro-locrio, a hybrid dish of rice, beans and meat.

“My grandmother used to make this dish for me on birthdays and when I was sick,” she said.

He further added, “One of my favorite things about her is that she is extremely confidant, so when she cooks your favorite food, she doesn’t even let you compliment it because she prefers to compliment her food herself Is.”

Similarly, Mariel recreated one of her great-grandmother’s recipes for arroz con leche, also known as rice pudding.

“My great-grandmother was very strong,” Mariel said. “I used to get so excited when I saw her soaking the rice a little bit because I knew (she) was making arroz con leche.”