All about Cecily and Mariel

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

His relationship with his siblings is so strong that they decide to work together with their lives. 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 that, we’re broken,” Cicely said of her sisters in a Cinestar YouTube video. “It’s always a blessing that we’re stronger together, except that we’re nothing, and I think we knew that from the get-go. And we’re really proud of the work we’re doing.”

Apart from film and TV productions, Cinestar also has a YouTube channel with short-form unscripted content such as the Rose Roundtable series, on which the three sisters discuss hot topics and life lessons with fellow actresses, models and other inspirational women. Trainers

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

Here’s everything to know about Zoe Saldaña’s sisters — Cisely 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 got us from Queens to Hollywood,” Zoe said in a video on the company’s origins.

Jackson Heights is known as one of the most culturally diverse areas in the Big Apple, and Zoe touches on this in a video about holiday traditions, with neighbors from China, Bangladesh, Poland and Colombia.

“I loved crashing any holiday party because I always felt like an accidental tourist,” Zoe said. “You didn’t have to go to a restaurant on Friday, you could just go to any of your homes.”

While his early childhood began in Queens, he spent much of his young life in the Dominican Republic, where his mother is from.

“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 oldest sisters, Cicely and Zoe admit that they rely on Mariel for support.

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

Zoe also thought about how Mariel was a mother figure in their sibling dynamic, and admired her ability to be present in the moment.

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

Cicely is the youngest

In a Rose Roundtable episode on motherhood and childbirth, Zoe pointed out that Cicely’s reservations about pregnancy and childbirth stemmed from being the youngest in the family and witnessing both her own and Mariel’s pregnancies and births.

“(Cisely) was the one who was at the hospital every day, wiping the butts, cleaning the babies, changing diapers,” Zoe said.

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

“He embodies loyalty,” Zoe said of her little brother. “She doesn’t give up and she’s very stubborn but that’s because her intuition is always there.”

“He’s the kid and he’s the boss,” Meryl added. “It’s very creative.”

Together they founded a film production company

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

“We’re all different, we’re all really into different things. We want to portray the everyday woman… We all come in different shapes, sizes. We don’t all fit into one mold. What we have in common is that we need to love each other,” Mariel explained in a video about why they founded Cinestar.

“We want to create content where you feel celebrated, you feel seen, you feel educated, you are entertained and you feel enough about the content that we are creating that you want to contact us. And keep leading us to the right. Direction,” Zoe added.

Cinestar releases “reality rom-coms,” unscripted, documentary-style feature films that follow real women on dating adventures in various cities. The idea first came to fruition with their 2023 release, meet me in parisand followed with a sequel, Meet me in RomeWhich was released in February 2024 on Roku channel.

Both reality rom-coms, Hello Sunshine, were team efforts with Reese Witherspoon’s media company, with Zoe and Reese both at the helm.

Cinestar has also released more traditional films as of 2018 Honor RollIt starred Karrueche Tran, Sasha Pieterse and Arden Cho.

They are more produced shows like Netflix from the beginning and HBO Max The Gordita Chronicles.

Mariel is a mother of two children

Mariel has two children: Eli and Casey.

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

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

“My first love! Te amo,” she added, translating into Spanish: “My first love! I Love You.”

Ellie has been involved with her mom and aunt’s work, spending time on set for some films and even tagging along on press trips.

Despite being so young, Mariel is dedicated to exposing Casey to art as well. In July 2018, she posted a photo of then-5-year-old Casey at an art gallery for an exhibit exploring Latinx identity.

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

“Casey’s in the gallery!” Zoe commented, showing excitement for her niece’s exposure to art.

They love to share family recipes

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

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

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

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

She added, “One of my favorite things about her is that she’s overly trusting, so when she’s done cooking your favorite meal, she won’t even let you compliment it because she loves to compliment her own food. ” she added.

Similarly, Mariel recreated a recipe from her great-grandmother for arroz con leche, also known as rice pudding.

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