SINGAPORE - Hollywood star Zoe Saldana has walked many red carpets but she has probably never worked harder to look glamorous at such events than in Singapore.

Despite sweltering humid conditions, she did just that at the Shaw Lido theatres last night. She was in town to promote her upcoming Hollywood superhero blockbuster Guardians Of The Galaxy, along with wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista and director James Gunn.

While the men were sweating buckets, Saldana, 36, seemed to brave the hot weather, and looked stunning sashaying down the red carpet.

Getting such a close look at Saldana, who came to fame in Avatar, was worth a long wait for student Brandon Jany, one of more than 1,000 fans who showed up.

The secondary three student said: "I was here since 7am. I'm a Marvel fan. I'm so ecstatic."

Saldana, Bautista, 45, and Gunn, 43, arrived at 7pm. They obliged fans by taking selfies with them and autographed movie posters and even a skateboard.

When the trio took to the stage, Gunn said in jest: "This is the crowd I have outside my house. I'm very used to this."

Saldana revealed that she has been undergoing martial arts training. "I was trained in ballet. I was able to kick a lot of things, dancing ballet. It wasn't until I started doing a movie called Avatar that I went through a very arduous training, that made me an absolute fan of martial arts and I've been training ever since," she said.

In the new movie, she takes on the role of Gamora, a deadly green- skinned assassin, while Bautista plays Drax the Destroyer, a brute bent on vengeance. The two unlikely heroes are part of a quartet of cosmic misfits roped in to help interstellar adventurer Peter Quill (played by Chris Pratt) save the galaxy from evil forces.

The reserved Bautista said he is growing into his new role as an actor. "It was a little overwhelming walking onto the set with some of the best actors and director. It was a step outside my comfort zone."

Still, many of fans in the crowd clearly appeared to have followed him since his WWE wrestling days.

One of them is Mr Bernard Ang, 33, an owner of a comic store G&B Comics. He was one of the three lucky Singaporean fans picked to go onstage to present the stars souvenirs.

He said: "I'm a fan of wrestling and Marvel comics. Seeing Dave Bautista in a Marvel movie is the best of both worlds."

Guardians Of The Galaxy opens here in cinemas on July 31.