Washington, January 24: Karla Sofia Gascon, the Spanish-born star of 'Emilia Perez', has made history with her nomination for Best Actress at the 2025 Academy Awards, becoming the first openly transgender performer to receive such an honour.
This marks a monumental achievement, as the only previous transgender acting nominee, Elliot Page, received a nomination for 'Juno' in 2008, before publicly coming out as transgender.
Gascon's performance in 'Emilia Perez', directed by Jacques Audiard, has earned her critical acclaim. In the film, she portrays a Mexican cartel leader who transitions and dedicates herself to helping victims of gang violence.
Her powerful role in this musical drama, which also stars fellow Oscar nominee Zoe Saldana and actress Selena Gomez, earned her widespread recognition, including a shared Best Actress award at last year's Cannes Film Festival.
Reflecting on her Oscar nomination, Gascon, who was watching the announcement from an airport lounge in Brazil, described the moment as surreal.
"It was completely crazy, I didn't sleep all night," she said, adding, "What an illusion, what an honour, what love. I feel fulfilled, it is the culmination of nine months of promotion and two years of work," she said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
However, Gascon is adamant that her nomination should be viewed on the strength of her performance, not her identity.
"Now it is time to focus on my performance and put aside my ethnicity, sexuality or hair colour, to move forward in 'integration'," she said, adding, "Today it is proven that art does not understand hate. No one can question my work, even less the fact that I am an actress. An actress who deserves to be recognised solely and exclusively for her sublime performance in Emilia Perez."
Despite the praise for her acting, Gascon's rising profile has made her a target of anti-trans rhetoric. She has faced online abuse, including death threats, as well as a notable insult from French far-right politician Marion Marechal, who claimed that "a man has won best actress" after Gascon's recognition.
In response, Gascon sued Marechal for the "sexist insult," reinforcing her commitment to confronting transphobia head-on.
The nomination arrives at a tense moment for transgender rights, just days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting government recognition to only biological genders.
Gascon did not hold back in her criticism of the order. "He is shameless," she said, adding, "I hope that whatever needs to happen happens to shut everyone up, on both sides,"
Gascon used her platform at the Golden Globe Awards to speak out: "The light always wins over darkness."
Wearing a saffron dress, she emphasised the resilience of the trans community and said, "You come and maybe put us in jail, you can beat us up [but] you never can take away our soul, our existence, our identity."
In an earlier interview, Gascon expressed her concerns about the socio-cultural challenges facing the trans community.
"We are going backwards," she said, adding, "The new generations have not experienced what the previous ones have experienced, so they are destined to repeat the same mistakes. Be careful with giving power to the intolerant, because it will end the little tolerance we have," she said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Meanwhile, for this year's Oscars, 'Emilia Perez' garnered an impressive 13 nominations, making it the most nominated non-English language film in the history of the Academy Awards.
