Karla Sofía Gascón has been nominated for an Oscar for her role in the Netflix musical “Emilia Pérez,” making her the first out trans actress to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Gascón, who hails from Spain but is known for her acting roles in Mexico, stars as Emilia Pérez alongside Zoe Saldaña in the musical. Gascón has already scored a Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival — earned jointly with Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz — for her role in the same film. Gascón’s acting role in “Emilia Pérez” has also led to Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nods.
The Academy Award nomination drew praise from Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who congratulated Gascón on X.
Gascón thanked Sanchez, saying, “There is still too much progress to be made, there is still too much hatred in this world, too much evil, but here is a sign that the world can change.”
In a 2024 interview with Deadline, Gascón discussed her identity and conveyed that she was not afraid to fire back at critics. That was evident when she took legal action after she became the target of transphobic remarks voiced by French politician Marion Maréchal.
“I love to take on the fight,” Gascón said, according to Deadline. “I like to confront it. And I did that quite a lot in my past. I’m 52 years old and I’ve gone through some really complicated things, including in Mexico, which was the country that knew me the most when I went through my transition. And I knew that was going to happen.”
Gascón, 52, is not the first out trans person to be nominated for an Oscar. In 2016, singer Anohni Hegarty was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category, while British composer Angela Morley received two Academy nominations for Best Original Song Score for “The Little Prince” in 1974 and “The Slipper and the Rose” in 1976.
Out trans producer and director Yance Ford was nominated alongside Joslyn Barnes for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category for the 2018 film “Strong Island.” Actor Elliot Page, who came out as trans in 2020, was nominated in 2007 for starring in the film “Juno.”
