Oscar nominations 2025: Karla Sofía Gascón becomes first openly trans actor nominated for an Oscar
Karla Sofía Gascón, the star of Emilia Pérez, has become the first openly trans actor to be nominated for an Oscar. The Spanish Star has received acclaim for her performance as the title character in Emilia Pérez.
The film is ambitious. It’s a musical that follows the story of Emilia (played by Gascón), a feared drug lord. The story involves Emilia enlisting the help of a lawyer (played by Zoe Saldaña), whom she asks to help fake her death and undergo gender-reaffirming surgery.
Her Oscars nomination adds to a groundbreaking year for Gascón. Recently, she became the first transgender woman to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival, which she shared with her Emilia Pérez co-stars, Zoe Saldaña, Adriana Paz and Selena Gomez. Gascón also made history as the first trans woman to be nominated for a film at the Golden Globes.
Gascón is the fourth openly trans person to be nominated for an Oscar in the awards’ history. Composer Angela Morley, musician Anohni, and documentarian Yance Ford were also nominated in previous years.
Elliot Page was also previously nominated for his work on Juno; however, this was in 2007, before he came out as a transgender man in 2020.
Gascón previously spoke about representation in the movie industry in a previous interview with Deadline. In that interview, she said that even though she represents a minority of people in a similar position to her, she also believes she represents a larger majority of people who want to exist freely without judgment.
“I represent, obviously, the minority that I represent. But I think that I represent a lot of people in this world that want, or need, to be free,” she said, “I’m talking about my colleagues, other actors that are coming up, that started from the bottom and have been working for a long time and have felt that rejection and continue to work and continue to learn and continue to grow.”
The Oscars Ceremony will take place on March 2nd at the Dolby Theatre.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.