Oscars 2025: Emilia Perez bags 13 nominations including Best Picture
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.
Emilia Perez bagged 13 nominations including Best Picture, the most by a non-English-language film in Oscar history. This marks a monumental achievement, as the only previous transgender 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 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.
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.”(ANI)