Karla Sofía Gascón Shatters Barriers: First Trans Actor Oscar Nominee for Major Role in ‘Emilia Pérez’

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Critics have had mixed feelings about “Emilia Pérez.” Some praised it for its bold and unique blend of crime drama and musical elements, while others criticized it for its portrayal of Mexico and the lack of Mexican actors. Overall, it’s been a controversial film that has sparked a lot of discussions – but one thing was sure during the release – it’s going to be nominated for a lot of awards.

The Oscar nominations have dropped and the star of the movie Karla Sofía Gascón has been nominated for her role in the film. Gascón is the first openly transgender actor to get an Oscar nomination.

In the Netflix movie, Emilia (played by Gascón) is a feared drug lord who asks a lawyer, Rita (played by Zoe Saldaña), to help fake her death and get gender-affirming surgery. Variety’s main film critic, Peter Debruge, praised the film, saying Gascón “lights up” in her role.

This isn’t Gascón’s first big achievement this award season: She was the first transgender woman to win the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival (sharing the honor with her co-stars Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz) and was the first trans woman to be nominated for film acting at the Golden Globes.

Only three openly transgender people have been nominated for Oscars before: composer Angela Morley, musician Anohni, and documentarian Yance Ford. Elliot Page was also nominated for his work in “Juno” in 2007 before he came out as a transgender man in 2020. So this is the first nomination of its kind.

The Oscars have also given awards to cisgender actors for playing transgender characters. Jared Leto won for “Dallas Buyers Club,” Hilary Swank won for “Boys Don’t Cry,” and Eddie Redmayne was nominated for “The Danish Girl.”

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