Who is Karla Sofía Gascón? Trans actress makes Oscar history with 'Emilia Pérez'

Karla Sofía Gascón just made history.

On Thursday, the breakthrough star earned an Academy Award nomination for best actress for the Spanish-language movie musical “Emilia Pérez,” becoming the first openly trans actress to receive an Oscar nod. She was nominated in the category alongside Demi Moore ('The Substance"), Mikey Madison ("Anora"), Cynthia Erivo ("Wicked") and Fernanda Torres ("I'm Still Here").

Over the last half century, many cisgender actors have been nominated at the Oscars for portraying trans characters, including Jared Leto (“The Dallas Buyers Club”), Jaye Davidson (“The Crying Game”), John Lithgow (“The World According to Garp”), Glenn Close (“Albert Nobbs”) and Felicity Huffman (“Transamerica”). Elliot Page, too, was nominated for best actress for the 2007 pregnancy comedy “Juno,” before announcing he is transgender in 2020.

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But Gascón, 52, is the first instance of an openly trans actor earning Oscar recognition for a character who is also trans. In “Emilia Pérez,” she plays a Mexican drug kingpin who undergoes gender-affirming surgery and starts a new life as a social worker. The film co-stars Zoe Saldan?a, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz, all of whom shared the best actress prize at Cannes Film Festival in France last spring.

Who is Oscar nominee Karla Sofía Gascón?

Born in Madrid, Gascón moved from Spain to Mexico in 2009, where she appeared in telenovelas such as “Hasta el fin del mundo” and “Llena de amor.” With the support of her wife and now-teenage daughter, she began her transition in 2018, and was cast in “Emilia Pérez” in 2022.

The movie has been heavily scrutinized by critics and social media users, drawing comparisons to everything from “Mrs. Doubtfire” to the much-maligned Oscar best picture winner “Crash.” Gascón has also encountered ignorance on the awards campaign trail these last few months.

“The other day, this woman came up to me and was telling me how wonderful my work was,” she told USA TODAY in November. “Then she asked me, ‘If you get nominated, will you be nominated for best actress or best actor?’ And I told her, ‘Ma’am, I am an actress! If I played a monster or an old dog, I would still be nominated as an actress!’ ”

But with her visibility throughout awards season, the outspoken actress hopes to educate people about what it means to be trans.

“All I can do is focus on planting the seed by doing my work and showing that I am no different than anybody else,” Gascón says. “I just want to live my life without anybody bothering me – everyone deserves to be themselves.”

How many Oscar nominations did 'Emilia Pérez' receive?

"Emilia" led the 2025 Oscar nominations with 13, including best picture, best director (Jacques Audiard), best supporting actress (Saldan?a) and best adapted screenplay. Saldan?a's incendiary production number, "El Mal," was recognized in best original song, as was Gomez's self-love anthem "Mi Camino." Gomez, notably, was snubbed for best supporting actress, despite earning nominations from the Golden Globes and British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).

What did Karla Sofía Gascón say at the 2025 Golden Globes?

"Emilia" led the winners at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month, taking home four prizes for best supporting actress (Saldan?a), best original song ("El Mal"), best non-English language motion picture, and best comedy/musical. Accepting the latter, Gascón gave an emotional speech on behalf of the film's cast and crew.

"I chose these colors tonight – the Buddhist colors – because I have a message I have for you," said Gascón, wearing an orange-yellow gown and tearing up. "The light always wins over darkness. You can put us in jail, you can beat us up, but you can never take away our soul or our resistance or our identity. I want to say to you, raise your voice and say that I won, I am who I am, not who you want."

Why is 'Emilia Pérez' controversial?

With its continued awards acclaim, "Emilia" is widely considered a best picture front-runner going into the Oscar ceremony on March 2. But the film has been criticized for its lack of Mexican representation in the leading cast and crew: Audiard is French; the movie was shot entirely in Paris on a soundstage; and of the film's four main actresses, Paz is the only one born in Mexico.

The movie has also received backlash for its sanitized depiction of the Mexican drug war, as well as its trans representation. Amelia Hansford, a trans critic for LGBTQ+ news site PinkNews, called the film "satirical," "disingenuous" and "harmful."

"It tries to use the idea of transitioning to convey that through her transition, Emilia is trying to repent for the sins she committed in her time as cartel boss," Hansford wrote in her review. "The issue with this is that transition isn’t a moral decision, and the act of transitioning alone doesn’t somehow absolve you of your past self."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Karla Sofia Gascon? Trans actress makes history with Oscar nom