Karla Sofía Gascón Becomes First Trans-Identifying Man Up For Best Actress Oscar

“Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón became the first trans-identifying person in history to be nominated for an Academy Award as the committee announced the nominees on Thursday morning.

 Gascón, 52, is a biological man who will be up for the Oscar for Best Actress alongside Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”), Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Demi Moore (“The Substance”), and Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”).

Previously, Gascón jointly won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress alongside the movie’s other co-stars, becoming the first trans-identifying star to win the prize. The “Emilia Pérez” headliner also got a Best Actress nomination at the Golden Globes but lost out to Demi Moore for her role in “The Substance.”

Despite controversy surrounding the film, “Emilia Pérez” received the most nominations at this year’s Oscars with 13. 

“Emilia Pérez” is also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Jacques Audiard), Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Original Song (“El Mal” and “Mi Camino”), Best Film Editing, and Best International Feature.

Gascón previously spoke about being proud to be in the movie. “You have an action movie that’s not an action movie, a drama that’s not a drama, a comedy that’s not a comedy,” Gascón told Tudum in November. “It is such a great gift, and I’m so proud to be part of it.”

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The narrative follows a Mexican drug cartel leader who fakes his own death to undergo gender transition surgery and live a new life. Chaos ensues when “Emilia Pérez” insists on reuniting with his family while disguised as a distant female relative following gender reassignment surgery. 

Reactions on social media to Gascón being nominated for Best Actress were mostly negative.

“The patriarchy continues to win,” one person replied to the nomination announcement on X.

“Another year of dismal ratings and awards to movies no one cares about,” another agreed.

“Liberal Hollywood has learned nothing from the recent election,” a third commenter chimed in. “They keep trying to cancel women even though America soundly rejected Democrats in the presidential election for doing exactly that…the entertainment industry has lost its mind.”