First-Time Oscar Nominee Karla Sofía Gascón on Trump’s Anti-Trans Order: “He Is Shameless”

Karla Sofía Gascón, the Spanish-born star of Emilia Pérez, was nominated Thursday morning for the 2025 Oscars for best actress, making her the first openly transgender performer to be so honored. (The only known previous trans acting nominee, Elliot Page, got the nod in 2008 for Juno, 12 years before revealing his gender identity.) 

Gascón was recognized for her performance in the Jacques Audiard-directed musical drama as a Mexican cartel leader who transitions and dedicates herself to aiding the victims of gang violence. She stars opposite fellow Oscar nominee Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz; all four shared the best actress prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. 

The actress tells The Hollywood Reporter she watched the nominations from an airport lounge in Brazil. “It was completely crazy, I didn’t sleep all night,” she says. “What an illusion, what an honor, what love. I feel fulfilled, it is the culmination of nine months of promotion and two years of work.”

She urged Academy voters to assess her acting nomination on the merits, rather than on the potential to make history: “Now it is time to focus on my performance and put aside my ethnicity, sexuality or hair color, to move forward in ‘integration.’

“Today it is proven that art does not understand hate. No one can question my work, even less the fact that I am an actress,” she said. “An actress who deserves to be recognized solely and exclusively for her sublime performance in Emilia Pérez.”

The critical praise and awards attention for Gascón has made her a lightning rod among anti-trans circles, earning her online abuse and even death threats. She has gladly confronted the attacks. When French far-right firebrand Marion Maréchal lamented on X that “a man has won best actress,” Gascón sued the politician for the “sexist insult.” 

Her nomination comes at a precarious time for trans rights, just days after President Trump signed an executive order declaring that the government will recognize only biological genders. 

“He is shameless,” Gascón told THR this week, decrying the venomous discourse surrounding trans issues in general. “I hope that whatever needs to happen happens to shut everyone up, on both sides.” 

An outspoken advocate for trans rights in Spain and abroad, Gascón took to the Golden Globes stage at The Beverly Hilton earlier this month, after Emilia Pérez won the last award of the night, for best motion picture — musical or comedy. “The light always wins over darkness,” she said, wearing a saffron dress meant to reflect her Buddhist faith. “You come and maybe put us in jail, you can beat us up [but] you never can take away our soul, our existence, our identity.”

Last month, the Madrid native told THR that she felt the trans cause was combating strong socio-cultural headwinds. 

“We are going backwards,” she said. “The new generations have not experienced what the previous ones have experienced, so they are destined to repeat the same mistakes. Be careful with giving power to the intolerant, because it will end the little tolerance we have.”

Gascón sets own awards campaign against the backdrop of bigotry. “I would also like to send a message of hope to all those people who suffer hatred: They will never be able to take away our pride in our existence, they will never bring me down, I will continue to fight for a more just humanity.”

For this year’s Oscars, Emilia Pérez picked up 13 nominations, setting a record and becoming the most nominated film not in the English language at the Oscars.

This story was first published on Jan. 23 at 6:52 a.m.