Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that the Academy Awards will cease being televised on ABC in 2029 and will instead be streamed on YouTube starting in 2029.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
Karla Sofía Gascón has made Hollywood history as the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Gascón is being nominated for her performance as the lead titular character in “Emilia Pérez,” a musical crime film from Jacques Audiard that has been sweeping nominations this award season.
The film, which is on Netflix, follows Emilia (Gascón), who is a feared drug lord who is on a mission to get help from her lawyer Rita, played by Zoe Saldaña. Together, the two work together to fake Emilia’s death so she can get gender-affirming surgery.
The movie has received rave reviews, with Variety Magazine’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praising the Spanish-language film and Gascón specifically, calling her absolutely “electrifying” in her role as Emilia.
Throughout this award season, Gascón has made history on multiple occasions. She became the first transgender woman to win the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival alongside her co-stars Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz. She also was the first trans woman nominated for film acting at the Golden Globes.
Outside of the acting categories of the Academy Awards, only three openly trans people have been nominated for Oscars in the past. Composer Angela Morley, musician Anohni, and documentarian Yance Ford were nominated in the past.
Cisgender actors who portrayed transgender characters were nominated and awarded at the Oscars in the past as well. Some examples include Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club” and Hilary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry.”
Gascón, before starring in “Emilia Pérez,” was most known as a notable telenovela star. One of her most recognized roles was Telemundo’s International Emmy-winning “El Señor de los Cielos” and the Netflix Mexican teen drama “Rebelde.”
In the world of movies, Gascón was mainly known for starring in the 2013 dark comedy “Nosotros los Nobles” from Gaz Alazraki and Warner Bros.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.