Daniela Vega set to make history as the first openly trans person to present an Oscar
(Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
The star of A Fantastic Woman Daniela Vega is set to be the first openly trans person to present at the Oscars.
The Chilean actress has been announced to present an award during the 90th Academy Awards, which will be held March 4 in Los Angeles.
Other announced presenters at the Oscars include Mahershala Ali, Chadwick Boseman, Laura Dern and Viola Davis.
Producers of the Academy Awards telecast Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd spoke to IndieWire about the presenters.
“Whether returning to the Oscars stage, or gracing it for the first time, each of these artists bring their own distinguishing and energetic appeal,” they said.
“Their contributions will make for an unforgettable evening.”
Daniela Vega and director Sebastian Lelio (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Palm Springs International Film Festival )
A Fantastic Woman was Vega’s international debut and was highly praised after it premiered last year.
Vega’s character Marina has to deal with her partner’s death and his family’s subsequent transphobia, while simultaneously trying to find her identity without her beloved Orlando.
After it was screened at the Berlin Film Festival, Variety called Vega’s performance “a multi-layered, emotionally polymorphous feat of acting.”
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Sony Pictures Classics)
The magazine said she deserved “so much more than political praise,” and was one of many publications heaping compliments on the actress.
The film has been praised both for Vega’s performance and the artistic merit of the film, but for also ensuring that a transgender character was played by a transgender actress.
Hollywood has been significantly criticised in recent years for casting cisgender actors to play transgender women.
Actors including Eddie Redmayne, Matt Bomer and Jeffery Tambour have been cast as transgender women in recent years, which some have said adds to the stereotype that being trans is a ‘costume’ or that transgender women are just ‘men in dresses’.
(A Fantastic Woman)
Although the category that Vega will be presenting has not been revealed, Vega’s lack of nomination for Best Actress was not missed by fans of the film.
Related: Wachowski sisters named Oscar voters amid push for diversity
After the Oscar nominations for Best Actress were announced, many people took to Twitter to complain that Vega had been ‘snubbed.’
(Photo: @ / Twitter)
Saoirse Ronan, Meryl Streep, Sally Hawkins, Margot Robbie and Frances McDormand were each nominated for best actress.
A Fantastic Woman was itself nominated for Best Foreign Language film.
