Karla Sofía Gascón makes history – again – as first trans woman nominated at BAFTA Film Awards

Karla Sofía Gascón, leading star of musical crime drama Emilia Pérez, has made history as the first ever transgender actress to be nominated at the BAFTA Film Awards.

Emilia Pérez is one of the leading films on the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards’ shortlist, securing an impressive 11 nominations, including for Best Film and Best Director for Jacques Audiard.

Conclave leads the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards with 12 nominations.

Karla Sofía Gascón has been nominated in the Leading Actress category for her titular role as Emilia, a former Mexican cartel boss who fakes her own death in order to undergo gender-affirming surgery. No other trans actresses have ever been nominated for the accolade.

Gascón will go head-to-head in the category against queer Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, The Substance star Demi Moore, The Outrun’s Saoirse Ronan, Anora’s Mikey Madison, and Hard Truths actress, Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

Zoë Saldaña and Selena Gomez, who also star in Emilia Pérez, are nominated in the Supporting Actress category for their roles.

Saldaña plays career lawyer Rita in the Spanish-language thriller, who is responsible for helping Emilia to fake her death. Gomez plays Jessi, Emilia’s wife before her transition, who is led to believe that she has died.

Saldaña and Gomez will go up against Wicked’s Ariana Grande, Conclave’s Isabella Rossellini, The Brutalist’s Felicity Jones, and The Last Showgirl’s Jamie Lee Curtis.

As an actress new to mainstream, blockbuster films, Gascón has seen staggering success on the awards circuit so far.

Back in May, she became the first ever trans woman to be awarded the Best Actress title at Cannes Film Festival.

At the Golden Globe awards earlier this month, she was the first trans actress nominated in the Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) category, but lost out on the win to Moore.

She is hotly tipped to be named as a contender in the Best Actress category at the 2025 Oscars when the nominees are revealed next week.

Over the weekend, the actress fiercely responded to critics who have accused Emilia Pérez of playing into harmful tropes of trans women, and explained how she actually improved the trans representation in Audiard’s original script.

Elsewhere at the BAFTA Film Awards, Wicked scored seven nominations, while other stars including Daniel Craig and Denzel Washington were shut out for their roles as queer characters in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II respectively.

The BAFTA Film Awards will be hosted by LGBTQ+ ally David Tennant on 16 February.

Emilia Pérez is streaming on Netflix.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.