Karla Sofía Gascón makes Oscars history as she becomes first-ever out trans actress to be nominated

Karla Sofía Gascón, star of Netflix’s musical crime thriller Emilia Pérez, has become the first out transgender performer to be nominated in any acting category at the Oscars.

Emilia Pérez is one of the leading films at the 2025 Oscars, scoring a staggering 13 nominations – breaking the record for the most nominations ever for a film not in an English language.

Gascón is nominated in the Best Actress category for Emilia Pérez, and will compete for the award against Wicked‘s Cynthia Erivo, The Substance star Demi Moore, Mickey Madison in Anora, and Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here.

Gascón has made history numerous times over in the past 12 months for her role in Jacques Audiard’s Spanish language Emilia Pérez, in which she plays the titular character.

Emilia Pérez is a former Mexican cartel boss, who enlists the support of dogged lawyer Rita (Zoë Saldaña) to help her fake her own death, so she can access gender-affirming surgery and live her life as a trans woman.

Back in May, she became the first trans woman to win the Best Actress accolade at the Cannes Film Festival.

She later became the first trans actress to be nominated in the Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) category at the Golden Globes, but lost out on the accolade to The Substance star, Demi Moore.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Gascón would be vying to win the Leading Actress accolade at this year’s BAFTA Awards, becoming the first out trans actor to be nominated at the award show. 

Back in 2008, Elliot Page was nominated for an acting award at the Oscars for his role in Juno, but this was prior to the star coming out as a transgender man.

If Wicked‘s Cynthia Erivo beats Gascón in the Best Actress race, she will be added to the exclusive list of EGOT stars – performers who have scored an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award.

If The Substance star Demi Moore wins, it will become only her second ever major acting accolade, following on from her recent Golden Globes triumph.

Karla Sofía Gascón’s co-star Saldaña is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category, and will compete against first-time nominee Ariana Grande for Wicked, Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, and Isabella Rossellini for Conclave.

Elsewhere at the Oscar nominations, queer actor Colman Domingo was nominated for his second Best Actor nod in three years, this time for Sing Sing.

Queer favourite Wicked bagged 10 nominations.

The 2025 Oscars nominations were announced by actors Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang in a small ceremony in Los Angeles today (23 January), where the organisers paid tribute to all who have been affected by the ongoing wildfires in LA County.

The Oscars will take place on 3 March 2025.

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