Zoë Saldaña dedicates Emilia Pérez BAFTAs win to trans nephew: ‘I will always stand with trans people’

Emilia Pérez star Zoë Saldaña has dedicated her Best Supporting Actress BAFTA to her trans nephew, and vied to stand by the trans community.

Saldaña beat off stiff competition from the likes of Wicked star Ariana Grande and The Last Showgirl’s Jamie Lee Curtis to bag the Best Supporting Actress gong for her role in Jacques Audiard’s controversial Spanish-language musical. 

Speaking to PinkNews and other media at the BAFTAs winners’ conference, Saldaña revealed that she took the role in Emilia Pérez to honour her trans nephew Eli.

“I’m dedicating all of these awards and film Emilia Pérez to my nephew, Eli,” she told reporters.

“He is the reason – they are the reason – I signed up to do this film in the first place.

“So as the proud aunt of a trans life, I will always stand with my community of trans people.”

In the crime thriller, Saldaña plays Rita, a fastidious lawyer at the top of her game who is recruited to help a Mexican cartel boss, the titular Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón), to fake her own death.

She wishes to fake her death to access gender-affirming surgery and live her life as a woman.

Saldaña, who last month won a Golden Globe for the role and has also been nominated for an Oscar, shared that she didn’t have time to make the dedication during her on stage acceptance speech.

While on stage she told the crowd that she hoped films like Emilia Pérez could “change hearts” and “challenge minds” and suggested that trans “voices need to be heard”.

She also took a moment to thank her co-stars, including lead Gascón, who was absent from the ceremony – despite being nominated in the Best Actress category. 

Last month, a string of now-deleted tweets by Gascón were unearthed in which she shared anti-Islam sentiment and took aim at the Oscars for promoting diversity.

The BAFTAs also saw Audiard’s musical win the accolade for Best Film not in the English language, with the director paying tribute to his “dear” Gascón.

“Above all, I would like to thank all the wonderful artists who brought this film to life and who are here with us tonight. My dear Zoe [Saldaña], my dear Selena [Gomez], Giorgini, Paul, Juliet, Camille, Clement, Julia and your team, but also you, my dear Karla Sofia, that I kiss” he told the crowd in French.

“I’m deeply proud of what we achieved together. Long live Emilia Pérez!”

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