For the first time in Cannes history, a male actor is a recipient of the festival’s best actress prize.
Transgender actor Karla Sofía Gascón — who was born a male and now identifies as a woman — shared the best actress prize for the unconventional musical Emilia Perez. Gascón shared the award with three of his actual female co-stars — Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz.
Le Prix d’interprétation féminine revient à ADRIANA PAZ, ZOE SALDAÑA, KARLA SOFÍA GASCÓN, SELENA GOMEZ dans EMILIA PÉREZ de JACQUES AUDIARD.
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The Award for Best Actress goes to à ADRIANA PAZ, ZOE SALDAÑA, KARLA SOFÍA GASCÓN, SELENA GOMEZ in EMILIA PÉREZ de JACQUES AUDIARD.… pic.twitter.com/y0gUSA5Ny1— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 25, 2024
A tearful Karla Sofía Gascón accepted the award on Sunday on behalf of his co-stars.
Watch below:
C’est exceptionnel ! ❤️🔥
Cette année, le prix d’interprétation féminine est un prix d’ensemble pour le casting d’ÉMILIA PEREZ de JACQUES AUDIARD !
Félicitations à Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldana et Selena Gomez ! #Cannes2024 pic.twitter.com/IuBqS4RlNW
— france.tv cinéma (@francetvcinema) May 25, 2024
Emilia Perez — which also took home the festival’s Jury Prize, or third place overall — will reportedly be distributed by Netflix, with a rollout expected either later this year or next year.
In the movie, Gascón play a male drug kingpin who decides to exit the drug trade by undergoing a sex-change operation.
Karla Sofía Gascón underwent a sex-change operation in real life at the age of 46 after being married to a woman and fathering a child. Before transitioning, Gascón was named Carlos and worked as an actor in Spanish-language TV shows.
Following the movie’s Cannes premiere earlier this week, Gascón spoke about being transgender.
“We’re normal people who can have the careers they want,” said Gascon at a press conference earlier in the festival. Being trans is unimportant. A trans person is someone going through a transition. Once they have transitioned, that’s it. They are what they are.”
“We’re first and foremost human beings, and there’s no point sticking labels on us.”
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