Karla Sofía Gascón is the first openly trans actress to receive an Oscar nomination

A star of ‘Emilia Pérez,’ Karla Sofía Gascón, has become the first openly trans actor to receive an Academy Award nomination in an acting category, ‘CNN’ reports. She earned a nomination for best actress for her role in the Netflix musical/crime drama about a drug lord pursuing gender reassignment surgery.

Gascón’s nomination is particularly noteworthy as trans rights have become a highly politicised topic in the U.S.A.. A study released last fall found that when anti-trans legislation is enacted, suicide attempts among trans and nonbinary youth increase significantly, with spikes of up to 72% among teens in those states.

The Spanish actress is not the first trans performer to be recognised by the Academy. Angela Morley received two nominations in the best original score category in the 1970s, Anohni was nominated for best song in 2016, and Yancey Ford was nominated for best documentary feature in 2018. Actor Elliot Page, before transitioning in 2020, was nominated for his role in ‘Juno’ in 2007.

Several cisgender performers have also been honoured for portraying trans characters. Hilary Swank won a best actress Oscar for her role as Brandon Teena in ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ in 2000, Jared Leto won best supporting actor for ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ in 2014, and Eddie Redmayne was nominated for best actor in 2016 for his performance in ‘The Danish Girl.’

Gascón holds the distinction of being the first trans woman to win a best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, sharing the accolade with her ensemble cast.