Zoe Saldaña dedicates ‘Emilia Pérez’ BAFTA win to her trans nephew

After receiving the BAFTA Award for best supporting actress, ‘Emilia Pérez’ star Zoe Saldaña dedicated the award and the film to her trans nephew.

As ‘Variety’ reports, although she didn’t manage to make the dedication during her speech, Saldaña shared with journalists in the winners’ room that there was “one last thing that I didn’t get to say on stage.”

“I’m dedicating all of these awards and the film ‘Emilia Pérez’ to my nephew, Eli. He is the reason — they are the reason — I signed up to do this film in the first place,” she explained. “So as the proud aunt of a trans life, I will always stand with my community of trans people.”

In the Spanish-language crime musical, Saldaña portrayed Rita Mora Castro, a lawyer assisting a Mexican cartel leader in obtaining gender-affirming surgery. This is Saldaña's first BAFTA win and her first nomination from the British awards body, and she is also nominated for an Oscar in the same category.

‘Emilia Pérez’ earned the second-highest number of nominations at this year’s BAFTAs, with 11 in total, including best film, director, leading actress Karla Sofía Gascón, and supporting actress for Selena Gomez. Although Saldaña and Gomez attended the BAFTAs ceremony, Gascón was absent due to the resurfacing of past racist tweets in recent weeks.

Nevertheless, Saldaña expressed gratitude to Gascón in her acceptance speech, saying: “I want to thank my wonderful cast, Karla, Selena, Adriana… Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds. And I hope that ‘Emilia Pérez’ did something like this, please, because voices need to be heard.”

Saldaña triumphed in a highly competitive category that, in addition to her co-star Gomez, featured Ariana Grande for ‘Wicked,’ Felicity Jones for ‘The Brutalist,’ Jamie Lee Curtis for ‘The Last Showgirl,’ and Isabella Rossellini for ‘Conclave.’