For the first time in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, a biological male has won the festival’s best actress award.
Carla Sofia Gascón, a transgender actor who was born male and now identifies as female, shared the award for best actress in an unconventional musical. Emilia PerezGascón shared the award with his three real-life female co-stars: Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz.
Jacques Audiard’s Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldana, Carla Sofia Gascón, Selena Gomez and Emilia Pérez won the award for Best Female Performance.
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The Best Actress award went to Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldana, Carla Sofía Gascón and Selena Gomez for Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard. pic.twitter.com/y0gUSA5Ny1— Cannes Film Festival (@Festival_Cannes) May 25, 2024
A tearful Carla Sofia Gascón accepted the award on Sunday on behalf of her co-stars.
See below:
That is the exception! ❤️🔥
This year, Jacques Audiard’s casting of Emilia Pérez won the Best Female Performance Ensemble award.
Congratulations to Carla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldana, and Selena Gomez! #Cannes2024 pic.twitter.com/IuBqS4RlNW
— france.tv cinema (@francetvcinema) May 25, 2024
Emilia Pérez — The film also won the festival’s jury prize, third place overall. — It will reportedly be distributed by Netflix and is expected to be released later this year or next year.
In the film, Gascón plays a male drug lord who decides to get a sex reassignment surgery and get out of the drug trade.
Carla Sofia Gascón underwent sex reassignment surgery in real life at the age of 46, after marrying a woman and having children. Before his gender transition, Gascón worked as an actor in Spanish-language television shows under the name Carlos.
Following the film’s premiere in Cannes earlier this week, Gascón spoke about being transgender.
“We’re just regular people who can pursue the careers they want,” Gascón said at a press conference at the start of the festival. “Being transgender is not the point. A transgender person is someone who is in transition. Once they transition, that’s it. They are who they are.”
“We are human beings first and foremost and it makes no sense to label us.”
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