Creating history, 2025 Oscar nominations are revealed with first openly transgender actress nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Karla Sofa Gascn has played the main character in ‘Emilia Prez’.

The movie directed byJacques Audiard, is the French movie. Set in Mexico, it has become one of the most talked-about topics of the 2025 awards season. With 13Oscar nominations,includingBest Picture and Best Actress for Karla Sofa Gascn,this production has ignited debate and drawn much criticism from Mexicans.

The plot here is a complex mix of genres, including musical comedy, crime drama, and social commentary. The story follows Juan Manitas Del Monte, a powerful Mexican drug lord who, tired of his criminal life and ready to embrace his true identity, decides to undergo a gender transition to become Emilia Prez. This radical change not only transforms his life but also deeply affects those around him.

The story of Emilia Prez is not based on real events. Jacques Audiard drew inspiration from the novel coute by Boris Razon, which features a drug lord with a desire to transition genders.

Karla Sofa Gascnis a Spanish actress. She has developed part of her career in theAmericas, featuring in the comedy film The Noble Family (2013) and the narcoseries El Seor de los Cielos.

Gascn gained wide attention for portraying the title character in the musical crime film Emilia Prez (2024). For the role, she jointly won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress with her co-stars, becoming the first transgender actress to win the prize, as well as the European Film Award for Best Actress. She also became the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

School of Cinematography and Audiovisual of the Community of Madrid (Spanish: Escuela de Cinematografa y del Audiovisual de la Comunidad de Madrid; ECAM), also sometimes referred to as “The Madrid Film School”, is a film school located in Ciudad de la Imagen, Pozuelo de Alarcn, Spain. It was founded in 1994.

Gascn was born 31 March 1972 in Alcobendas. In her childhood, she playacted with her brother, and, at 16, she decided to pursue an acting career. She earned an acting degree from the ECAM. She worked in London on a BBC series for Spanish-language learning and in Milan voicing puppets for children’s shows.

She appeared in Spanish daily soap opera El sper portraying a flight attendant, as well as in other shows such as Calle nueva and El pasado es maana. Early roles also included film appearances in Se buscan fulmontis (1999), Me da igual (2000), Box 507 (2002), and Say I Do (2004).

She made a one-time return to the Spanish film industry to star alongside Tony Isbert in El cura y el veneno. In box-office hit The Noble Family (2013), she played a character from Puebla with aspirations of becoming a Spaniard. In 2014, she appeared in El Seor de los Cielos as the “ruthless” Spaniard Iaki Izarrieta, an associate of Aurelio Casillas.

In 2018, having completed most of her gender transition, Gascn published her autobiography Karsia, Una historia extraordinaria (‘Karsia: an Extraordinary Story’) under her birth name, doubling as a public announcement of her new identity as Karla Sofa Gascn. She portrayed Lourdes Buenda in the teen drama series Rebelde (2022).[15] In 2024, she starred in Jacques Audiard’s musical crime comedy film Emilia Prez, which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. In the film, she portrayed a powerful cartel leader who fakes death, medically transitions and is reborn as Emilia Prez.

Now, the Oscars 2025 nominations are out, with The Brutalist and Emilia Prez leading the list. Sadly, no Indian film made the cut. Key nominations include Anora, Dune: Part Two, and Wicked in Best Picture. The main event is set for March 2, 2025.

Oscars 2025 full nominations list:

Best Director: Sean Baker Anora; Brady Corbet The Brutalist; James Mangold A Complete Unknown; Jacques Audiard Emilia Prez; Coralie Fargeat The Substance

Best Actor: Adrien Brody The Brutalist; Timothe Chalamet A Complete Unknown; Colman Domingo Sing Sing; Ralph Fiennes Conclave; Sebastian Stan The Apprentice

Best Supporting Actress: Monica Barbaro A Complete Unknown; Ariana Grande-Butera Wicked; Felicity Jones The Brutalist; Isabella Rossellini Conclave; Zoe Saldaa Emilia Prez

Best Supporting Actor: Yura Borisov Anora; Kieran Culkin A Real Pain; Edward Norton A Complete Unknown; Guy Pearce The Brutalist; Jeremy Strong The Apprentice

Best Original Screenplay: Anora; The Brutalist; A Real Pain; September 5; The Substance

Best Adapted Screenplay: A Complete Unknown; Conclave; Emilia Prez; Nickel Boys; Sing Sing

Best Animated Feature Film: Flow; Inside Out 2; Memoir of a Snail; Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; The Wild Robot

Best Documentary Feature Film: Black Box Diaries; No Other Land; Porcelain War; Soundtrack to a Coup DEtat;

Sugarcane

Best Original Score: The Brutalist; Conclave; Emilia Prez; Wicked; The Wild Robot

Best Original Song: El Mal Emilia Prez; The Journey Six Triple Eight; Like a Bird Sing Sing; Mi Camino Emilia Prez; Never Too Late Elton John: Never Too Late

Best Cinematography: The Brutalist; Dune: Part Two; Emilia Prez; Maria; Nosferatu

Best Production Design: The Brutalist; Conclave; Dune: Part Two; Nosferatu; Wicked

Best Costume Design: A Complete Unknown; Conclave; Gladiator II; Nosferatu; Wicked

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: A Different Man; Emilia Prez; Nosferatu; The Substance; Wicked

Best Visual Effects: Alien: Romulus; Better Man; Dune: Part Two; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; Wicked

Best Sound: A Complete Unknown; Dune: Part Two; Emilia Prez; Wicked; The Wild Robot

Best Film Editing: Anora; The Brutalist; Conclave; Emilia Prez; Wicked

Best Animated Short Film: Beautiful Men; In the Shadow of the Cypress; Magic Candies; Wander to Wonder;Yuck!

Best Documentary Short Film: Death By Numbers; I Am Ready Warden; Incident; Instruments of a Beating Heart;

The Only Girl in the Orchestra