Zoë Saldaña breaks down in tears accepting Oscar for role in transgender crime musical Emilia Pérez
Zoë Saldaña won the Best Support Actress Oscar for her role in Emilia Pérez. (Getty)
Zoë Saldaña broke down in tears as she accepted the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Jacques Audiard’s outrageous musical crime drama Emilia Pérez.
During her acceptance speech, Saldaña tearfully relayed the fact that she is the first American of Dominican descent to win an Oscar, and made a pertinent point of her being the child of immigrant parents.
She became instantly emotional as she headed on stage to accept the accolade, pointing out her mother and family were in the crowd.
“Thank you to the Academy, for recognising the quiet heroism and the power in a woman like Rita, and talking about powerful women,” she shared.
“Jacques, you are a beloved character in my life. Thank you for taking the interest, thank you for being so curious about these women to tell this story,” she added of Emilia Pérez director, Jacques Audiard.
She also stated that she would be “sharing” the award with her Emilia Pérez co-stars, including the film’s controversial lead and Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón.
Zoe Saldaña during her #Oscars acceptance speech:
— Complex Pop Culture (@ComplexPop) March 3, 2025
"I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last!” pic.twitter.com/9mlsEOtaBb
“My grandmother came to this country in 1961 — I am a proud child of immigrant parents,” she continued.
“With dreams and dignity and hard-working hands, and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last. I hope. The fact that I’m getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish…” she said, again getting teary-eyed. “My grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted, this is for my grandmother.”
Saldaña beat Wicked‘s Ariana Grande, Conclave‘s Isabella Rossellini, A Complete Unknown‘s Monica Barbaro, and The Brutalist‘s Felicity Jones to the gong.
In the Spanish-language musical crime thriller, Avatar actress Saldaña plays Rita, a dogged lawyer who is recruited to help the titular former Mexican cartel boss (Gascón) to fake her own death.
Emilia wants to leave behind her old life and family – including her wife, Jessi (Selena Gomez) – to access gender-affirming surgery.
The film has proved controversial for numerous reasons, not least because of the unearthing of a slew of old social media posts by Gascón which included anti-Islamic and anti-diversity sentiment.
Though the backlash was likely to impact Emilia Pérez’s chances of scoring many of the record-breaking 13 Oscars it was nominated for, Saldaña was practically guaranteed to take home the Best Supporting Actress gong.
She won it at all major pre-Oscars awards ceremonies, including the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, and the BAFTAs.
At the latter, she dedicated her award to a transgender member of her family.
“I’m dedicating all of these awards and film Emilia Pérez to my nephew, Eli,” she told PinkNews and other media in the winners’ room.
“He is the reason – they are the reason – I signed up to do this film in the first place.
“So as the proud aunt of a trans life, I will always stand with my community of trans people.”
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