My ‘Emilia Pérez’ Oscar Is ‘Trans’

Zoe Saldaña is making a statement: Her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Emilia Pérez” identifies as “trans.” Saldaña, who won the statue for playing a lawyer who helps a cartel boss (Karla Sofía Gascón) undergo gender-affirming surgery, told People that the award “goes by they/them.”

“We have it in my office and my Oscar is gender fluid,” Saldaña said. Saldaña later likened her Oscar win to being “the World Cup of acting,” at least as her sons Zen, Bowie, and Cy with husband and filmmaker Marco Perego understand it. Saldaña also had won a BAFTA, a Critics Choice Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in “Emilia Pérez.”

The controversial film was nominated for a slew of Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Lead star Gascón, who is trans, was nominated for Best Actress as well.

Saldaña isn’t the first Best Supporting Actress winner to refer to her Oscar as they/them. Jamie Lee Curtis supported her trans daughter Ruby in 2023 by saying her “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Oscar is part of the push to have genderless awards categories, much like what the Gothams pioneered.

When asked during the “Today” show by co-host Savannah Guthrie if Curtis had “named her,” in reference to the statue, Curtis said that the statuette is genderless as a statement for transgender rights.

“I’m in support of my daughter Ruby. I’m having them be a they/them,” Curtis said. “I’m going to just call them ‘them.’ They/them, and they are doing great, they’re settling in, and I just, in my life, I never saw it in a million years that I’d have these couple days, and I’m very moved by the whole thing.”

She previously had addressed non-gendered awards categories while backstage at the 2023 Oscars.

“The bigger question is how do you include everyone when there are binary choices, which is very difficult, and as the mother of a trans daughter, I completely understand that,” Curtis said. “And yet to de-gender the categories, I’m concerned that will diminish the opportunities for more women, which is something I’ve been working hard to promote. The most important thing is inclusivity and more women…basically just more fucking women anywhere, anytime, all at once.”