Overview

• At the June 10 Los Angeles premiere of Pixar’s Elio, Saldaña said her Oscar lives in her office and embraces a gender-fluid, they/them identity.
• She won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in March for Emilia Pérez, portraying Rita, the lawyer who facilitates a cartel leader’s gender-affirming surgery.
• Emilia Pérez garnered 13 Oscar nominations and widespread discussion over its cultural depiction and resurfaced tweets by lead actor Karla Sofía Gascón.
• In her acceptance speech, Saldaña dedicated the award to her transgender nephew Eli and became the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award.
• By attributing they/them pronouns to her statuette, Saldaña joined Jamie Lee Curtis in advancing conversations about nonbinary recognition and representation in Hollywood.