Karla Sofía Gascón receives Spanish Actors and Actresses Union award: ‘I am a woman like any other'

Karla Sofía Gascón reappeared this week in Madrid where the Emilia Pérez actress won the prize awarded by the Unión de Actores y Actrices (Actors and Actresses Union) to the best actress in an international production.  

It is the first award Gascón has received since the controversy generated by some racist tweets she posted on social networks years ago. 

In her speech after receiving the award at the 33rd edition of the ceremony in Circo Price in Madrid, the actress stressed: “I am not a robot, I am an actress, I am a woman like any other, with my virtues and my faults - sometimes a bit of an idiot, and with a wonderful daughter to whom I want to leave a better world.” 

During her emotional speech, the 52-year-old Spanish actress said that she wanted "to be an example of overcoming” and that she was sorry she “could not be that way I wanted, but I will continue fighting and working because I want my job." She also recalled Jamie Lee Curtis' words when she denounced hatred against her daughter for being trans. 

“They hated her simply for existing,” she said, “and any excuse is a good one to attack us.” 

“Five years ago I was doing micro-theatre performances for just one person and they kept insulting me, and a week ago, at the Oscars, some people would have liked to burn me like in the Inquisition.”  

She concluded by saying: “May strength be with us in all the dark moments we have left to live through, and let's start with ourselves, with that dark side we have inside us: more love and less hate.”

The Hollywood Reporter recently published a statement in which Gascón reflected on the controversy over the tweet scandal which tanked Emilia Pérez’s awards chances at the Oscars. She said that "things escalated to the point, and so quickly, that I couldn't even breathe."  

"In the midst of this unexpected and devastating storm, the pain has been so overwhelming that at times I contemplated the unthinkable," she confessed.

Gascón did end up attending the 97th Oscars, where host Conan O'Brien referenced the controversy in his monologue, saying: “Anora uses the F-word 479 times. That's three times more than the record set by the publicist of Karla Sofía Gascón.” He added: “Karla, if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember my name is Jimmy Kimmel.” 

Academy CEO Bill Kramer had urged attendees to show respect for the nominee, saying in a statement: “The Academy does not condone hate speech – I want to be very clear about that. Karla's nomination is historic. That's really important. She's still a nominee. We honour that, but we do not condone hate speech.” 

Gascón became the first transgender woman nominated for Best Actress by the Academy, with Emilia Pérezleading the 2025 nominations. However, the French film by Jacques Audiard only ended up winning two Oscars – Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song. It was the favourite to take home Best International Film but was overtaken by Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, which became the first-ever Brazilian produced film to win an Academy Award.  

In our review of Emilia Pérez, we said: "Audiard manages to confidently balance the knowingly kitschy aspects of the musical genre (one number set in a clinic has “Rhinoplasty! Mammoplasty! Vaginoplasty!” as a chorus) with some touching character-driven moments, without forgetting to thrill you and address socially-charged hot-button topics along the way.”

We also noted how Gascón burned up the screen, and how there was “power, pathos and earnestness seeping through every moment of Gascón’s performance, and the double-act she and Zoe Saldaña go on to form is magnetic to watch.”