It’s officially a sweep.
Zoe Saldaña has won the 2025 Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in “Emilia Pérez.”
Saldaña, 46, receives her first Academy Award for playing lawyer Rita Mora Castro in the Mexico-set Netflix musical drama filmed in France.
The actor, a favorite going into Hollywood’s big night, takes home the Oscar after consistently winning for her role in the film throughout awards season.
Saldaña, who was born in Passaic and grew up in Queens and the Dominican Republic, previously won a Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, BAFTA Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in the Jacques Audiard movie.
“I am floored by this honor,” she said in her acceptance speech, thanking the film’s cast and crew and her family.
“My grandmother came to this country in 1961,” Saldaña said. “I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hardworking 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 am getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish, my grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted.”
Rita is a lawyer whose life is changed after she meets a cartel boss who has an unexpected request. Shanna Besson | Pathé Films
Before “Emilia Pérez,” the actor was best known for her starring roles in major movie franchises — the Marvel “Guardians of the Galaxy” films and James Cameron’s “Avatar” movies.
Playing the attorney in “Emilia Pérez” saw her return to her early-career roots as a dancer, which were fully on display starting with her film debut in the 2000 ballet movie “Center Stage.”
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Saldaña dances, sings and raps in “Emilia Pérez,” the film with the most Oscar nominations this year — 13, including best picture and best international feature film (representing France).
She leads the performance of the Oscar-nominated song “El Mal” (watch below) from the film, which was written by Camille and Clément Ducol.
Saldaña‘s Oscar win is a testament to the strength of her performance, one that Academy voters recognized despite “Emilia Pérez” being the subject of controversy, both because of offensive tweets from Saldaña’s co-star and the depiction of Mexico in the film.
Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the title role in “Emilia Pérez,” had attended awards shows earlier in the season, but did not attend a series of film events after the surfacing of racist and anti-Muslim tweets in January. She returned to the awards circuit for France’s César Awards and the Oscars.
The movie’s awards run started with the Cannes Film Festival in France, where Saldaña, Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz jointly won the best actress award in May.
Gascón, 52, became the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for an Oscar when the nominations for the 97th Academy Awards were announced in January.
She plays both Emilia Pérez and a Mexican cartel boss named Juan “Manitas” Del Monte in the Netflix film.
Manitas enlists Saldaña’s character, Rita, to help him arrange gender-affirming surgery.
When they meet some time later after the surgery, Manitas is a woman named Emilia Pérez. Together, Rita and Emilia work to help Mexican families find their dead and disappeared loved ones who have become victims of the cartels.
Zoe Saldaña with Karla Sofía Gascón in "Emilia Pérez."Netflix
“Emilia Pérez” has drawn much criticism in Mexico for its portrayal of Mexico and for its France-based production, which features only one Mexican actor — Paz — in a main role.
One Mexican parody of the film, a “musical tribute” titled “Johanne Sacreblue,” sets an entire musical drama about a French story in Mexico.
Stories by Amy Kuperinsky
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter/X, @amykup.bsky.social on Bluesky and @kupamy on Instagram and Threads.