Zo Saldana shared that his Academy Award Trophy is gender-fluid and he/he goes through pronouns by him. The actor, who won the Best Supporting Actress at the 2025 Oscar for her role in Emilia Perez, commented on the red carpet for Disney and Pixar’s upcoming film Elio.
“We have it in my office, and my Oscar is penis fluid,” Saladana said. “It is trans and goes through them.”
Saldana earned a significant appreciation for playing the role of Rita, a lawyer, which helps in the infection of a cartel leader in the Spanish-language music Emilia Perez of Jacks Audiard. The film and their performance were praised during the award season, with the top honors of the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, Bftas and SAG Awards before winning the Oscars.
She also shared the Best Actress Award with co-star Carla Sophia Goskon, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, with a rare mass victory over the festival.
What Zo Saladana said in her Oscar speech here
During his acceptance speech at the Oscar, Saldana paid tribute to his legacy and family. He said, “Thanks to the academy for recognizing calm valor and power in a woman like Rita and talking about powerful women,” she said.
He continued: “Jacques, you are a dear character in my life. Thanks for taking interest. Thank you for being very eager about these women for telling this story. For my cast of my artists and Emilia Perez, I am sharing this award with you.”
Zo Saladana became emotional as she had talked about her roots, sharing that her grandmother came to the United States in 1961. She said that she was a proud child of the immigrant parents and showed pride in being the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, saying that she would not be final.
He also reflected how meaningful it was to receive an award for a role, which allowed him to sing and speak in Spanish, saying that his grandmother would have happy and won.
To mention the statue of her Oscar with Saladana’s choice, she follows her pronoun Jamie Lee Kurtis, who did the same even after winning the best supporting actress for everything everywhere at a time. Curtis said she did this to support her daughter Ruby, which came out as a transgender in 2020.
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