Karla Sofía Gascón

Karla Sofía Gascón (formerly Carlos Gascón; born 31 March 1972) is a Spanish actress. She has developed part of her career in North America, featuring in the comedy film The Noble Family and the narcoseries El Señor de los Cielos (beginning 2013).

Gascón has gained wide attention for portraying the title character in the musical crime film Emilia Pérez (2024), written and directed by Jacques Audiard. For the role, she jointly won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress with her three female co-stars, becoming the first openly transgender actress to win the prize. She also won the European Film Award for Best Actress. She was the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Early life and education

Gascón was born Juan Carlos Gascón on 31 March 1972 in Alcobendas, Spain. In her childhood, she playacted with her brother, and, at 16, she decided to pursue an acting career. She worked in London on a BBC series for Spanish-language learning and in Milan voicing puppets for children's shows.

Career 2002–2009: Early roles in Spain and move to Mexico Before 2014, Gascón portrayed male characters and was credited under her birth name Juan Carlos Gascón. She appeared in Spanish daily soap opera El súper portraying a flight attendant, Early roles also included film appearances in Se buscan fulmontis (1999), Me da igual (2000), Box 507 (2002), and Say I Do (2004).

Convinced by Mexican filmmaker Julián Pastor, Gascón moved to Mexico in 2009 to continue her acting career, taking on a number of telenovela roles, starting with the gypsy Branko in Corazón salvaje. She made a one-time return to the Spanish film industry to star alongside Tony Isbert in El cura y el veneno. In the Mexican box-office hit The Noble Family (2013), she played the supporting role of Peter Pintado, the gold-digging boyfriend of Karla Souza's character Bárbara Noble, who poses as a Spaniard but is actually from Puebla. In 2014, she appeared in El Señor de los Cielos as the "ruthless" Spaniard Iñaki Izarrieta, an associate of Aurelio Casillas.

2018–2024: Transition, Emilia Pérez and fallout

In 2018, having completed most of her gender transition, Gascón published a magical realist memoir, (Karsia: an Extraordinary Story) under the name Carlos Gascón. It doubled as a public announcement of her new identity as Karla Sofía Gascón.

She portrayed Lourdes Buendía in the teen drama series Rebelde (2022). In 2024, she starred in Jacques Audiard's musical crime film Emilia Pérez, which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. In it, she portrays a powerful cartel leader who is married with children. The character fakes her death, medically transitions from male to female, and assumes a new life as Emilia Pérez.

Gascón won the festival's Best Actress prize, shared jointly with her three female costars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Zoe Saldaña. Gascón is the first openly trans actor to win a major prize at Cannes. Later in the year, she became a Chevalière of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In December 2024, she was reported to have signed on to star as Aunt Encarna in Las malas, an adaptation of Camila Sosa Villada's Bad Girls to be directed by Armando Bó.

In January 2025, after her Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for Emilia Pérez, a series of tweets Gascón made between 2019 and 2021 resurfaced. They were identified as containing bigoted speech against several communities, including one calling Islam a "hotbed of infection for humanity", and one wondering whether the Oscars had become an "Afro-Korean festival", a "Black Lives Matter demonstration", or International Women's Day. Gascón deleted the tweets and apologized, then deactivated her X account the next day. In February 2025 she was dropped from promotional activities for Emilia Pérez, including award shows (Premios Goya), and her book's publication was canceled. Gascón described herself as a victim of cancel culture. which she described as "Darth Vader, but female".

Personal life Gascón considers herself "Mexican by adoption", having lived and worked in Mexico for many years. She is a Nichiren Buddhist. As of 2025, she lives in Alcobendas, Spain, her hometown. Gascón was assigned male at birth but transitioned in 2018 after dealing with gender dysphoria and now identifies as a woman.

Selected filmography +Film Year Title Role Notes 1999 Gigolo del club 2002 La caja 507 Gafitas 2004 Di que sí Álex 2010 Cambio de sentido Cantante 2013Nosotros, los Nobles Peter Pintado Felipe 2024 Emilia Pérez Emilia Pérez / Juan "Manitas" del Monte 2025 Uomini e altri inconvenienti Viuda Bronson Filming Game Changer Award Astra Creative Arts Awards Best Original Song "El mal" (from Emilia Pérez) Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Emilia Pérez European Film Awards Best Actress Ischia Global Film & Music Festival Ischia Global Breakout Actress of the Year Award Mill Valley Film Festival Outstanding Ensemble Performance San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Best Actress SCAD Savannah Film Festival Distinguished Performance Award Toronto Film Critics Association Outstanding Lead Performance Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards Best Actress Chicago Film Critics Association Most Promising Performer 2025 AACTA International Awards Best Actress British Academy Film AwardsBest Actress in a Leading Role Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Actress Best Acting Ensemble Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Lumière Awards Best Actress Palm Springs International Film Festival Vanguard Award Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuoso Award Satellite AwardsBest Actress – Comedy or Musical Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Academy Awards Best Actress 33rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards Best Actress in an International Production