Zoe Saldaña has earned her first Academy Award for best supporting actress in “Emilia Pérez.”
“Mami! Mami!” an emotional Saldaña said in her acceptance speech. “My mom is here. My whole family is here. I am floored by this honor. Thank you to the academy for recognizing the quiet heroism and the power in a woman like Rita and talking about powerful women. My fellow nominees, the love and community that you have offered to me is a true gift, and I will pay it forward.”
Saldaña, 46, has already received her first Golden Globe in January and a number of other awards at the British Academy Film Awards, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Saldaña was one of several performers who received their first nominations, including Isabella Rossellini from “Conclave,” Monica Barbaro from “A Complete Unknown,” and Ariana Grande from “Wicked.”
Saldaña noted her pride in her immigrant roots. “My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents. With dreams and dignity and hard-working hands. And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award. And I know I will not be the last.”
She later told the Associated Press, “I think it’s every time I went after a part and didn’t get. If I don’t act and if I don’t do my art then who am I? It’s about realizing that it’s not about the win. When you learn to let that go, it is about the work day in and day out, the day that you do win, you just have a deeper appreciation for it and you feel that you have appreciated every experience and every moment that has led you here.”
Saldaña played the lawyer Rita Castro in “Emilia Pérez,” who was hired by a Mexican drug lord to assist in gender-affirming surgery.
“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,” Saldaña noted.
Saldaña accepted the prize from the reigning winner in the category, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who stated that she “took us on a journey. One that made us question the very limits we put on ourselves. And then you showed us exactly how to break them. You are fearless, and it is so inspiring to watch.”
