Zoe Saldaña has won the best supporting actress Oscar at the Academy Awards in Hollywood, for her role in Emilia Pérez.
Saldaña was the frontrunner for the prize for her performance as a high-powered defence attorney in Jacques Audiard’s musical crime film. She had won a clean sweep of supporting actress awards in the run-up to the Oscars, including the Golden Globe, Bafta and Sag award.
However, controversies surrounding the film, most notably the backlash to offensive social media posts by the film’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón, had threatened to damage its chances.
The film went into the Academy Awards with a record-breaking 13 nominations – three more than any previous foreign-language film. It began its journey at Cannes last year, where Saldaña, Gascón and co-stars Adriana Paz and Selena Gomez jointly won the best actress award.
Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez. Photograph: PR
Saldaña, 46, is best known for starring in James Cameron’s Avatar franchise. She has starred in four of the six highest-grossing films of all time, including the top three (Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Avengers: Endgame). And as of last year, her films had made more than $15bn worldwide, making her the second highest-grossing lead female actor ever, after Scarlett Johansson.
Saldaña began her emotional speech by screaming; “Mummy”, then explaining that her whole family, including her mother, were present.
“I am floored,” she continued, before going on to thank her fellow nominees, saying that she appreciated the “love and community” they had offered and that she would “pay it forward”.
She thanked Audiard for “being so curious” about the female characters in the film, before going on to thank the cast and crew of their film, while not mentioning any by name.
Saldaña then moved on to her family, thanking her “mom and dad and sisters – everything brave, outrageous and good that I’ve ever done in my life is because of you”.
She then spoke to her husband, Marco Perego-Saldaña, mentioning his “beautiful hair” before saying the “biggest honour of my life is being your partner. You hung the moon in our beautiful perfect sons, Cy, Bowie and Zen. They fill our skies every night with stars.
“My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am the proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands and I am the first American of Dominican origin to win an Academy Award and I know I will not be the last.”
Saldaña concluded that her late grandmother would have been “so delighted” to know she got the award for a role in which she was able to sing and act in Spanish.
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