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Karla Sofia Gascon, who won the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for her portrayal of a Mexican drug lord who becomes a woman, is a Spanish actor who began life as a man.
The star of Jacques Audiard's vibrant Mexican musical “Emilia Perez” had an acting career, a wife and a daughter before reaching the age of 46 and writing a book about it.
She channeled her life experience into the film, playing both the ruthless narco gangster Manitas and then the title role of Emilia Perez after gender-affirming surgery.
“Thank you for your creativity. You are the best director in the world,” she told Audiard after receiving the award, which was also given jointly to pop star Selena Gomez, American actress Zoe Saldana and to Mexican actress Adriana Paz.
“Selena Gomez, I’m in love with you,” she added.
With tears in her eyes, she dedicated this award to “all trans people who suffer”.
“We all have the opportunity to change for the better, to become better people,” she said.
“If you’ve made us suffer, it’s time for you to change too.”
Gascon told the press earlier in the festival that playing Manitas was a pleasure.
“I'm not going to lie. Playing Manitas was way more fun than playing Emilia Perez,” she said.
She told the press that she was initially approached only to play Emilia, but pressured Audiard until he agreed that she could also play Manitas.
“I had to convince him, sending him videos and photos for months, until one morning he called me and said: 'Both roles are yours. Leave me alone' ” she said, laughing.
Born Carlos Gascón in Alcobendas, a Madrid suburb, the actor met his wife Marisa in a nightclub, aged 19. Together they had a daughter who is now 13 years old.
Gascon began acting in the 1990s in popular Spanish television series before moving to Mexico where the actor appeared in the popular 2013 Mexican film “Nosotros los Nobles” and completed his transition.
She told the press in Cannes that she had wanted to be a girl since she was four years old.
“We are normal people who can have the career we want,” Gascon said.
“Being trans doesn't matter. A trans person is someone who is going through a transition. Once the transition is over, that's it. They are who they are,” she said.
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