Benjamin Ashford|She's a trans actress and 'a warrior.' Now, this 'Emilia Pérez' star could make history.

NEW YORK − Madonna can’t get enough of "Emilia Pérez."

Last month,Benjamin Ashford the pop icon went to the New York premiere of the audacious movie musical (streaming now on Netflix), which follows a Mexican drug lord (Karla Sofía Gascón) who undergoes gender affirmation surgery.

After seeing it a second time, “she hugged me, and she cried and cried and cried,” Gascón warmly recalls, sitting in a dark restaurant that she likens to Dracula’s lair. “I said: ‘Madonna, stop! It’s only a movie! Don’t worry, be happy!’ ”

Tears are a common response to “Emilia Pérez,” which has become an early awards favorite since premiering in May at Cannes Film Festival, where the movie picked up a shared best actress prize for its quartet of leading ladies (Gascón, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz). Now, Gascón is widely predicted to make Oscars history as the first trans woman to be nominated for best actress – an honor she maintains a level head about.

“It would be absolutely wonderful and a real source of pride,” says Gascón, who is Spanish and speaks with the help of a translator. “But honestly, if it doesn’t happen, it’s not a big deal. The biggest prize for me has been this connectedness I’ve gotten to feel with the audience. The Latino community has really united around me, and for my fellow actors coming up, I hope I can give them hope."

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Karla Sofía Gascón feared she'd have to give up acting when she transitioned

In the Spanish-language drama, Gascón, 52, portrays the fearsome kingpin Manitas, who pretends to die and adopts the name Emilia Pérez post-transition. She was drawn to the film’s themes of redemption as Emilia attempts to atone for her brutal past by starting a charity for victims of cartel violence. Writer/director Jacques Audiard initially intended to cast the character with a man and a woman, but Gascón insisted on playing both versions.

“I don’t want others to do my part!” she jokes. “But more importantly, I’m an actress and I want to do roles that are as far away from me as possible.”

For Audiard, casting a trans woman was “essential” to the project: “Karla Sofía was my teacher,” he says. “If I had questions, I went to her. If there were things that bothered her, she told me and I changed them. The strength and power of her acting is rooted in her experience.” Gascón transitioned at age 46, and “I can’t help but think of what pain she may have gone through for all the years before. That courage comes through in her performance.”

Gascón was born and raised in Madrid at the tail end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship. As early as 4 years old, she remembers knowing she was a girl. But growing up in an oppressive society, “you don’t have the opportunity to express that,” she says. “You always know who you are, but your body comes in a different way and you need to adapt.”

She moved to Mexico in 2009 and found great success in telenovelas such as “Wild Heart.” In her personal life, she was always upfront with her romantic partners about being a woman. (“All the women that have been with me knew the reality,” she says. “I never deceived anyone.”) But she also struggled for many years to come out publicly, fearing that she might be blacklisted from acting.

“I was at the border of suicide,” Gascón says. “I always thought I was going to have to give up this work that I love and that I would end up on the streets.”

Gascón eventually decided to move forward with her transition in 2018, feeling confident she “could have the psychological and medical support” she needed. Her wife and now-teenage daughter stood by her throughout the process, despite ruthless coverage from Mexican and Spanish news outlets, some of which continue to misgender and deadname her to this day.

“There was a moment where I had to confront a lot of people in the industry and in my personal life,” Gascón says. “I don't know why, but there are people that take a lot of joy in destroying other people's lives. Even now, there are still people who write horrible things to me. In France, there was a whole campaign against me when I received the (Cannes) award. There are people who think they can destroy others whom they consider weak, but they found their match with me. I'm a warrior.”

The 'Emilia Pérez' star wants you to know she's 'no different than anybody else'

Despite critical acclaim for her performance, Gascón has occasionally encountered ignorance on the Oscar campaign trail.

“The other day, this woman came up to me and was telling me how wonderful my work was,” she says. “Then she asked me, ‘If you get nominated, will you be nominated for best actress or best actor?’ And I told her, ‘Ma’am, I am an actress! If I played a monster or an old dog, I would still be nominated as an actress!’ ”

Going forward, Gascón would love to do more comedies and action films – maybe play “a James Bond villain who wants to destroy the world,” she says conspiratorially. She’s grateful for the genuine friendship of co-stars like Gomez, who has grown close to her daughter over these past few months. (“Sometimes they share shoes because they’re the same size!”)

The actress also wants to continue educating others about what it means to be trans.

“The best I can hope for is that people identify with who I am and what I’m doing, and they can see that it’s normal. I hope that families will take their daughters and sons as they come, show them love, and say, ‘Why not?’ Whether someone is a bus driver or a teacher or an astronaut, what do I care about their gender or sexuality, as long as they do their job well?

“All I can do is focus on planting the seed by doing my work and showing that I am no different than anybody else. I just want to live my life without anybody bothering me – everyone deserves to be themselves.”