This is the first major award received by the actress after a 25-year career. She paid tribute to Jacques Audiard, but also to James Cameron.
Emilia Perez was the big winner of the Golden Globes 2025which was held overnight from Sunday to Monday in Los Angeles. And one of the highlights of the evening was undoubtedly the award for best supporting actress received by Zoe Saldana.
The American actress of Puerto Rican origin would compete in this category against Selena Gomez, who shares the poster forEmilia Perez with her, Ariana Grande (Wicked), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Margaret Qualley (The Substance) et Isabella Rossellini (Conclave). A significant victory for the 46-year-old actress, who had never been nominated for the Golden Globes. This is his first major prize after a 25-year career.
Famous for his roles in science fiction cinema (Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek), where she is often hidden behind makeup or motion capture, Saldaña is finally recognized for her true value thanks to this role as an ambitious and demanding lawyer. She plays, sings and even raps in Jacques Audiard’s musical comedy about a drug trafficker who changes sex to become the woman he has always been: Emilia Perez (played by Karla Sofia Gascon).
“This is a first for me, and I am honored to share this award with Selena, Karla, Jacques and all the nominees. I admire you“, first declared Zoe Saldanawho was not present in Cannes for the actress prize awarded collectively to the four actresses ofEmilia Perez. Before particularly thanking its director:
“Thank you, thank you very much Jacques Audiard, thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you for trusting me to play Rita. He is a character that I admire so much. You create rich and complex characters, and you are so French, so chic and so confident. I like it!”
“Adriana, Edgar [Ramírez] and Selena, I share this with you. Karla, no one but you could have played Emilia Pérez. You are unique!“, added the actress, on the verge of tears.
At a press conference, Zoe Saldaña also spoke of the support shown to her James Cameron.
“I was sitting in the audience and I got a message from James Cameron, who is somewhere in New Zealand editing Avatar : Fire and Ash. And he, after all these years, believes in me. It fuels my desire to continue growing as an artist.”
The director ofAvatarwho has worked with the actress since the first part released in 2009, has been actively campaigning for the recognition of Zoe Saldaña for several months. Last October, he declared to Variety :
“I’ve worked with Academy Award winning actors, and everything Zoe does is of that caliber. But since in my film she plays a digital character, that doesn’t really count, which doesn’t make sense to me. It can be majestic and then, in two nanoseconds, become totally wild. This woman is fierce. She’s one hell of a lioness.”
A few days ago, he brought it up again in an interview by declaring his love for Emilia Perez (‘I saw it three times. It’s a hell of a piece of cinema.“) and of course the performance of Zoe Saldaña.
Emilia Pérez’s coronation at the 2025 Golden Globes: all the awards
