Emilia Pérez
Description
From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard comes Emilia Pérez, an audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations. Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. Written and directed by Audiard (Rust and Bone, A Prophet), the double Cannes-winning film also stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Edgar Ramírez.
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Biographies
Jacques Audiard (Paris, 1952) is a French film director and screenwriter. He has won both the César Award for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language twice: in 2005 for De battre mon cœur s’est arrêté and in 2010 for Un Prophète. Un Prophète also won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival that same year. His film De rouille et d’os competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won the BFI London Film Festival Award for Best Film. His film Dheepan won the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. He has since directed three films: The Sisters Brothers, for which he won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival; Les Olympiades which was in competition at Festival de Cannes; and Emilia Pérez, a double award with the Jury Prize and the Best Actress Award for these four actresses at the Cannes 2024 Film Festival.
Zoe Saldaña has steadily earned a reputation as one of the most versatile and respected powerhouses in the industry with a remarkable career spanning more than 20 years as an actor and producer. As the only actor in history to have starred in four films that have grossed over 2 billion dollars and the top three highest-grossing films of all time, Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame, Saldaña’s passionate commitment to seeking compelling, indelible roles has remained constant.
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Currently, Saldaña can be seen starring in Netflix’s critically acclaimed Spanish-language musical crime comedy from Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez. The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it garnered among the longest standing ovations out of the festival and took home the Jury Prize. Saldaña received the Best Actress Award alongside the female ensemble, including Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz. Saldaña also won a 2025 Golden Globe Award for “Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture” for her role as Rita in the film. Emilia Pérez additionally won three awards at the Golden Globes — “Best Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Motion Picture - Non-English Language,” and “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (‘El Mal’).
Saldaña is also currently nominated for two 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards in the categories of “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role” and “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” (alongside Karla Sofia Gascon, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz) with castmate Karla Sofia Gascon being nominated for “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.” At the upcoming 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards, Emilia Pérez is nominated for a total of eleven awards, including “Best Film,” with Saldaña vying for “Supporting Actress.”
She can also be seen starring in the second season of Taylor Sheridan’s undercover CIA drama series for Paramount+, Lioness, where she leads a fantastic cast, including Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman, as well as executive produces. Season one launched in July 2023 and became one of the most-watched global premieres on Paramount+, garnering nearly 6 million viewers combined on streaming and network television. Season two of Lioness premiered on Paramount+ on October 27, 2024. The role has earned her a nomination for “Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series” at last year’s as well as the upcoming 2025 NAACP Image Awards.
Earlier this year, Saldaña led and executive produced the independent film The Absence of Eden, opposite Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona. Directed by Marco Perego in his feature film debut, the film had its World Premiere at the 2023 Taormina Film Festival, opened the 2023 Newport Beach Film Festival, and was released in theaters on April 12 by Roadside Attractions.
In December 2022, she reprised her role of Neytiri in James Cameron’s Oscar-winning film Avatar: The Way of Water, which has shattered box office records, including becoming the first pandemic-era film to reach $2 billion at the global box office and securing its spot as the third highest-grossing film of all time, following the first Avatar film from 2009. The third film of the franchise, titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, is currently in production, with two additional installments to follow.
Past projects include Saldaña starring as trailblazing heroine Nyota Uhura in J.J. Abrams’ hit Star Trek franchise, beginning in 2009, and starring alongside Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, and Woody Harrelson in Scott Cooper’s 2013 crime thriller Out of the Furnace. In 2014, she took on yet another iconic role with Gamora, the Marvel fan-favorite lethal alien assassin, in the blockbuster hit Guardians of the Galaxy, reprising the role in the 2017 and 2023 sequels, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and again in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. In 2022, she starred opposite Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner, and Mark Ruffalo in Shawn Levy’s The Adam Project, which remains on Netflix’s Top 10 most-viewed films of all time. Saldaña has taken a very active role as a producer, forming Cinestar Pictures along with her sisters Mariel and Cisely, with an eye toward reshaping the American storytelling landscape. Cinestar produces compelling, multicultural stories for a global audience.
In addition to her prolific acting and producing career, Saldaña founded BESE in 2018, a media company created to support and amplify the voices of the Latinx community. The spirit of BESE’s mission extends to the partnership Saldaña launched with sportswear giant Adidas and Kohl’s department store in 2020.
Saldaña received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018 and was honored with the Outstanding Achievement in Film Award by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) in 2017, for her impactful work to broaden representation of the Latinx community throughout Hollywood. She was recognized as one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2023. Born in New Jersey and raised in Queens and in the Dominican Republic, Saldaña currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three sons.