Zoe Saldaña Tears up in Moving Oscar Acceptance Speech

Zoe Saldaña made history as the first Dominican American to take home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2025 awards ceremony. Adding to an already successful awards season for the Drumline star, who scored her first Golden Globe in January, and  wins at the British Academy Film Awards, the Critics Choice Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, grew emotional on stage while accepting the award for her role in Emilia Pérez.  

“Mami! Mami!” a tearful Saldaña said at the start of her speech. “My mom is here. My whole family is here. I am floored by this honor. Thank you to the academy for recognizing the quiet heroism and the power in a woman like Rita and talking about powerful women. My fellow nominees, the love and community that you have offered to me is a true gift, and I will pay it forward.”

Saldaña accepted the award from the reigning winner in the category, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who took home the 2024 award for her role in The Holdovers.

“My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents. With dreams and dignity and hard working hands,” Saldaña added. “And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award. And I know I will not be the last.”

She spoke on the impact of the culture represented in the film. “The fact that I am getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish, my grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted,” Saldaña noted.

In the film, Saldaña played the down-on-her-luck lawyer Rita Castro, hired by a Mexican drug lord to help facilitate gender-affirming surgery. Saldaña’s career has been expansive, starring in major franchises such as Star Trek, as Avatar, and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Gamorain Guardian of the Galaxy. Due to her aesthetic, she’s been able to play several roles spanning multicultures.