Zoe Saldana wins best supporting actress Oscar for ‘Emilia Perez’

LOS ANGELES: Zoe Saldana won the Oscar for best supporting actress on Sunday for her role as a Mexico City lawyer and fixer for a former drug lord in the crime drama and musical “Emilia Perez.”

It was the first Oscar win for the 46-year-old Saldana and was preceded by wins at the Golden Globes and BAFTA and SAG awards this year for the same role.

Saldana helps the drug lord fake his death and then get gender-affirming surgery so that Emilia Perez can become a woman, played by Spain’s Karla Sofia Gascon. In return, she is given a large sum of money.

She also sings the song “El Mal” in which she criticizes the rich at a charity gala. Saldana has starred in some of the highest-grossing films including “Avatar” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Kieran Culkin won the best supporting actor Oscar on Sunday for playing a motor-mouthed American tourist in “A Real Pain.”

A star of the HBO program “Succession,” Culkin was a heavy favorite to win after sweeping BAFTA, Critic’s Choice, Golden Globe and SAG awards for the movie, which is about two cousins on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland.

“I have no idea how I got here,” Culkin said while accepting his award on stage. “I’ve been acting all my life. I never felt like this was my trajectory.”

The movie was also nominated for best original screenplay this year, but missed out on picture and director nods.

Culkin, 42, has also won a Golden Globe for playing Roman Roy on four seasons of “Succession.” He played alongside his older brother Macaulay in the “Home Alone” movies, and his younger brother Rory is also an actor.

Culkin told New York magazine last year he got cold feet about playing Benji in “A Real Pain,” until Emma Stone, a producer on the film and his former girlfriend, convinced him to shoot it.

Culkin’s “Succession” co-star Jeremy Strong – they play brothers on the show – was also up for best supporting actor, for playing Roy Cohn in “The Apprentice.”