You’ve probably seen the headlines by now. Karla Sofía Gascón is basically everywhere. Between the history-making Best Actress win at Cannes and her groundbreaking Oscar nomination for Emilia Pérez, she’s become the face of a new era in cinema. But for a lot of fans who just discovered her through Netflix, there’s a massive curiosity about her "before."
People keep searching for Karla Sofía Gascón as a man, trying to piece together the career of the actor formerly known as Juan Carlos Gascón.
Was she always this famous? Not exactly. But she wasn't a nobody either. Honestly, if you grew up watching Spanish soaps or Mexican cinema in the 2010s, you’ve likely seen her face a dozen times without even realizing it. She wasn't just some background actor; she was a legitimate leading man in some of the biggest Spanish-language productions of the decade.
The "Peter Pintado" Era and Mexican Super-Stardom
Before her transition in 2018, Karla—then working as Juan Carlos—landed a role that changed everything. The movie was Nosotros los Nobles (The Noble Family).
It wasn't just a hit. It was a cultural phenomenon.
In the film, she played Peter Pintado, the slick, social-climbing Spanish boyfriend of Karla Souza’s character. He was the guy everyone loved to hate. Watching it back now, the performance is sharp, comedic, and dripping with "macho" arrogance. It’s wild to think that the same person playing that gold-digging dude would eventually become the soul of Emilia Pérez.
But Nosotros los Nobles was just one piece of the puzzle.
She spent years grinding in the telenovela trenches. We’re talking about high-octane dramas like Corazón salvaje and El Señor de los Cielos. In El Señor de los Cielos, she played Iñaki Izarrieta. If you know that show, you know it’s about as "tough guy" as TV gets. She was playing these hyper-masculine roles while, internally, dealing with a reality that most of her fans couldn't have guessed at the time.
Why "Emilia Pérez" is Such a Trip
The reason everyone is talking about Karla Sofía Gascón as a man right now isn't just because of her past, though. It’s because of the movie itself. In Emilia Pérez, director Jacques Audiard made a bold choice: he had Karla play both versions of the character.
She plays Manitas, the terrifying, gravel-voiced cartel leader, and then she plays Emilia, the woman Manitas becomes.
Think about that for a second.
Most trans actors aren't exactly lining up to put on prosthetics and play a masculine version of themselves. It can be incredibly dysphoric. But Karla actually insisted on it. She told Audiard that she knew she could do it better than anyone else because she lived it. She used a voice inspired by John Rambo to get that guttural, menacing tone for Manitas.
It’s a meta-commentary on her own life, but also a flex of her acting muscles. She proved she wasn't "starting over" as an actress; she was simply expanding her range.
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Life Before the Spotlight
Karla’s story didn't start in Mexico, though. She was born in Alcobendas, Spain, back in 1972.
She’s been at this for a long time.
At 16, she just knew she wanted to act. She got her degree from ECAM in Madrid and started doing the rounds. Before the big Mexican break, she was a flight attendant in the Spanish soap El súper. She even voiced puppets in Milan! Fun fact: she was the voice of Kermit the Frog (Gustavo) for Italian kids.
Throughout all those years—the puppet voices, the soap operas, the blockbuster movies—she was also a husband and a father.
She met her wife, Marisa Gutiérrez, at a nightclub when they were teenagers. They’ve been together for over thirty years. That’s a lifetime in "showbiz years." They have a daughter, Victoria, who was born in 2011. Karla has been very open about the fact that her family stayed by her side through the entire transition. That kind of stability is rare, and it’s clearly given her the foundation to take these massive risks in her career lately.
The Transition That Almost Ended It All
When she finally came out in 2018, she didn't do it with a quiet press release. She wrote a memoir called Karsia: Una historia extraordinaria.
It was a "now or never" moment.
But honestly? The industry wasn't exactly welcoming at first. She’s mentioned in interviews that after she transitioned, the phone stopped ringing for a while. She went from being a bankable leading man in Mexico to someone people didn't know how to cast. She even did a stint on MasterChef Celebrity México in 2022, placing fifth, which helped remind the public that she was still around and still the same person they’d loved for years.
Then came Emilia Pérez.
Jacques Audiard was originally looking for a man to play the first half of the role. Karla convinced him otherwise. She didn't want to be "the trans actress who plays the trans part." She wanted to be the actress who could play the whole human experience.
Quick Career Snapshot: Before vs. After
- 1990s - 2000s: Grind years. Spanish soaps like Calle nueva. Voicing puppets in Italy.
- 2009: The move to Mexico. Breakout in Corazón salvaje.
- 2013: Nosotros los Nobles makes her a household name in Latin America.
- 2014: Playing the villain Iñaki in El Señor de los Cielos.
- 2018: The transition. Publication of Karsia.
- 2022: A "comeback" of sorts with the Rebelde reboot on Netflix.
- 2024-2025: Global domination with Emilia Pérez.
What We Can Learn From Her Journey
Looking at Karla Sofía Gascón as a man shouldn't be about "deadnaming" or being voyeuristic. It’s actually a pretty incredible lesson in career longevity. Most actors get one shot at fame. She’s had two.
She managed to conquer the world of macho telenovelas and then, a decade later, conquer the world of high-brow French cinema.
It’s also a reminder that "overnight success" is usually twenty years in the making. If she hadn't spent those years in Mexico learning how to command a screen, she wouldn't have had the gravitas to pull off a character like Manitas or the elegance to play Emilia.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into her work, don’t just stick to the new stuff. Hunt down a copy of Nosotros los Nobles. It’s a genuinely funny movie, and seeing her comedic timing there makes you appreciate her dramatic work even more. Also, keep an eye on her upcoming project Las malas, where she’s set to play Aunt Encarna. She isn't slowing down.
To really understand Karla, you have to look at the whole picture. She isn't just an actress who transitioned; she’s a veteran performer who finally decided to stop playing a character in her real life so she could play much better ones on screen.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Watch "Nosotros los Nobles": It’s the best way to see her pre-transition charisma and understand why she was such a big deal in Mexico.
- Stream "Emilia Pérez" on Netflix: Pay close attention to the physical shifts between Manitas and Emilia; it’s a masterclass in body language.
- Read her interviews: Look for her recent chats with The New York Times or Variety to hear her perspective on why she chose to play the male role in her breakout film.