Rosie Perez Says Oscars Snub ‘Hurts’

In 1994, Rosie Perez received an Oscar nomination for her emotional portrayal of a mother struggling with grief in Fearless. That was her first and last time attending the ceremony.

In an interview with Variety, the 56-year-old said she has never received an invitation to return, “Not even to sit in the audience, not to present, nothing—and I’m a member. I love the Academy Awards. I cheer on my peers, but it hurts. It’s like when your home team doesn’t ask you to come back into the stadium after you got up to bat and hit the home run.”

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She further addressed her struggle being a Latinia actress, saying, “The biggest struggle has been navigating through other people’s shortcomings. Other people’s bigotry, racism — and specifically the ones that don’t understand that they are bigots or racists.”

Perez’s nod for best supporting actress was the last time a Puerto Rican actress received a nomination. Additionally, there have been only neem four Latinx winners in the acting categories: José Ferrer (1950’s Cyrano de Bergerac in best actor), Benicio del Toro (2000’s Traffic in supporting actor), Rita Moreno (1961’s West Side Story in supporting actress) and Anthony Quinn (1952’s Viva Zapata! and 1956’s Lust for Life in supporting actor).