Yalitza Aparicio: ‘My Oscar nomination is a celebration of the importance of inclusion’

Roma star Yalitza Aparicio has praised the Academy Awards for recognising the importance of inclusion in her category.
The Mexican actress became the breakout star of director Alfonso Cuaron’s movie, which received ten Academy Award nominations, with Yalitza earning her first Oscar nomination. The 25-year-old is the first Latina to be nominated in the Best Actress category in 14 years, an accolade she realises is of great significance to her fellow Latinas and her culture as a whole.
“All 10 (Oscar) nominations are really a celebration of the movie as a whole,” she told Entertainment Tonight when asked about being recognised for her work. “But my category, in particular, is a celebration of inclusion and the importance of it.”
The first-time actress, who qualified as a teacher, used her mother, a domestic worker, as inspiration to play the lead role in the autobiographical film about Alfonso’s childhood growing up in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City in the 1970s.
And she hopes the film will encourage discussions about working conditions for domestic workers like her mother and her character, Cleo.
“I do think that this role that Alfonso gave me, and his focus on my character in his film, has really turned attention to the plight of domestic workers and raised people’s awareness that they need to be treated better and that they are due certain rights,” she recently told the Los Angeles Times.
Yalitza’s career is set to take off, however, she has been so busy doing the round of parties and events ahead of the ceremony, which takes place on Sunday (24Feb19), she has been forced to turn down roles due to a lack of time.
“I have had a lot of offers,” she told ET. “But just because of the timing, I haven’t been able to commit to anything because I want to make sure that I give it my all.”