Rosie Perez has said that the Academy hasn’t ever invited her back to attend or present at the Oscars after her 1994 Oscar nomination.


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Perez has told Variety that despite being nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Fearless and her appearance in Spike Lee’s Oscar-nominated film Do the Right Thing, the Academy hasn’t ever asked her to come back as a guest or as a presenter. “Not even to sit in the audience, not to present, nothing–and I’m a member,” she said.

“I love the Academy Awards,” she continued. “I cheer on my peers, but it hurts.”

Perez also talked about what it’s been like to work in Hollywood while dealing with discrimination as a Puerto-Rican American actor.

“The biggest struggle has been navigating through other people’s shortcomings,” she said. “Other people’s bigotry, racism–specifically the ones that don’t understand that they are bigots or racists.”

Perez in the movie ’90s movie Fearless. She was nominated Best Supporting Actress at the 1994 Academy Awards losing the award to a young Anna Paquin, who won for her role in The Piano. Perez has remained booked and busy, with one of her recent roles being the DC Comics film Birds of Prey