On Sunday, 15th September the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards was announced at Peacock Theater, LA, California in a star studded ceremony. Hosted by Schitt’s Creek alum and father-son comedic duo Eugene and Dan Levy, the awards ceremony has been a rollercoaster ride with regards to surprise wins and losses.
As per the early trends and number of nominations, Shogun (25 nominations) and The Bear (23 nominations) were leading the roster with The Crown (18 nominations), Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Fallout (both 16 nominations) being close contenders for winning in their respective categories.
The major surprise win of the night belongs to the Best comedy series award given to the Max series Hacks, which won over other strong contenders like The Bear, Curb your Enthusiasm, Abbott elementary and What we do in the Shadows among others.
Amidst other snubs and surprises of the night, there were 8 actors and actresses who won their first Acting Emmy Award on Sunday, which itself is a unique feat. Below are the list of the thespians who won it big at the Emmys for the first time in their long and illustrious careers.
Best Actor In A Drama
Hiroyuki Sanada, Shogun
With an illustrious film career that began at 6 years of age, Hiroyuki Sanada is an acclaimed name in equal measures in Japanese, Hong Kong cinema and Hollywood.
In Hollywood, Sanada is widely known for his action heavy supporting roles in films like The Last Samurai, John Wick: Chapter 4, Bullet Train and Sunshine along with shows like Westworld and Lost.
With his 2024 FX series Shogun, based on the novel by James Cavell, Sanada was awarded his first Emmy in the Best Lead Actor in Drama category for portraying the role of Lord Yoshi Toranaga to immaculate perfection.
Besides winning in the acting category, Sanada registered another win for the show as one of the producers behind Shogun, which also won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy on Sunday.
Best Actress in a Drama
Anna Sawai, Shogun
Before pursuing her career in acting seriously, New Zealand born Japanese Actress Anna Sawai was a household name in Japan for being the lead vocalist in the Japanese girl band Faky which lasted from 2013 to 2018.
After that, she had numerous stints in acting in supporting roles, ranging from British crime shows like Giri/Haji and Japanese shows like Colors to Apple TV+ series like Pachinko to a brief role in F9, which made her a familiar name among audiences around the world.
On Sunday, Sawai won the Best Actress in a Drama Emmy Award for her outstanding turn as Toda Mariko in the FX series Shogun. With this well deserving win, Sawai became the first Japanese as well as Asian actress to have won the coveted Emmys in the lead actress drama category.
Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown
Elizabeth Debicki is primarily known for her acclaimed film performances in The Great Gatsby (2013), Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 (2017) and Widows (2018) as well as recent successes like Tenet (2020) and Maxxxine (2024). She also had significant roles in acclaimed shows like The Kettering Incident and The Night Manager (both 2016) and the HBO TV movie The Tale (2018).
On Sunday, the reputed Australian Actress won her first Emmy award in the category of Best Supporting Actress Drama for her nuanced portrayal of Princess Diana of Wales in the final season for Netflix’s The Crown.
This is the second consecutive time Debicki has been nominated for the Supporting Actress category at the Emmys for the same role, the first being in 2023, which she lost to Jennifer Coolidge for her outstanding performance in The White Lotus.
Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Liza Colón-Zayas, The Bear
After her breakout role in Off- Broadway with the one act autobiographical play Sistah Supreme in the early ‘90s, which depicted the plight of a Puerto Rican woman as she is growing up in ‘70s and ‘80s, Colón-Zayas had played multiple supporting characters in films, television and theater.
Her most memorable film roles were United 93 (2006) and The Purge: Election Year (2016) among others, whereas her roles in television ranged from single episode arc in procedurals like Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Blue Bloods to being part of the main cast in the acclaimed HBO drama In Treatment in 2021.
This year, at the Emmy Awards, however, Colón-Zayas created history with her win in the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category for her portrayal of Tina Marrero in Hulu’s acclaimed dramedy series The Bear.
In her winning speech, Colón-Zayas thanked the show runners for giving her career a new leash of life with this acclaimed show. With this remarkable win, Colón-Zayas also became the first ever actress of Latin- American descent to win the Emmy in this category.
Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie
Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer
The surprise 2024 Netflix hit Baby Reindeer made its creator, writer and actor Richard Gadd an instant star since the show’s release back in April.
An adaptation of Gadd’s debut autobiographical one man show which itself won the Olivier Award in 2020 for “Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre”, the show primarily centered around a woman who became obsessed with Gadd after she is served a free cup of tea at a bar by him, resulting into her stalking him online and in real life.
At the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, Richard Gadd won his first Emmy in the category of Best Actor in a Limited Series for playing the role of Donny Dunn. The Scottish actor who previously starred in the British police procedural comedy Code 404 (2020) and had a writing credit for an episode of Sex Education, received two more Emmys in the categories of Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Limited Series.
Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie
Jodie Foster, True Detective
When True Detective: Night Country premiered early January this year, the show was riddled with a lot of controversies from the get go. While previous show-runner Nic Pizzolatto weighed in with his views on the increasingly ‘woke’ paradigms of the anthology series and overall lukewarm response among audience till its complete run bringing in comparison with its earlier seasons, the show however became a ratings hit for HBO.
One of the most crucial aspects of that is attributed to the everlasting appeal of its lead actress Jodie Foster, a two time Oscar award winning actress for The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused.
On Sunday night, Foster won her first Emmy Award in the Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie category for portraying the role of Chief Liz Danvers. Although prominently working in films, Foster had previously been nominated in the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 2014 for her work in Orange is the New Black and in 1999 in the Outstanding Made for Television Movie for The Baby Dance as one of the co-producers.
Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV movie
Lamorne Morris, Fargo
Mostly known for his comedic performances in popular sitcoms like New Girl and the Hulu series Woke, Lamorne Morris won his first acting Emmys on Sunday for the Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV movie category.
Morris won the award for his role as North Dakota State Trooper Witt Farr in the fifth season of the FX crime comedy anthology series Fargo. Besides being an actor, Morris also co-hosted a rewatch podcast of New Girl called Welcome to our Show in 2022.
Morris’s win marks the first acting Emmy award for the FX anthology series since its debut in 2014.
Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or TV movie
Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer
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The 38 year old British Actress received her first Emmy Award on Sunday for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or TV movie for her enigmatic performance as Martha Scott in Baby Reideer. Jessica portrayed the role of the woman who gets enamored by Donny and becomes his stalker in the show.
A career spanning for more than 16 years, Gunning appeared in brief and recurring roles in many acclaimed British shows like Doctor Who, Law and Order: UK and Inside No. 9 among others. She subsequently got meatier roles in BBC shows like White Heat and Christopher Walken starrer The Outlaws.
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