Emmys: Meet the 26 rookies who reaped multiple nominations
When the 2023 Primetime Emmy nominations were revealed, Ali Wong and Pedro Pascal both had the honor of being included in multiple performance lineups. She made history as the first newcomer to the acting categories recognized for both live action (“Beef”) and voice (“Tuca & Bertie”) work, while he became the first actor nominated for three programs (“The Last of Us,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “Patagonia”) on his initial Emmy outing. These achievements made them the newest members of a group of 26 people who earned their first two (or three) acting Emmy nominations in a single year.
Wong’s eventual Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress win for “Beef” made her the seventh person in this bunch to succeed on one of her bids. The first was Robert Cummings, who received 1955’s Best Single Performance by an Actor prize for “Twelve Angry Men” and simultaneously lost for his regular lead turn on “My Hero.”
The first five champs who followed Cummings were Jack Albertson (1975 – won Variety Supporting Actor, “Cher”; lost Comedy Actor, “Chico and the Man”), Eileen Brennan (1981 – won Comedy Supporting Actress, “Private Benjamin”; lost Comedy Actress, “Taxi”), Jane Lynch (2010 – won Comedy Supporting Actress, “Glee”; lost Comedy Guest Actress, “Two and a Half Men”), Riz Ahmed (2017 – won Movie/Limited Actor, “The Night Of”; lost Comedy Guest Actor, “Girls”), and Ann Dowd (2017 – won Drama Supporting Actress, “The Handmaid’s Tale”; lost Drama Guest Actress, “The Leftovers”).
Pascal’s triple losses were preceded by the double ones of 18 other performers. The first entrant on that list was Fredric March, whose one-off turns in “A Christmas Carol” and “The Royal Family” were both bested by that of Cummings in “Twelve Angry Men.” The four others who joined prior to 1990 were Robert Reed (1976 – Drama Supporting Actor, “Rich Man, Poor Man”; Drama Guest Actor, “Medical Center”), Sada Thompson (1976 – Drama Supporting Actress, “Lincoln”; Movie Actress, “The Entertainer”), Ben Vereen (1977 – Limited Actor, “Roots”; Variety Supporting Actor, “The Bell Telephone Jubilee”), and Jack Gilford (1989 – Comedy Guest Actor, “The Golden Girls”; Drama Guest Actor, “Thirtysomething”).
Three of the six 1990s entrants were concurrently nominated as lead and supporting players on non-continuing programs. They were Anne Bancroft (1992 – “Mrs. Cage” and “Broadway Bound”), Angelina Jolie (1998 – “Gia” and “George Wallace”), and Don Cheadle (1999 – “A Lesson Before Dying” and “The Rat Pack”). The other half of this subset includes Marlee Matlin (1994 – Comedy Guest Actress, “Seinfeld”; Drama Guest Actress, “Picket Fences”), Andre Braugher (1996 – Drama Actor, “Homicide: Life on the Street”; Movie/Limited Supporting Actor, “The Tuskegee Airmen”), and David Duchovny (1997 – Comedy Guest Actor, “The Larry Sanders Show”; Drama Actor, “The X Files”).
Aside from the three 2010s champs, seven dual contenders preceded Pascal and Wong in joining this group during the 21st century. They were Victor Garber (2001 – Comedy Guest Actor, “Frasier”; Movie/Limited Supporting Actor, “Life with Judy Garland”), Idris Elba (2011 – Comedy Guest Actor, “The Big C”; Movie/Limited Actor, “Luther”), Gaby Hoffmann (2015 – Comedy Supporting Actress, “Transparent”; Comedy Guest Actress, “Girls”), Mindy Sterling (2017 – Short Form Actress, “Con Man” and “Secs and Execs”), Fiona Shaw (2019 – Comedy Guest Actress, “Fleabag”; Drama Supporting Actress, “Killing Eve”), Rhea Seehorn (2022 – Drama Supporting Actress, “Better Call Saul”; Short Form Actress, “Cooper’s Bar”), and Sydney Sweeney (2022 – Drama Supporting Actress, “Euphoria”; Movie/Limited Supporting Actress, “The White Lotus”).
There is a strong chance that this club will expand once the 2024 Emmy nominations are announced, with the likeliest new additions including Emma Stone (Comedy Guest Actress, “Saturday Night Live”; Drama Actress, “The Curse”), Lily Gladstone (Comedy Guest Actress, “Reservation Dogs”; Movie/Limited Supporting Actress, “Under the Bridge”), and Josh Segarra (Comedy Supporting Actor, “The Big Door Prize; Comedy Guest Actor, “Abbott Elementary”).
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