Emmys cliffhanger: Will Comedy Actress lineup have record number of Black nominees?
Just six months after becoming only the second Black winner in the history of the Best Comedy Actress Emmy category, Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”) is on the verge of landing another bid for the same prize. Although she was the sole Black contender in last year’s lineup, that almost surely won’t be the case this time. Indeed, there is quite a strong chance that Black women will claim a majority of this category’s nomination slots for the first time ever.
Based on our racetrack odds, Brunson can confidently expect to face off against 2023 supporting champ Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”) in the battle for this year’s lead trophy. Both of their victories at the last ceremony (following the announcement of the latter’s season two promotion) constituted the first instance of Black women conquering the two regular comedy actress categories at once.
The current prospect of Black performers holding three of the five lead slots essentially depends on the inclusion of Maya Rudolph (“Loot”), who has ranked directly outside of our predicted lineup practically all season. Her potential lead breakthrough would likely coincide with new bids for two awards she has won before: Best Comedy Guest Actress (“Saturday Night Live”) and Best Character Voice-Over Performance (“Big Mouth”).
Counting Brunson, a total of seven Black actresses have officially competed for the comedy lead award in as many decades. Aside from trailblazing winner Isabel Sanford, who triumphed in 1981 on her third of seven consecutive bids for “The Jeffersons,” the others are Diahann Carroll (“Julia”), Nell Carter (“Gimme a Break!”), Phylicia Rashad (“The Cosby Show”), Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”), and Issa Rae (“Insecure”).
At this point, there have been six cases of two Black actresses appearing in the same comedy lead lineup. Sanford was involved in the first three showdowns against Carter (1982-1983) and Rashad (1985), while the most recent ones concerned Ross and Rae (2018; 2020) and Rae and Brunson (2022).
Outside of both comedy lead categories, there have been 12 instances of at least three Black continuing series regulars vying for the same Emmy award. The first case – which remained the only one until 2015 – involved CCH Pounder (“ER”), Della Reese (“Touched by an Angel”), and Gloria Reuben (“ER”), who all lost the 1997 drama supporting actress contest to Kim Delaney (“NYPD Blue”). The only winners who emerged from these dozen trios or larger groups are comedic supporting actresses Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary,” 2022) and Edebiri (2023), the latter of whom defeated Ralph as well as Black nominees Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) and Jessica Williams (“Shrinking”).
Last year’s comedy supporting actress lineup was the sixth in all of Emmys history to include four or more Black nominees. This precedent was established in 1977 by a quartet of “Roots” costars in the defunct Best Single Appearance by an Actor category, with subsequent cases occurring in 2018 (drama guest actress), 2020 (comedy supporting actor and movie/limited supporting actor), and 2021 (drama actor). The overall record of five such concurrent nominations belongs to 2020 featured funnymen Mahershala Ali (“Ramy”), Andre Braugher (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), Sterling K. Brown (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), William Jackson Harper (“The Good Place”), and Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”), all of whom were bested by Dan Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”).
Including Brunson, Edebiri, and Rudolph, a total of 17 Black women are eligible for the 2024 comedy actress prize. Constituting 29.3% of the category’s current entrants, this subset further includes candidates like Renée Elise Goldsberry (“Girls5eva”), Tiffany Haddish (“The Afterparty”), and Jaz Sinclair (“Gen V”).
PREDICT the 2024 Emmy nominations through July 17
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