Several familiar faces gave acceptance speeches at the Emmy Awards on Sunday night, with Jon Stewart back after a lengthy hiatus from “The Daily Show” and the restaurateurs played by Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach cooking yet again for “The Bear.”
But much of the night’s excitement came from seeing newcomers take the stage. Here’s what to know about the eight acting winners who received their first Emmys.
Best actress in a limited series or TV movie
Jodie Foster, ‘True Detective’
Foster is already a two-time Oscar winner — for her performances in “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The Accused” — but she won her first Emmy for her role as a police chief in “True Detective: Night Country.” Before taking the lead role, Foster hadn’t done substantive television work since her breakthrough role in the 1976 film “Taxi Driver,” when she was barely a teenager. Her two previous Emmy nominations were for directing an episode in the first season of “Orange Is the New Black” and for a producing role in the 1999 television movie “The Baby Dance.”
Best supporting actress in a drama
Elizabeth Debicki, ‘The Crown’
Debicki won for her portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales, a role that earned her the first two Emmy nominations of her career. Finding her breakthrough in Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film “The Great Gatsby,” Debicki has had a career largely focused on film, including in the Christopher Nolan movie “Tenet” and “Vita and Virginia,” in which she played the writer Virginia Woolf. “Playing this part based on this unparalleled, incredible human being has been my great privilege,” she said of her role on “The Crown” in her acceptance speech.
Best supporting actress in a comedy series
Liza Colón-Zayas, ‘The Bear’
Colón-Zayas has been an actress in film, TV and theater since the 1990s, often appearing in one-episode arcs in series such as “Law & Order” and “Sex and the City” and in Off Broadway plays, nurturing a close collaboration with the playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis. In Tina, a no-nonsense chef in “The Bear,” she found a true breakout role. In her acceptance speech, she thanked the showrunners for the part they played in her late-career success, saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me a new life with this show.”
Best supporting actor in a limited series or TV movie
Lamorne Morris, ‘Fargo’
Morris is perhaps best known for playing Winston on seven seasons of “New Girl,” and he co-hosts a podcast related to his time on that comedy. Though he has an array of credits, the Hulu series “Woke” is among his most recent. Morris won his first Emmy for his work as a dependable North Dakota law enforcement officer, Witt Farr, in “Fargo.”
Best actress in a drama
Anna Sawai, ‘Shogun’
Sawai acknowledged after her Emmy nomination that she had “bad impostor syndrome” but that the recognition had instilled her with more confidence. “It makes me want to keep telling stories that have a big impact on the people who haven’t been seen,” she said. Sawai has appeared in several episodes of “Pachinko,” adapted from the novel by Min Jin Lee, and also played a part in “F9,” an installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise.
Best actor in a drama
Hiroyuki Sanada, ‘Shogun’
Sanada, 63, has been acting for decades, both internationally and in Hollywood, where his credits include “Westworld,” “Avengers: Endgame” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “The Last Samurai.” But he won his first Emmy on Sunday. In fact, he won two: one for best actor (for playing Yoshii Toranaga) and another as a listed producer on “Shogun,” which took home the best drama award.
Best actor in a limited series or TV movie
Richard Gadd, ‘Baby Reindeer’
Gadd won an Olivier Award — the British equivalent of the Tonys — four years ago for his monologue about a woman who sent him tens of thousands of emails and hundreds of hours of voice mail messages after he served her a free drink at a bar. Now he has won three Emmys for that story, writing and acting in what became a hit for Netflix. Gadd, a Scottish comedian, primarily had guest TV roles beforehand, although he has also written an episode of “Sex Education.”
Best supporting actress in a limited series or TV movie
Jessica Gunning, ‘Baby Reindeer’
Gunning told The New York Times after receiving her first Emmy nomination that she did not consider the character she played in “Baby Reindeer” — the woman who stalks the comedian played by Gadd — to be a villain. “I saw her as nuanced and complicated and quite charming and innocent in elements of her personality,” she said. Gunning, an English actress, was previously on BBC shows such as “The Outlaws” and “White Heat.”
The post Here Are the 8 First-Time Acting Winners From the Emmys appeared first on New York Times.
