The only performers of color to win an on-camera or voice Emmy this cycle also did so at the Creative Arts. Ernest Harden Jr. won guest actor in a drama for the medical series “The Pitt” on HBO Max, and Octavia Spencer won for narrating “Lost Women of Alaska.”
It should be noted that behind the camera, the comedy directing prize went to Japanese American filmmaker Hiro Murai for Apple TV’s horror comedy “Widow’s Bay,” making him the first Asian director to win the category and only the third Asian director to win an Emmy in any category, after Lee Sung Jin for “Beef” and Hwang Dong-hyuk for “Squid Game.”
The voting body is comprised of roughly 30 peer groups, each representing its own field of expertise, from cinematographers and casting directors to stunt performers, picture editors and sound designers. Performers are one group among them. That structure — who nominates within each discipline and how the full membership settles the winners — shapes the annual outcome as much as any single performance does.
It was also a night of sweepers.
Notably, with Janney and Smart each collecting an eighth career acting Emmy, they tied Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the most acting Emmys ever won by a performer.
But if we saw more of us ranking more frequently at the top, we could hear that plea more clearly.
Can all this change? Is this the new normal? When will we not see nights like this anymore? Or, better yet, will there be a time when a night like this arises and it won’t sting as much because people of color feel we’re getting a fair and proper shake?
This year’s Emmy nominations were led by “The Pitt” with 25 nominations, followed by “Hacks,” “Widow’s Bay” and “Beef.”
