This year’s Emmy nominees will highlight a more diverse crop of actors, with Latino performers having a particularly strong showing.
Of course, much of that is thanks to Pedro Pascal, who has become the most-nominated Latino in a single year with three noms. He’s recognized for his work in “The Last of Us” as lead drama actor, “Saturday Night Live” as guest comedy actor and “Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World” as the narrator. Pascal’s nomination for HBO’s dystopian video game adaptation makes him only the second Latino ever recognized in the drama category after Jimmy Smits’ four consecutive noms for “NYPD Blue” from 1996-1999. But there were some notable Latino stars who didn’t hear their names read — namely, Diego Luna, who was snubbed for Disney’s “Andor,” despite its best drama series nomination.
Elsewhere, Netflix’s origin series “Wednesday” made star Jenna Ortega the third Latina ever recognized in lead comedy actress — following Rita Moreno for “9 to 5” in 1983 and America Ferrera’s two noms for “Ugly Betty” in 2007 and 2008. Ferrera is the only winner among the trio. Ortega is also the second youngest in the category after Patty Duke, who was 17 in 1964 for “The Patty Duke Show.”
Selena Gomez was snubbed again for her performance as the dry-witted Mabel in Hulu’s “only Murders in the Building,” despite earning great reviews for her work. However, she is recognized as one of the show’s nominated executive producers in the best comedy series category. She’s only the third Latina ever nominated for producing.
Aubrey Plaza, who is half Puerto Rican, picked up her first career nod for supporting actress in a drama for “The White Lotus,” becoming the third Latina nominated in the category after Morena Baccarin for “Homeland” in 2013 and Alexis Bledel for “The Handmaid’s Tale” in 2018.
Supporting comedy actress set a record with four Black women nominated. They include Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”), Jessica Williams (“Shrinking”) and Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”). No acting category has ever had more Black women in it.
Last year, Quinta Brunson made history, becoming the first Black woman to win solo for writing the pilot episode of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.” But she won’t repeat the feat this year, having missed out on a nomination for penning the season two opener titled “Development Day.” As it stands, no Black woman has ever been nominated for writing more than once.
But Brunson is still vying for best lead actress in a comedy, for producing the show and for hosting “SNL.” Elsewhere, Dominique Fishback picked up a surprise nomination for lead actress (limited) for Prime Video’s “Swarm,” and at 32 she’s the youngest Black woman recognized in the category.
Two-time Emmy-winning director Paris Barclay, who helms the finale of Netflix’s limited series “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” becomes the first Black person to be nominated in all three directing series categories. His previous noms were for “NYPD Blue” and “The West Wing” in drama and “Glee” in comedy.
Additionally, “Nailed It” emcee Nicole Byer is now the most-nominated Black woman for outstanding host with four nods. However, she has yet to convert any of these into wins.
Asian representation among the Emmys was strong with Netflix’s “Beef” landing multiple noms for its actors Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, Young Mazino and Joseph Lee. In addition, Kumail Nanjiani was able to sneak into the lead actor (limited) lineup for Hulu’s “Welcome to Chippendales,” another surprise inclusion.
Nonbinary actor Bella Ramsey, who uses they/them pronouns, is the second openly nonbinary actor ever nominated. Their recognition for “The Last of Us” comes after Carl Clemons Hopkins, another nonbinary performer, was nominated for “Hacks” in supporting comedy actor in 2020. At 19 years old, Ramsey is the fourth youngest person ever nominated in lead drama actress behind Kristy McNichol (17 in 1980 for “Family”), Claire Danes (16 in 1995 for “My So-Called Life”) and Melissa Sue Anderson (15 in 1978 for “Little House on the Prairie”).
And 10-year-old Keivonn Montreal Woodard, who walked away with an inspired nom for “The Last of Us,” is the second deaf actor ever to be nominated for acting behind Marlee Matlin. No deaf person has ever won an Emmy award for acting. In fact, there’s only been one person to win an Emmy in history across all categories — Julianna Fjeld, an executive producer who won for outstanding drama/comedy special for the Hallmark movie “Love Is Never Silent” (1985). In addition, he’s now the youngest male actor ever nominated for an acting award, beating Fred Savage (who was 13 when nominated for “The Wonder Years”).
But the Emmys opted to ignore more senior honorees. Several veteran stars who were expected to be nominated such as Steve Martin and Shirley MacLaine (“only Murders in the Building”), Harrison Ford (“1923” and “Shrinking”) and Helen Mirren (“1923”), were snubbed.
More work to do, but a hopeful trend upward.
