CBS/Trae Patton(LOS ANGELES) — Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus became the first performer to win six Emmys for the same role, taking the best actress in a comedy series award for playing Selina Meyer in the HBO series for the sixth straight year Sunday night. In her acceptance speech she called the part “the role of a lifetime.”
She has been nominated for 24 Emmys over her decades-long career and now has won eight, tying her with Cloris Leachman for the most primetime Emmy wins by a performer.
Lena Waithe, who won the Emmy for best writing for a comedy series along with Master of None star Aziz Ansari, was the first black woman to ever receive a nomination in the category and the first to win.
Waithe and Ansari co-wrote and starred in the “Thanksgiving” episode of the Netflix series, which was based on Waithe’s real life. The episode follows Waithe’s character’s relationship with her family, told over many years of Thanksgivings together, before and after she comes out to her family.
In Waithe’s acceptance speech, she said, to “my LGBTQI family … The things that make us different — those are our super powers.”
Taking home the Emmy for acting in a limited series or his work on HBO’s The Night Of, Riz Ahmed became the first Asian man to win an acting Emmy.
Donald Glover also made history Sunday night, becoming the first African-American to win for comedy series directing for his work on his show Atlanta. Glover also took home the trophy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Sterling K. Brown, in winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work on This Is Us, became the first black man to win the award since Andre Braugher — who Brown gave a shout out to in his acceptance speech — won the category in 1998 for his work on Homicide: Life on the Street.
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