World of television: Smaller screen, bigger diversity
Emmy nominations include multi-hued range of talent
Diversity reigned once again in Thursday’s Emmy nominations, in stark contrast to the mostly white Oscars.
Across lead and supporting actor categories, 18 people of color received nominations — an improvement over the 11 nominated last year, when Viola Davis became the first black woman to
win an Emmy for actress in a drama series for ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder.
ABC’s Black-ish was nominated for comedy series and for lead actors Anthony Anderson (his second nod) and Tracee Ellis Ross. Last year’s comedy winner Trans
parent, an Amazon series about a transgender father (Jeffrey Tambor) and her family, will compete again.
In the drama race, EgyptianAmericans Rami Malek and Sam Esmail were nominated as lead actor and writer, respectively, of USA’s Mr. Robot, which returned Wednesday for a second season. Davis landed a second nomina-
tion for Murder, and Empire’s Taraji P. Henson will compete again. Kerry Washington earned a nod for her turn as Anita Hill in the HBO movie Confirmation.
The limited series and TV movie categories were melting pots, led by FX’s The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime
Story, whose African-American stars Courtney B. Vance and Cuba Gooding Jr. will compete for lead actor with Luther’s Idris Elba.
The honors reflect the TV industry’s better track record with diversity. The Oscars came under fire this year for its second consecutive all-white acting field, leading to last month’s invitation of 683 new members, 46% of whom are women and 41% are people of color.
For the Emmys, “this is an encouraging year,” says awards tracker GoldDerby.com’s senior editor Daniel Montgomery. “It’s nice to see a wide spectrum of diversity and not just what people (usually) talk about,” which is “how many black actors are nominated.”
Despite the diversity accomplishments, Asian-American and Latino talent was mostly shut out of major categories, except for Netflix’s Master of None — which landed four nominations, including best comedy series.