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Emmys 2017: Facts and Surprises About the New Class

Emmys 2017: Facts and Surprises About the New Class

By Chancellor Agard and Devan Coggan

July 13, 2017 at 05:50 PM EDT

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The Intel You Need on the Latest Nominees

Credit: Netflix; Guy D'Alema/FX; John P. Johnson/HBO

This year's class of new Emmy nominees was announced Thursday, and, as is the case every year, there were plenty of snubs, surprises, and shoo-ins. From the first-time nominees to the Emmy veterans, we've rounded up some of the most interesting facts and figures about this year's crop of nominees.

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Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder, Best Actress in a Drama Series

Credit: Gilles Mingasson/ABC

Davis has been nominated three years in a row for her role as Annalise Keating in How to Get Away with Murder. (She won once in 2015, the first year she was nominated). Earlier this year, her Fences Oscar win made her the first black actor to achieve the “Triple Crown of Acting” — winning a competitive Emmy, Tony, and Oscar.

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Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things, Best Supporting Actress in a Drama

Credit: Netflix

At 13 years old, the young Stranger Things actress is one of the youngest Emmy nominees of all time. Past Emmy-nominated minors include 15-year-old Frankie Muniz for Malcolm in the Middle in 2001 and 16-year-old Claire Danes for My So-Called Life in 1995, but Brown is the youngest since 13-year-old Fred Savage scored a Wonder Years nomination in 1989. If she wins, she’ll beat Roxana Zal (who was 14 when she won the Emmy for Something About Amelia in 1984) to become the youngest Emmy winner of all time.

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Claire Foy, The Crown, Best Actress in a Drama Series

Credit: Robert Viglasky/Netflix

Foy won the Golden Globe earlier this year for her role as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, but this marks her first-ever Emmy nomination. It remains to be seen whether she’ll once again be, um, crowned victorious.

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Reese Witherspoon, Big Little Lies, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/courtesy of HBO

Witherspoon has won an Oscar and a Golden Globe, but now she can add “Emmy-nominated” to her long list of impressive credentials: She scored her first-ever nomination for her role in Big Little Lies — and she’ll be competing in the category against her costar (and two-time nominee) Nicole Kidman.

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Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale, Best Actress in a Drama Series

Credit: George Kraychyk/Hulu

Moss already racked up a previous seven Emmy nominations, and all but one were for her role as Peggy Olson in Mad Men. (The lone non-Peggy nod was for Top of the Lake in 2013.) She still hasn’t won, though; maybe her Handmaid’s Tale role as Offred could break the losing streak?

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Robin Wright, House of Cards, Best Actress in a Drama Series

Credit: David Giesbrecht / Netflix

All five of Wright’s previous Emmy nominations have come for her work as the scheming Claire Underwood on House of Cards. (Four for acting, one for producing.) This year marks six.

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Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us, Best Actor in a Drama Series

Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Last year, Brown took home his first-ever Emmy for his role as Christopher Darden in American Crime Story, winning Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Maybe he can go two-for-two with This Is Us?

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Anthony Hopkins, Westworld, Best Actor in a Drama Series

Credit: John P. Johnson/HBO

It’s been almost three decades since Hopkins’ last Emmy nomination, as he was most recently nominated in 1990 for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries adaptation of Great Expectations. His last win was even longer ago: He won in 1981 for The Bunker and in 1976 for The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case. His eerie role in Westworld brings his total Emmy nominations up to five.

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Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul, Best Actor in a Drama Series

Credit: Michele K. Short/AMC

Odenkirk has a whopping 11 Emmy nominations, both as an actor and as a writer for shows like The Ben Stiller Show, Saturday Night Live, and Mr. Show. This year, he adds yet another Best Drama Actor nomination for his titular role in Better Call Saul.

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Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan, Best Actor in a Drama Series

Credit: Michael Desmond/SHOWTIME

Schreiber scored his third Emmy nomination in a row for his role in Ray Donovan, but that wasn’t even his only nomination of 2017. The actor earned another two nominations in the Outstanding Narrator category for lending his voice to HBO’s Muhammad Ali: Only One and UConn: The March to Madness. That’s right: Liev Schreiber will be competing against himself in a stacked category including Meryl Streep, Sam Neill, Ewan McGregor, and Laurence Fishburne.

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Kevin Spacey, House of Cards, Best Actor in a Drama Series

Credit: David Giesbrecht/Netflix

Spacey now boasts 11 Emmy nominations, and all but one of his noms is for House of Cards, both as an actor and a producer. (His lone non-Underwood nod came in 2008 for his role in Recount.) Also, House of Cards still holds the record for most nominations for an online-streaming original series with 52.

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Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us, Best Actor in a Drama Series

Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

The This Is Us star is officially an Emmy nominee: He scored his first-ever nomination for his role as the late Jack Pearson, and he’ll be competing against his on-screen son, Sterling K. Brown, in the same category. (His on-screen wife, Mandy Moore, got shut out in the Best Drama Actress category, however.)

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Pamela Adlon, Better Things, Best Actress in a Comedy

Credit: Jessica Brooks/FX

Adlon's performance in her semi-autobiographical comedy about a single mother working as an actor in Hollywood earned the witty actress her first ever nomination in this category. However, she has received multiple nominations for her work as a guestactor, writer, and producer on Louie. Adlon, who won her first Emmy in 2002 for voiceover work, recently said at the Peabody Awards she started "collecting stories and documenting things" when she was 8 after an old lady across the street from her home died.

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Jane Fonda, Grance and Frankie, Best Actress in a Comedy

Credit: Melissa Moseley/Netflix

This may be Fonda's fifth nomination, but it's the first one she's gotten for playing female sex toy entrepreneur Grace Hanson during the Netflix comedy's three-season run. The co-founder of the Women's Media Center, Fonda is a lifelong activist, and in December 2016, she celebrated her 79th birthday by attending a Standing Rock rally in Los Angeles with her Grace and Frankie costar and fellow nominee Lily Tomlin.

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Allison Janney, Mom, Best Actress in a Comedy

Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Janney is a seven-time Emmy winner. She most recently won in 2015 for Outstanding Supporting in a Comedy for her role as recovering addict Bonnie Plunkett on Mom. This year, the CBS comedy donated $250,000 to Planned Parenthood in lieu of launching an Emmy campaign.

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Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Best Actress in a Comedy

Credit: Eric Liebowitz / Netflix

This is The Office alum's second Emmy nomination for her role on the Tina Fey and Robert Carlock-created Netflix comedy.

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep, Best Actress in a Comedy

Credit: Justin M. Lubin/HBO

Louis-Dreyfus is the reigning queen of this category, having won it five years in a row for her work as narcissist-in-chief Selena Meyers. And she suffered for her art in the show's recently completed sixth season: she bruised herself while performing a bit of physical comedy with her costar Tony Hale in the second episode of the season.

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Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy

Credit: Kelsey McNeal/ABC

This is Ross' second Emmy nomination for playing Dr. Rainbow "Bow" Johnson on the ABC sitcom. Earlier this year, she took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and she has won multiple NAACP awards for her performances on black-ish and Girlfriends.

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Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie, Best Actress in a Comedy

Credit: Melissa Moseley/Netflix

Over the course of her career, the scene-stealing actress has been nominated for 24 Emmy Awards, and has won six of them. She most recently took home the trophy in 2013 for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her work on HBO's An Apology to Elephants.

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Anthony Anderson, Black-ish, Best Actor in a Comedy

Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless

This is the actor's third nomination in the outstanding comedy-acting category for his role on the beloved ABC sitcom. Anderson won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series in 2015 and 2016. In addition to playing Dre on Black-ish, he also hosts ABC's panel game show To Tell The Truth.

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Aziz Ansari, Master of None, Best Actor in a Comedy

Credit: Netflix

This is the second time Ansari has been nominated in this category. Last year, the Master of None co-creator and actor took home the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and he was nominated for Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Comedy Series.

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Donald Glover, Atlanta, Best Actor in a Comedy

Credit: Guy D'Alema/FX

A first-time nominee, Glover was also nominated in the best directing and best writing categories for his work on this surreal daydream of a comedy. He made his television directorial debut in season 1, directing both "B.A.N.," for which he's nominated, and "Value." He isn’t the only member of his family who was nominated this year; his brother Stephen received a nod for writing "Streets on Lock."

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William H. Macy, Shameless, Best Actor in a Comedy

Credit: Paul Sarkis/SHOWTIME

Macy was first nominated in this category in 2014, which was also the same year that Shameless switched from the drama to comedy category. In 2003, he won two Emmys for his work on TNT's Door to Door: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Dramatic Special.

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Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent, Best Actor in a Comedy

Credit: Amazon Studios

Tambor has won the best comedy actor award two years in a row for playing Maura Pfefferman on the acclaimed Amazon dramedy. When he accepted his award last year, he said he "would very much like to be the last cisgender male playing a female transgende role." He was previously nominated for his work on Arrested Development and The Larry Sanders Show. In May, he published his first memoir, Are You Anybody.

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Carrie Coon, Fargo, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: Chris Large/FX

Unfortunately, Coon was shut out for her long-running role on The Leftovers, but she still managed to score her first-ever nomination for her role as Gloria Burgle on Fargo

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Felicity Huffman, American Crime, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: Eric McCandless/ABC

Huffman and her husband, William H. Macy (who’s also nominated this year for Shameless), are one of only a handful of couples who’ve both won an Emmy. (Huffman won in 2005 for Desperate Housewives, and Macy won in 2003 for Door to Door.) Other Emmy-winning, husband-and-wife duos include Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, and Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels.

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Jessica Lange, Feud: Bette and Joan, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: Prashant Gupta/FX

This is Lange’s eighth Emmy nomination, with four of those nominations coming for her various roles in American Horror Story. She’s already won an Emmy, an Oscar, and a Tony… Can someone give the woman a Grammy so she can EGOT already?

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Susan Sarandon, Feud: Bette and Joan, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: FX

Sarandon has four previous Emmy nominations, for roles in Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Bernard and Doris, and You Don’t Know Jack. The fifth time’s the charm?

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Riz Ahmed, The Night Of, Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO

In addition to being nominated for his role in The Night Of, the first time Emmy nominee also received a nod in the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series category for his performance in the final season of Girls. Ahmed isn't just a talented actor, but he's also a musician; he's a member of the rap group Swet Shop Boys and was featured on the Hamilton Mixtape song "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)."

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Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock: The Lying Detective, Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: Ollie Upton

Cumberbatch received his nomination in this category in 2012 for Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia, and he finally won the award in 2013 for the season 3 finale Sherlock: His Last Vow. He started filming the most recent season of Sherlock almost immediately after production on Doctor Strange wrapped, according to DigitalSpy, and rushed to lose weight to play the super-detective.

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Robert De Niro, The Wizard of Lies, Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Credit: HBO

While the silver screen veteran has two Academy Award wins and seven nominations, this is the first time he has been nominated for an Emmy Award because The Wizard of Lies was his first major foray into television.

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Emmys 2017: Facts and Surprises About the New Class

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The Intel You Need on the Latest Nominees

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Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder, Best Actress in a Drama Series

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Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things, Best Supporting Actress in a Drama

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Claire Foy, The Crown, Best Actress in a Drama Series

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Reese Witherspoon, Big Little Lies, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

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Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale, Best Actress in a Drama Series

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Robin Wright, House of Cards, Best Actress in a Drama Series

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Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us, Best Actor in a Drama Series

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Anthony Hopkins, Westworld, Best Actor in a Drama Series

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Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul, Best Actor in a Drama Series

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Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan, Best Actor in a Drama Series

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Kevin Spacey, House of Cards, Best Actor in a Drama Series

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Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us, Best Actor in a Drama Series

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Pamela Adlon, Better Things, Best Actress in a Comedy

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Jane Fonda, Grance and Frankie, Best Actress in a Comedy

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Allison Janney, Mom, Best Actress in a Comedy

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Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Best Actress in a Comedy

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep, Best Actress in a Comedy

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Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy

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Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie, Best Actress in a Comedy

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Anthony Anderson, Black-ish, Best Actor in a Comedy

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Aziz Ansari, Master of None, Best Actor in a Comedy

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Donald Glover, Atlanta, Best Actor in a Comedy

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William H. Macy, Shameless, Best Actor in a Comedy

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Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent, Best Actor in a Comedy

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Carrie Coon, Fargo, Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

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