Ayo Edebiri (‘The Bear’) set to make Emmys history after switching categories
Months before she won the 2023 Best Comedy Supporting Actress Emmy for the first season of FX’s “The Bear,” it was reported that Ayo Edebiri would move up to lead for season two. According to our odds chart, she looks set to become the 12th woman to reap both supporting and lead Emmy bids (in that order) for a single role on a single series. If she takes the gold again, she will become the first to win both awards in that order for one show.
Edebiri’s win in the supporting race at the strike-delayed 75th Emmys was preceded by victories in lead for season two at the 2024 Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards. Having just blocked Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”) from achieving back-to-back supporting Emmy honors, she now faces the challenge of fending off two former lead champions: Jean Smart (“Hacks,” 2021-2022) and Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary,” 2023).
Edebiri would be the fourth comedic female supporting-to-lead nominee in Emmys history. The first such instance involved Agnes Moorehead (“Bewitched”), who moved back to the featured category after being bumped up in 1967. This subgroup has since grown to include 2002 lead champ Jennifer Aniston (“Friends”) and 2014-2015 supporting victor Allison Janney (“Mom”).
Also worth mentioning are the three actresses who were each nominated across both comedy categories for playing one character on two series. The first was Valerie Harper, who is the only one of the three to win both awards for a single role: Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (supporting, 1971-1973) and “Rhoda” (lead, 1975). She was followed by Cloris Leachman as Phyllis Lindstrom (supporting, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” 1972-1974; lead, “Phyllis,” 1976) and Polly Holliday as Flo Castleberry (supporting, “Alice,” 1978-1980; lead, “Flo,” 1980), the former of whom prevailed on her third featured outing.
Dramatic actresses who were added to the list during the 20th century were Linda Cristal (“The High Chaparral”), Kristy McNichol (“Family”), Patricia Wettig (“Thirtysomething”), and Julianna Margulies (“ER”). Wettig’s supporting (1988) and lead (1990-1991) victories made her the third woman to win both types of Emmys for playing one character after Harper and Carol Kane, who was honored for the sitcom “Taxi” in the opposite order.
After 2000, Janney emulated Wettig by scoring both supporting (2000-2001) and lead (2002 and 2004) wins for “The West Wing.” She was then followed by cross-category drama contenders Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”), Emilia Clarke (“Game of Thrones”), and Sarah Snook (“Succession”). Moss’s case is special because her sole featured mention for “Mad Men” came between her first two of five lead bids for the show.
Including male actors, Edebiri would be the second performer to parlay a supporting victory into a lead one for the same comedy series, following Jon Cryer of “Two and a Half Men” (2009; 2012). With her show generally expected to clean up in the comedy categories for the second year in a row, her shot at this record book entry couldn’t be clearer.
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