Emmys 2017: Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes history with sixth consecutive win for Veep

The night was filled with historic wins for women and people of colour, as Donald Glover also became the first black winner of the Oustanding Directing for a Comedy Series award

Clarisse Loughrey
Monday 18 September 2017 05:36 BST
Comments

Julia Louis-Dreyfus has made history with her Emmy win.

Winning the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series the sixth time in a row for Veep, Louis-Dreyfus smashed not only Candice Bergen's record of the most Emmys for a singular role, but ties now with Cloris Leachman's record eight Emmys wins by a singular performer - Louis-Dreyfus also won once for Seinfeld, and another time for The New Adventures of Old Christine.

"I don’t know what to say about it other than I’m numb," she told reporters backstage (via Entertainment Weekly). "I can’t believe it. I adore Cloris Leachman. All I think about is her in Young Frankenstein going, ‘He was my boyfriend.’ I’m just incredibly honored and amazed this has happened to me. It’s all very baffling and a sh*t ton of good luck."

Indeed, the 2017 Emmys were a night for making history: Donald Glover became the first black winner of the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, while Master of None's Lena Waithe became the first black woman to win the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

The Handmaid's Tale director Reed Morano also became the first woman to win the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series in 22 years; it was a night, indeed, where women were really allowed to make their mark. "Let’s hope that this is the beginning of something even better in our country and in the world because I think the world would be a better place if women were in charge," Louis-Dreyfus said of the shift.


Veep also won Outstanding Comedy Series in a night dominated by shows with certain political relevance, as The Handmaid's Tale and Saturday Night Live walked away with some of the biggest wins.

You can read the full list of Emmy winners here.

Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in