Get your TV snacks, fashion critiques and willingness to suspend disbelief ready — it’s Emmys time.
Nominees for the 2021 Emmy Awards this Sunday include a fair few New Jersey talents (see full list below).
Among them is Newark’s Mj Rodriguez, who is the first transgender actor to be nominated in Emmys’ lead actress category.
This is the first nomination for Rodriguez, 30, who will make history again as the first trans actor to win an acting Emmy if she receives the honor for her performance as Blanca Evangelista in “Pose.” The third and final season of the show aired this year.
The FX drama, which features an ensemble cast of transgender actors, is set in New York’s ‘80s and ‘90s underground ballroom culture during the height of the AIDS epidemic. (See our interview with Mj Rodriguez, her Emmy-winning co-star Billy Porter — nominated again this year —and “Pose” creator Steven Canals and writer-producer Janet Mock on why Rodriguez’s Emmy is long overdue.)
“Handmaid’s Tale” actor Madeline Brewer, 29, who grew up in Pitman, is also nominated in for supporting actress in a drama for her performance as the handmaid Janine Lindo (see our interview with Madeline Brewer from earlier this year). The Emmy-winning Hulu drama has been renewed for a fifth season.
Paul W. Downs, who grew up in Sussex, is nominated as a showrunner, writer and executive producer of the HBO Max breakout hit “Hacks,” which is up for best comedy series. Downs (Trey Pucker on “Broad City”), who plays Jimmy on the show, is nominated alongside fellow showrunners and producers Jen Statsky and Lucia Aniello, who is also the show’s director.
“Hacks,” starring three-time Emmy winner Jean Smart as a veteran comedian and Hannah Einbinder as a young comedy writer, was nominated for 15 Emmys this year (including nods for Smart and Einbinder) and has been renewed for a second season.
Another show vying for best comedy series is “Cobra Kai,” the “Karate Kid” revival created by Jersey guys Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg (both from Randolph) and Josh Heald (Red Bank). (See our interview with the “Cobra Kai” creators.)
The show, which started as a YouTube series, with “Karate Kid” actors Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprising the roles of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, was picked up by Netflix for its third season, gaining viewers during the pandemic. A fourth season is incoming on Netflix in December and the show has been renewed for a fifth.
And Montclair’s Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” is nominated once again for best variety talk series.
The 2021 Emmy Awards — the 73rd Emmy Awards — will air 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT Sunday, Sept. 19 on CBS. The awards show, hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, can be livestreamed and watched on demand on Paramount Plus.
Netflix series “The Crown” and Disney Plus series “The Mandalorian” were tied for the most Emmy nominations this year — 24 each.
See a full list of Emmy nominees below (trailers contain explicit language).
LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Aidy Bryant, “Shrill”
Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant”
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
Jean Smart, “Hacks”
LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”
Michael Douglas, “The Kominsky Method”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso”
Kenan Thompson, “Kenan”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Hannah Waddingham, “Ted Lasso”
Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”
Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”
Rosie Perez, “The Flight Attendant”
Aidy Bryant, “Saturday Night Live”
Juno Temple, “Ted Lasso”
Cecily Strong, “Saturday Night Live”
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”
Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live”
Brett Goldstein, “Ted Lasso”
Carl Clemons-Hopkins, “Hacks”
Nick Mohammed, “Ted Lasso”
Brendan Hunt, “Ted Lasso”
Jeremy Swift, “Ted Lasso”
Paul Reiser, “The Kominsky Method”
LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Mj Rodriguez, “Pose”
Uzo Aduba, “In Treatment”
Emma Corrin, “The Crown”
Olivia Colman, “The Crown”
Elizabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Jurnee Smollett, “Lovecraft Country”
LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Billy Porter, “Pose”
Sterling K. Brown, “This is Us”
Jonathan Majors, “Lovecraft Country”
Josh O’Connor, “The Crown”
Regé Jean Page, “Bridgerton”
Matthew Rhys, “Perry Mason”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Gillian Anderson, “The Crown”
Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Aunjanue Ellis, “Lovecraft Country”
Madeline Brewer, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Helena Bonham Carter, “The Crown”
Yvonne Strahovski, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Emerald Fennell, “The Crown”
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
O-T Fagbenle, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Max Minghella, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Bradley Whitford, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
John Lithgow, “Perry Mason”
Michael K. Williams, “Lovecraft Country”
Tobias Menzies, “The Crown”
Giancarlo Esposito, “The Mandalorian”
Chris Sullivan, “This Is Us”
LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE
Michaela Coel, “I May Destroy You”
Cynthia Erivo, “Genius: Aretha”
Elisabeth Olsen, “WandaVision”
Anya Taylor-Joy: “The Queen’s Gambit”
Kate Winslet, “Mare of Easttown”
LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE
Paul Bettany, “WandaVision”
Ewan McGregor, “Halston”
Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton”
Leslie Odom Jr., “Hamilton”
Hugh Grant, “The Undoing”
COMEDY SERIES
“Black-ish”
“Cobra Kai”
“The Kominsky Method”
“Pen15″
“Ted Lasso”
“Emily in Paris”
“Hacks”
“The Flight Attendant”
DRAMA SERIES
“Bridgerton”
“The Crown”
“The Boys”
“The Handmaid’s Tale”
“Lovecraft Country”
“The Mandalorian”
“Pose”
“This is Us”
LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES
“I May Destroy You”
“The Underground Railroad”
“The Queen’s Gambit”
“Mare of Easttown”
“WandaVision”
TV MOVIE
“Sylvie’s Love”
“Oslo”
“Uncle Frank”
“Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia”
“Dolly Parton’s Christmas on The Square”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Jean Smart, “Mare of Easttown”
Julianne Nicholson, “Mare of Easttown”
Moses Ingram, “The Queen’s Gambit”
Kathryn Hahn, “WandaVision”
Renee Elise Goldsberry, “Hamilton”
Phillipa Soo, “Hamilton”
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
Paapa Essiedu, “I May Destroy You”
Daveed Diggs, “Hamilton”
Anthony Ramos, “Hamilton”
Jonathan Groff, “Hamilton”
Evan Peters, “Mare of Easttown”
Thomas Brodie-Sangster, “The Queen’s Gambit”
VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
“A Black Lady Sketch Show”
“Saturday Night Live”
VARIETY TALK SERIES
“Conan”
“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live”
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
COMPETITION PROGRAM
“Nailed It!”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race”
“Top Chef”
“The Amazing Race”
“The Voice”
For more nominees, visit emmys.com.
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter.
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