The 68th annual Primetime Emmy nominations were announced Thursday in Los Angeles by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Here are reactions from some of the nominees.
Sterling K. Brown: The actor says he’s trying to remain as calm as possible about his first Emmy nomination after 15 years in the business. Brown was nominated for his portrayal of prosecutor Christopher Darden in FX’s hit limited series, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. Brown says he’s spent Thursday trying to be as supportive of his fellow nominees on the show as possible.
The show earned 22 Emmy nominations including six acting nominations for the cast, including Sterling’s co-star Sarah Paulson.
Brown says, “I’ve texted with Sarah and we told each other how much we love each other and how excited we are for each other.”
Sarah Paulson: Actress says she doesn’t like to presume she’ll receive good news on Emmy nominations morning, so Wednesday night she put in ear plugs and put her phone on vibrate.
She needn’t have worried, although she acknowledges, “I didn’t put the ear plugs fully in so maybe I could hear something.”
Paulson received two nominations including for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson.
Paulson says despite her joy for her own recognition, she was happiest to learn that Brown was nominated too.
She said in her glee she sent a series of unintelligible text messages to Brown. She says, “It looked like a tiny baby infant got a hold of my phone.”
While Paulson knew quickly that she was nominated for her role as Clark, it took a phone call from her close friend, actress Amanda Peet, to discover she was also nominated for supporting actress in American Horror Story: Hotel.
It is the fifth year in a row that Paulson has been nominated for her television work in various projects.
Bob Odenkirk: Actor says he wasn’t expecting an Emmy nomination for his starring role on Better Call Saul, so he opted to take his dog for a walk instead on Thursday morning.
The actor says he was trying to get his pooch to stop chasing lizards and walk up a hill when his publicist called and told him about his nomination for outstanding lead actor in a drama series.
Odenkirk says he will never take for granted that his show, a spinoff of AMC’s popular Breaking Bad series, will get awards recognition because of its offbeat nature.
He says he’ll get some extra iced tea, but plans to celebrate with the Better Call Saul writers and his cast mates as they prepare to film the AMC show’s third season.
Odenkirk was also nominated last year for this role.
Kyle Chandler: The actor doesn’t have the most glamorous story about where he was when he learned he was nominated for an Emmy Award Thursday morning.
He says he was taking out the trash.
Chandler, who plays detective John Rayburn on the Netflix series Bloodline joked the timing was appropriate for him.
The actor was in a playful mood after the nominations were announced, first joking that he was hang gliding and dropped his phone before telling the real story. He also joked that his wife wouldn’t let the nomination get to his head.
He had been on his way to meet his wife and realised he’d forgotten to take out the garbage, so he turned back and his phone started ringing with congratulatory calls.
It’s the second year Chandler has been nominated for the show, which was just renewed for its third season.
He calls the nomination “more icing on the cake.”
Anthony Anderson: Anderson says his Emmy nomination for best actor in a comedy series is a dream come true.
The black-ish star gleefully cheered when his name was called by actress Lauren Graham, who teamed up with him to announce the 68th annual Emmy Award nominations Thursday morning.
Anderson was also nominated in the same category last year, but this year the world got to see his reaction in real-time.
Anderson says, “I’m on cloud nine right now. Since my name, Tracee’s [Ellis Ross] name, and the show’s name [for best comedy series] was called out, my feet haven’t touched the ground yet.”
The actor adds, “I was just a 9-year-old kid growing up in Compton, California, with a dream and this is the dream that I had. I get to live it every day.”
Downton Abbey: The executives behind Downton Abbey celebrated the news of their last batch of Emmy nominations with champagne — and a bit of swordplay.
The series received 10 nominations for its final season.
Executive producer Gareth Neame says, “I got half a bottle of champagne all over my office furniture, but it does work.”
The show, that traced the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family through a turbulent period of change in England between 1912 and the mid-1920s, received 69 Emmy nominations over its six-season run. “I think the Crawley family would clearly be big fans of Dom P, but I suspect opening the bottle [with a sword] would be much too flamboyant for them the English,” Neame said.
Among the nominations was best drama series and a best supporting actress for Maggie Smith.
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