Over the past 76 years, an equal number (55) of direct costar battles have occurred in each of the Primetime Emmys’ two drama supporting acting categories. The female list (which originated a full 20 years before the male one) includes 26 different drama programs, as opposed to 17 on the comedy side. Scroll through our chronological photo gallery to learn more about the Best Drama Supporting Actress category’s many cases of dual, triple, quadruple, or quintuple nominations.
Close to one-fifth of these showdowns are credited to five-time list entrants “Lou Grant” and “Hill Street Blues,” with “The West Wing” and “Grey’s Anatomy” accounting for four clashes apiece. Tied for third place with three distinct battles each are “St. Elsewhere,” “NYPD Blue,” “The Good Wife,” “Game of Thrones,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
This gallery does not include performers who received nominations in this category for series on which they only made single-episode guest appearances. These 55 costar competitions have led to wins for 17 actresses from 14 series, including repeat victors Nancy Marchand (“Lou Grant,” 1978, 1980-1982; over Linda Kelsey), Bonnie Bartlett (“St. Elsewhere,” 1986-1987; over Christina Pickles), and Allison Janney (“The West Wing,” 2000-2001; over Stockard Channing).
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions