Redwood City native faces stiff competition, including her co-star, Christina Applegate
This has been a huge year for TV performers and producers with roots in the Bay Area. Although we have no way of officially quantifying it, we’re pretty sure that, collectively, they’ve garnered more Emmy Award nominations than ever before.
To celebrate their achievements, we’re spotlighting local nominees individually during the run-up to the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards telecast on ABC Sept. 20. Look for more capsule profiles in the coming days.
Bay Area connection: Redwood City native; Attended St. Francis High School in Mountain View (Class of ’93), where she performed in several school productions and was a homecoming queen.
Nominated for: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Judy Hale in Netflix’s darkly hilarious “Dead to Me.”
The rundown: Cardellini first gained fame for playing Lindsay Weir in the widely acclaimed, but short-lived, NBC teen dramedy “Freaks and Geeks” (1999-200). Since then she has amassed a highly diversified TV and film resume that includes roles in “E.R.,” “Mad Men,” “Bloodline,” “Green Book,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Scooby-Doo” (she played Velma), “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and many more.
On her character: Cardellini’s Judy is a perennially optimistic woman, who will do anything for her best friend, Jen (Christina Applegate), despite the angst that comes with a mounting body count and plenty of secrets and deceit. “(She is) somebody who still maintains a buoyancy even though there’s this great drama and tragedy to her, and there’s a comedy within that — that feels very real,” she told Variety. “I think when you are going through some of the worst times you still have to manage to find the flip side of that or it swallows you whole. So I think Judy is a rare creation.”
On finding great roles later in life: “When I first started in this business, I remember thinking that roles after 40 were so scarce that you had to be in a certain category to even be offered those roles because there were so few.”
Emmy trivia: This is Cardellini’s second nomination — coming seven years after being nominated for her guest-starring work in “Mad Men.” She played Don Draper’s neighbor — and lover — Sylvia Rosen. This year, her competition includes her co-star, Applegate. The last time two co-stars were simultaneously nominated in the lead comedy actress category was 2017, when both Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin were recognized for “Grace and Frankie.”
Other nominees in the category are Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”), Issa Rae (“Insecure”) and Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”).
