In 2020, Angela Bassett, Maya Rudolph, and Wanda Sykes simultaneously made Emmy history as the first Black women nominated for both physical and voice acting in the same year. Now, Bassett and Rudolph belong to a group of 40 individuals with entries on both 2024 performance ballots and thus have the potential to bring the all-time total of such dual nomination cases to at least 17.
From 1992 to 2008, the initial catch-all voice-over performance Emmy was a juried award, meaning there were no official nominees and winners were revealed weeks prior to each year’s ceremony. During that time, Hank Azaria was honored twice for “The Simpsons” while also contending for Best Comedy Guest Actor (“Mad About You,” 1998; “Friends,” 2003). In 2014, the single voice category was split into its two present iterations: Best Character Voice-Over and Best Narrator.
The first man to earn actual nominations for both types of acting Emmys was Keegan-Michael Key, whose 2016 comedy supporting bid for “Key & Peele” was coupled with a character voice one for “SuperMansion.” One year later, narration nominees Ewan McGregor (“Wild Scotland”) and Liev Schreiber (“Muhammad Ali: Only One”; “UConn: The March to Madness”) were also respectively recognized for their lead turns on “Fargo” (limited) and “Ray Donovan” (drama). Then in 2021, Sterling K. Brown won the narration prize for “Lincoln: Divided We Stand” while also vying for the drama lead award for “This Is Us.”
The first female instance involved Kristen Wiig, who received notices in 2012 for her voice role on “The Looney Tunes Show” and her comedic supporting work on “Saturday Night Live.” She was followed by Alex Borstein, who achieved double wins for “Family Guy” (character voice) and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (comedy supporting) in 2018 and was further nominated for the same two series in 2019 and 2023.
2020 comedy guest rivals Bassett (“A Black Lady Sketch Show”), Rudolph (“The Good Place”; “Saturday Night Live”) and Sykes (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) all joined the group as concurrent voice nominees for “The Imagineering Story,” “Big Mouth” and “Crank Yankers.” Rudolph won for both “Saturday Night Live” and “Big Mouth” and did so again in 2021.
Borstein was one of three performers to pull off this feat last year, along with Ali Wong and Pedro Pascal. Wong was the first newcomer to the acting categories simultaneously recognized in both areas (movie/limited lead: “Beef”; character voice: “Tuca & Bertie”) while Pascal made history by earning his first three acting Emmy notices at once (drama lead: “The Last of Us”; comedy guest: “Saturday Night Live”; narrator: “Patagonia”).
The 2024 hopefuls with the best chances of being added to this exclusive roster are Ayo Edebiri, Hannah Einbinder, and Jon Hamm, who (according to Gold Derby’s odds) are favored to win for their respective physical performances on “The Bear” (comedy lead), “Hacks” (comedy supporting), and “Fargo” (movie/limited lead). Edebiri has two entries on the character voice ballot (“Clone High” and “Mulligan”) while Einbinder and Hamm each have one (for “Strange Planet” and “Grimsburg”). Hamm is also generally expected to land a notice for his dramatic supporting turn on “The Morning Show.”
Included among our other currently predicted live action nominees seeking character voice recognition is Rudolph, who appears twice on each ballot (physical: “Loot” and “Saturday Night Live”; voice: “Big Mouth” and “The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy”). Rounding out this subset are Sandra Oh (“The Sympathizer”; “Invincible”), J. Smith-Cameron (“Hacks”; “In the Know”), John Mulaney (“The Bear”; “Big Mouth”), and Paul Rudd (“Only Murders in the Building”; “Secrets of the Octopus”).
Aside from Rudd, the only other live action contenders vying for narration mentions are Bassett (“9-1-1”; “Queens”), Morgan Freeman (“Special Ops: Lioness”; “Life on Our Planet”), Nyambi Nyambi (“Night Court”; “Nature”), Octavia Spencer (“Young Sheldon”; “Lost Women of Highway 20”), and Kiefer Sutherland (“The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial”; “John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial”).
Those who, like Hamm, have multiple physical and single voice entries are Kaley Cuoco (“Based on a True Story” and “Role Play”; “Harley Quinn”), Christina Hendricks (“The Buccaneers” and “Hacks”; “Solar Opposites”), and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Ahsoka” and “A Gentleman in Moscow”; “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off”).
The remaining dozen men eligible for live action and character voice nominations are James Adomian (“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”; “Harley Quinn”), Matt Berry (“What We Do in the Shadows”; “Krapopolis” and “Last Week Tonight”), Michael Cera (“Life & Beth”; “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off”), Idris Elba (“Hijack”; “Knuckles”), Nat Faxon (“Loot”; “Mulligan”), Will Forte (“Bodkin”; “Clone High” and “The Great North”), Ron Funches (“Loot”; “Harley Quinn”), Scott Grimes (“Ted”; “American Dad!”), Nick Offerman (“The Conners”; “The Great North”), Alan Tudyk (“Resident Alien”; “Grimsburg” and “Harley Quinn”), Taika Waititi (“Our Flag Means Death”; “The Simpsons”), and Zach Woods (“The Afterparty”; “In the Know”).
The other 12 female possibilities are Stephanie Beatriz (“Twisted Metal”; “Hazbin Hotel”), Tantoo Cardinal (“Echo”; “The American Buffalo”), Maya Erskine (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”; “Blue Eye Samurai”), Tina Fey (“Only Murders in the Building”; “Mulligan”), Tiffany Haddish (“The Afterparty”; “Solar Opposites”), Sharon Horgan (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”; “Housebroken”), Dakota Johnson (“Saturday Night Live”; “The Disappearance of Shere Hite”), Wendi McLendon-Covey (“Bad Romance”; “Grimsburg”), Laurie Metcalf (“The Conners”; “Carol & the End of the World”), Wunmi Mosaku (“Loki”; “Scavengers Reign”), Kristen Schaal (“What We Do in the Shadows”; “Bob’s Burgers”), and Janet Varney (“Platonic”; “Strange Planet”).
Since there were three new dual nomination cases in 2023 but none in 2022, it’s difficult to tell how many will emerge this year. However, based on the fact that the current field of candidates is 21% larger than the last, it makes sense to count on the list expanding rather than not.
PREDICT the 2024 Emmy nominations through July 17
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