A staggering 33 people could be Emmy-nominated for acting and voice work this year
In 1998, Hank Azaria received a voice acting Emmy for “The Simpsons” as well as a comedy guest nomination for “Mad About You,” making him the first person capable of being awarded by the TV academy for acting and voice work in a single year. After essentially repeating the feat in 2003 as a guest nominee for “Friends,” he has a chance to do so again in 2023 as a guest contender for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” The “Simpsons” mainstay is in fact one of 33 individuals with entries on both the live action and vocal performance ballots this year, and any one of them could bring the all-time total of such dual nomination cases to 14.
From its introduction in 1992 until 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. After this became a proper category in 2009, it was split into two in 2014, and the Best Character Voice-Over and Best Narrator awards have been bestowed on an annual basis ever since.
Within the past decade, four men have each simultaneously competed for physical and voice acting Emmys. The first was Keegan-Michael Key, whose 2016 comedy supporting bid for “Key and Peele” was coupled with a character voice-over one for “SuperMansion.” One year later, narration competitors Ewan McGregor (“Wild Scotland”) and Liev Schreiber (“Muhammad Ali: Only One”; “UConn: The March to Madness”) were also respectively recognized for their lead performances on “Fargo” (limited) and “Ray Donovan” (drama). Then in 2021, Sterling K. Brown won the narrator prize for “Lincoln: Divided We Stand” while also vying for the drama lead award as a star of “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 pulled off double wins for “Family Guy” (character voice) and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (comedy supporting) in 2018. She was nominated for both series again in 2019 but only won for the latter that time. In 2020, comedy guest rivals Angela Bassett (“A Black Lady Sketch Show”), Maya Rudolph (“The Good Place”; “Saturday Night Live”) and Wanda 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.
It’s safe to say that the 2023 hopeful with the best chance of being added to this list is Sarah Snook, since she is the drama actress frontrunner for “Succession” and has one entry on each voice ballot, for “Koala Man” (character) and “Kangaroo Valley” (narrator). Also seeking a narration bid is Pedro Pascal (“Patagonia”), who Gold Derby predicts will be both a drama lead and comedy guest nominee for “The Last of Us” and “Saturday Night Live.” The only other live action contenders vying for narration notices are Bassett (“9-1-1”; “Good Night Oppy”), Helen Hunt (“Blindspotting”; “Meet Marry Murder”) and Michael B. Jordan (“Saturday Night Live”; “America the Beautiful”).
Seven more of Gold Derby’s currently predicted live action nominees are gunning for slots in the character voice lineup, including movie/limited supporting actress race leader Niecy Nash-Betts (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”; “Agent Elvis”). In addition to Borstein (for the same shows as before), the others are Kieran Culkin (“Succession”; “Solar Opposites”), Leslie Odom Jr. (“Abbott Elementary”; “Central Park”), Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”; “Little Demon”), and “Beef” and “Tuca & Bertie” cast mates Ali Wong and Steven Yeun.
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Another one to watch out for is Matthew Rhys, who could earn his second drama lead mention for “Perry Mason” and two character voice bids for “Tuca & Bertie” and “The U.S. and the Holocaust.” Aside from Azaria, the remaining male hopefuls are Tituss Burgess (“Schmigadoon!”; “Central Park”), Daveed Diggs (“Extrapolations”; “Central Park”), Johnny Knoxville (“Reboot”; “Agent Elvis”), Nick Kroll (“History of the World: Part II”; “Big Mouth”), Jack Quaid (“The Boys”; “Star Trek: Lower Decks”), Sam Richardson (“Ted Lasso”; “HouseBroken”), Stanley Tucci (“Citadel”; “Central Park”) and Alan Tudyk (“Resident Alien”; “Harley Quinn”).
Rudolph and Sykes’ recent “Big Mouth” and “Crank Yankers” performances put them back in the hunt for the character voice award just as they are respectively seeking comedy lead and supporting bids for “Loot” and “History of the World: Part II.” The other female possibilities are Kristen Bell (“The People We Hate at the Wedding”; “Central Park”), Kaley Cuoco (“Meet Cute”; “Harley Quinn”), Clea Duvall (“Poker Face”; “HouseBroken”), Tina Fey (“Only Murders in the Building”; “Mulligan”), Heidi Gardner (“Saturday Night Live”; “Crank Yankers”), Kathryn Hahn (“Tiny Beautiful Things”; “Central Park”), Lizzo (“The Mandalorian”; “The Simpsons”), Aisha Tyler (“The Last Thing He Told Me”; “Archer”) and Jessica Williams (“Shrinking”; “Entergalactic”).
Of course, no one joined this group in 2022, although there were viable options like Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”; “Hit-Monkey”), Connie Britton (“The White Lotus”; “Mamas”) and Brian Cox (“Succession”; “The Simpsons”). However, that shouldn’t discourage this year’s potential multi-nominees, several of whom could easily follow Borstein and Rudolph as dual winners.
PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12
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