Emmys: Top 14 scariest acting wins of all time

When Emmy voters get spooked, it’s often frighteningly good. Take a tour through our photo gallery above (or click here for direct access) that features 14 of the Emmys’ scariest acting wins in the history of the TV Academy.

Of course we had to include the various wins from “American Horror Story.” The horror franchise’s various installments have thus far reaped victories for Kathy Bates as a hate-spewing witch and James Cromwell as a deranged Nazi doctor, plus Jessica Lange makes our list twice as both a murderous neighbor and a malicious sorceress.

Also making the list twice is Michael Emerson, who scared the pants off us as a serial killer in “The Practice” before making our skin crawl as the mysterious leader of the Others on “Lost.”

Another multiple-murderer to make the cut is John Lithgow for his terrifying guest role in “Dexter” (well, technically supporting, but that’s for another item).

And let’s not forget sci-fi classic “The X-Files,” which brought trophies to Gillian Anderson as an FBI agent investigating paranormal activity and guest star Peter Boyle as an insurance salesman who can predict people’s deaths.

The newest entry to our list is Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”). Red light! Green light! As Seong Gi-hun, aka player #456 in the titular Squid Game, his character watched as 455 of his friends and competitors died before his eyes, often in terribly gruesome and violent ways. Because of his cunning inteligence (and, sometimes, luck) Seong Gi-hun was able to survive the game and live to fight another day. Lee Jung-jae’s Emmy win in 2022 for Best Drama Actor made him the first non-English language performer to claim the category.

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