Emmys 2020: Lead Actress Contenders

“American Son”; “Little Fires Everywhere”; “Live in Front of a Studio Audience”
“This idea of not filling the space to make other people comfortable, that’s part of Mia’s defense mechanism, and it’s how she disarms people; but there is also something about it that is so unapologetic. In the course of the series, she does learn to apologize for the things that she’s done, but she never apologizes for who she is. That was really powerful for me, to get to plaY in that space.”

“Killing Eve”
“Being the sole Asian person is a very familiar place for me, and it’s some place that I think it takes a lot of time to even mentally break out of. … I’ve naturally tried to make that space smooth, make that space safe, or make that space fun, not only for the other person, but honestly probably for myself as well. I do think that somehow being that sole person in a different culture, different country, somehow affected Eve quite deeply.”

“Tommy”
“Tommy is straightforward and she gets stuff done and she’s very clear about her motivation. In my real life I think I feel an obligation to explain more than she does, either as a parent or a person who’s advocating on my own behalf. What a relief it is to just say, ‘This is how it is.’ There’s something very refreshing about [her] confidence level.”

“Dickinson”
“One of the reasons that Emily Dickinson [was] so great was she was so unapologetic and fearless and wrote about everything shamelessly even though she was shamed about almost all of it. So I found when I was writing music and in studio sessions after having played one of the world’s greatest poets, I had this more fearless and unapologetic approach to my own writing.”

“David Makes Man”
“The main difference and adjustment from stage to being on camera is there’s no rehearsal process that is anything akin to the weeks that you have. [It’s] three — if you’re very, very fortunate — to rehearse this show that you’re going to be doing for a month or however long if you’re on Broadway. But when you go on camera, your work has to be done independent of everybody else.”

“Euphoria”
“A lot of the times in this industry it’s about recognizing your power and not selling yourself short, which I think we can either tend to do or be talked into doing. It’s kind of like that corny thing of ‘know your worth,’ but it is that. It’s knowing what you are worth and [what] you can bring to the table.”

“The L Word: Generation Q”
“Something we discovered was there was a need to retool the language to be able to express the existence and experience of a group of people who refused to be labeled by old ideas. One of the most precious conversations for me was when I talked to [my onscreen daughter] about how the standards are different for her as a woman of color. We can work on them and start to change them, but we have to understand them first.”

“Big Little Lies”; “Little Fires Everywhere”; “The Morning Show”
“It’s actually audiences who’ve changed everything: It’s the people watching this program right now, they choose what shows they want to see and they have chosen better storytelling by a more diverse group of storytellers. The proof is right there, but it’s amazing to see those opportunities open up for women. Honestly, I didn’t think I’d see it in my lifetime.”

“One Day at a Time”
“The highlights of the show are putting up those stories about things that are not often reflected, like the masturbation episode. There are everyday things that I take for granted, and when they write it and we put it out there, these are things that people love, and are representation that we’re lacking.”

“Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker”; “Truth Be Told”
“The reason I wanted to tell [Madam C.J.’s] story was because she was a part of my upbringing and so many people don’t know about her. But her philanthropy is still being felt, even 100 years later, because she contributed to the NAACP and so many organizations that forwarded Black progression. It was about time we told her story!”

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
“The biggest thing Midge has begun to learn in Season 3 is that she’s not the center of everyone’s universe all the time. And that’s a tough pill to swallow for someone who has enjoyed thinking she’s the center of everyone’s universe all the time, for so long! Coupled with what she learns about the world at large from her friendship with Shy, I would love to see her open herself [more].”

“Why Women Kill”
“If a character is overemoting, it sometimes takes away the experience for the audience. So I always try to find this delicate balance and just allow the words to be enough. I don’t think you necessarily need to ‘act it out’ because it’s already quite tragic and if you overindulge in the moment, it can be too much.”

“Run”; “Unbelievable”
“I happened to go straight from shooting ‘Unbelievable’ into the pilot for ‘Run’ without any kind of break and, in a first, remember writing Karen from ‘Unbelievable’ a letter on the flight from one location to the other. We had spent so much time together and it felt frightfully abrupt and unceremonious to suddenly throw her over for someone else. I wanted her to know how important she was to me, that she had done a good job and that she could rest now.”

“Killing Eve”
“Playing a character like Villanelle, I feel like it’s such a fine balance with how much vulnerability to show and how much people believe she can be vulnerable and accessing these emotions. It’s a constant see-saw of what’s too much, what’s too little.”

“Dead To Me”
“I wanted to give her a vulnerability and a place of pain that would then explain the way she is to people: that’s her defense mechanism from a really dark, sad place. In the confession scene that’s when you really see the pain of her and you can now go, ‘OK I can accept why you’re behaving this way.’”

“Pose”
“Women from all walks of life have come to me and said, ‘Oh my god, that’s how my mother would talk to me.’ And that means a lot because it’s showing there are a lot of women all over the world who think like Blanca and a lot of things in Blanca come from me, so a lot of women understand me and are seeing me.”

“Mrs. America”
“I am forever grateful for the ground broken and seeds planted by the women who have come before me — Their struggles and victories, their challenges and ambitions and their perspectives. I am so very grateful to be able to learn from, And attend to, Women on all sides. It’s important to hear it all.”

“Westworld”
“I feel like I finally got to be the Terminator and Sarah Connor rolled into one. I loved that we got to circle back around to Dolores in her original form. There is something about that version of her that I don’t think I can ever really let go of. I was happy that the character I poured my heart and soul into didn’t let everyone down in the end.”

“Cherish The Day”
“It’s important to showcase love stories in today’s landscape because love is at the heart of everything. There can’t be too much love, especially nowadays with everyone finding it on their phones. The whole concept of earnestly falling in love can feel quite elusive. So it’s refreshing to see it on TV; it gives people hope.”

“Big Little Lies”
“When you fight back in a relationship, there’s an enormous amount of, ‘I’m culpable. I’m to blame. I pushed him. I screamed. I created this. I’m responsible for so many things that have happened. It’s not all him.’ It’s so complicated and to have the chance to play that with all its complication, I was just amazed that they let me do it that way.”

“Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet”
“The writers and I were conscious of not wanting Poppy to fall into the ‘women are wiser’ trope. It was important that she was just as flawed and egotistical as her male counterparts — although often more competent. Poppy is far more intelligent than I am, but I wanted to instill a kind of unique goofiness in her.”

“Vida”
“There were a lot of ‘I would’ve wanted’s’ for Lyn on my part, but I am so grateful of what we did get to do together and the story we got to live. It felt like a relationship that you know is bound to end, but you’re trying your hardest to keep alive, and that takes a toll on you emotionally. The good thing is that I got to use all of that emotion shooting the last episode.”

“Schitt’s Creek”
“Thoughtful satire can get to the truth of any matter and give you a fresh perspective — maybe even one that leads to a change for good. And comedy that’s written from a place of love can be both hilarious and healing at the same time. If you can’t make yourself laugh, find someone who can do it for you. A sense of humor will forever be essential to our well-being.”

“On Becoming a God in Central Florida”
“After [playing] Krystal, I relaxed on myself a little bit more. Everyone’s just trying to do the best they can and, especially being a new mom, at the end of the day you’ve got to give yourself a break.”

“Ozark”; “Tales of the City”
“My whole thing is, if you’re given the opportunity to go deep, you go deep. You don’t pussyfoot around with it. If it’s well-written, if it’s placed correctly, then you do have an obligation to flesh it out as fully as you possibly can.”

“Watchmen”
“We are always living in someone else’s revisionist history, and when we are discovering ours, we discover that choices that we’re making now are connected to trauma that has happened to us when we were younger or trauma that was passed down to us from ancestors or our elders.”

“Mixed-ish”
“I do a lot of drama, but I got to be goofy [on ‘Mixed-ish’]. What I love about Alicia is she thinks she’s cool. There’s this quirkiness. She’s super smart and a careerist, and sometimes she’s the voice of reason and the voice of the fight, but she doesn’t have to always be so strong.”

“Homeland”
“When I started acting again, I was approaching it from a really cerebral place, as if I was kind of writing an essay or something. It was not effective. That was problematic. I had to re-learn how to just be more intuitive and visceral and just let myself reel — just allow myself to go into a more unconscious flow.”