The Nominations Are In! Here's Every Black Actor Nominated For An Emmy Award In 2020

2020 isn't look so bad after all.

By Essence · Updated December 6, 2020

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The Emmy Awards did it a little bit different this year when it came to announcing the nominations.

Thanks to COVID-19, comedian Leslie Jones hosted the nominations from an empty set. During what felt like a monologue, the actress shared that the Academy flew her in on a private plane to ensure her safety. Laverne Cox, who also nabbed an Emmy nod this year, helped announce the 2020 nominations along with Josh Gad and Tatiana Maslany.

Thankfully, the Academy nominated many Black actors from the drama categories to the comedy categories. Our favorite show, Insecure, also scored a nod in the outstanding comedy series category and Kerry Washington’s American Son earned a nod for outstanding TV movie.

And we should mention that Dime Davis earned a directing nod for her work on A Black Lady Sketch Show, and our forever first lady’s documentary Becoming also scored a few nods for outstanding director and cinematography for Nadia Hallgren, outstanding documentary and outstanding music composition for a doc. We stan!

Check out who else is up for the little golden trophy:

Article continues after video.

Don Cheadle

Don Cheadle earned an Emmy nomination in the outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his role in Black Monday.

Anthony Anderson

Anthony Anderson earned an Emmy nomination in the outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his role in ABC’s black-ish.

Issa Rae

Issa Rae earned an Emmy nomination in the outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for her role in HBO’s Insecure.

Tracee Ellis Ross

Tracee Ellis Ross earned an Emmy nomination in the outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for her role in ABC’s black-ish.

Andre Braugher

Andre Braugher was nominated for his role in Brooklyn 99.

Mahershala Ali

Mahershala Ali was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a comedy series for his role in Ramy, as well as for Outstanding Children’s Program for executive producing We Are The Dream: The Kids Of The Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest for HBO.

Kenan Thompson

Kenan Thompson was nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his roles on Saturday Night Live.

Sterling K. Brown

Sterling K. Brown was nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. He earned a second nod in the drama category for his role in This Is Us.

Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy scored a nomination for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series after he hosted Saturday Night Live.

Yvonne Orji

Yvonne Orji was nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for her role in Insecure.

Wanda Sykes

Wanda Sykes was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a comedy series for playing Moms Mabley in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, as well as for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for her work in Crank Yankers.

Billy Porter

Billy Porter earned a nod for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for his role in Pose.

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Jeffrey Wright

Jeffrey Wright earned an Emmy nod for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his role in Westworld.

Giancarlo Esposito

Giancarlo Esposito earned an Emmy nod for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his role in Better Call Saul. He also received a nomination for his guest actor role in The Mandalorian.

Thandie Newton

Thandie Newton earned a nod for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in Westworld.

Samira Wiley

Samira Wiley earned an Emmy nod for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in Handmaid’s Tale.

Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox earned an Emmy nod for outstanding guest actress in a drama series for her role in Orange Is The New Black.

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer earned a nod for her role in Self Made.

Regina King

Regina King earned a nod in the outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie for her role in HBO’s Watchmen.

Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington earned a nod for her role in Little Fires Everywhere.

Jeremy Pope

Jeremy Pope was nominated for outstanding lead actor in a limited series of movie for his role in Hollywood.

Angela Bassett

Angela Bassett was nominated for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Black Lady Sketch Show. She earned a second nod for outstanding narrator for Disney+’s The Imagineering Story.

Maya Rudolph

Maya Rudolph wins outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for portraying Senator Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live (NBC)

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Maya Rudolph | NBC

Phylicia Rashad

Phylicia Rashad earned a nod for her guest starring role on This Is Us.

Ron Cephas Jones

Ron Cephas Jones is nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series for his portrayal of William Hill on This Is Us. He won an Emmy for the same role in 2018.

Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Stephan James

Stephan James for Outstanding Actor In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series for the Quibi series #FreeRayshawn.

Quibi

Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne for Outstanding Actor In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series in the Quibi series #FreeRayshawn.

Quibi

Mamoudou Athie

Mamoudou Athie for Outstanding Actor In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series in the FX series Oh Jerome, No.

FX Networks

Corey Hawkins

Corey Hawkins for Outstanding Actor In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series in the Quibi series Survive.

Quibi

Jasmine Cephas Jones

Jasmine Cephas Jones for Outstanding Actress In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series in the Quibi series #FreeRayshawn.

Quibi

Robin Thede’s A Black Lady Sketch Show

Robin Thede and the entire A Black Lady Sketch Show team for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series. It’s the third Emmy nod for the sketch series, including Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series for Dime Davis and Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series for Angela Bassett.