Liza Colón-Zayas came out on top of an impressive list of ladies who make TV fans laugh, winning Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 2024 Emmy Awards.
Colón-Zayas received the honor for The Bear at the 76th annual awards show, which was held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, September 15. During her speech, she shouted out her husband, David Zayas, as well as the other nominated actresses.
“He told me to write a speech and I didn’t because I didn’t think it would be possible,” Colón-Zayas said. “How could I thought it would be possible to be in the presence of Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett and Janelle and Sheryl Lee Ralph and Hannah. Anyway, I love you all. I revere you to the bottom of the heart.”
Five other actresses rounded out the category, with nominations for Carol Burnett for Palm Royale, Hannah Einbinder for Hacks, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James for Abbott Elementary and Meryl Streep for Only Murders in the Building.
Colón-Zayas also gave a sweet a shout out to her mother and grandchildren plus The Bear cast and crew. The actress ended her speech by encouraging everyone to go out and vote in the upcoming election. (Costars Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach also took home awards for their respective roles earlier in the evening.)
At the 2023 ceremony, which aired in January due to a delay caused by the writers and actors unions’ strikes, The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri took home her first Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She beat out Ralph, 67, and James, 44, as well as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Alex Borstein, Ted Lasso’s Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham and Shrinking’s Jessica Williams.
“I’m so incredibly grateful for this for so many reasons. But the main one, this is a show about family and found family and real family,” Edebiri, 28, said in her acceptance speech at the time. “My parents are here tonight. I’m making them sit kind of far away from me because I’m a bad kid. But I love you guys so much.”
She continued: “Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all of that. I just love you so much. It’s a dream to emigrate to this country and have your child be like, ‘I want to do improv.’ Thank you so much. This means the world.”
For the 2024 Emmys, Edebiri moved to the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, competing against Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson, Only Murders in the Building’s Selena Gomez, Loot’s Maya Rudolph, Hacks’ Jean Smart and Palm Royale’s Kristen Wiig. Edebiri switched up her strategy ahead of the 2024 awards season and went on to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy and a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in January.
As for the 2024 nominees for supporting actress in a comedy, several were already Emmy winners before the Sunday ceremony, with seven trophies for Burnett, 91, three for Streep, 75, and one for Ralph throughout their careers.
