Grownups Take 23 Emmy Acting Nominations

Actors over 50 earned 23 nominations on July 13, in the 2021 Emmy Award race — and will learn whether they'll snag a coveted golden statuette when the winners are announced Sunday, Sept. 19, in the telecast on CBS and Paramount+. Men dominated the nominations in both the categories of limited series, movie or anthology (WandaVision's Paul Bettany, 50, The Undoing's Hugh Grant, 60, and Halston's Ewan McGregor, 50) and lead actor (The Kominsky Method's Michael Douglas, 76, Shameless’ William H. Macy, 71, and Black-ish's Anthony Anderson, 50). Black-ish was the only broadcast-network comedy nominated — increasingly, most TV hits are on streaming services.

TV women often face ageism when men do not, but change may be coming: This year, the Emmys recognized 12 male actors and 10 female actors. Half the supporting-actress nominees in both drama and limited series/movie/anthology were over 50 — including Gillian Anderson, 52, and Helena Bonham Carter, 55, in The Crown, about the British royal family. Their show, much beloved by the AARP generations, tied with The Mandalorian for the most Emmy nominations of the year: a whopping 24.

The star who arguably shone brightest was Jean Smart, 69. Never nominated in her younger years for her breakout hit Designing Women, she won her first Emmy at 49 (as a guest actress on Frasier) and generated increasing buzz as a nominee for Fargo (2014) and Watchmen (2019). But she knocked it out of the park this year with her 10th and 11th Emmy noms, as Kate Winslet's sardonic mom in the smash mystery Mare of Easttown — she and costar Julianne Nicholson, 50, were both nominated for supporting actress — and a lead comedy actress nomination in Hacks, a delightful intergenerational hit about an aging stand-up comic who refuses to be washed up and her messed-up young comedy protégée (Hannah Einbinder, who also got an Emmy nomination — no doubt pleasing her mom, Television Academy Hall of Fame inductee Laraine Newman, 69).

Why on earth is Smart's career hotter than ever when she's pushing 70? “I guess it's the reward for just sticking around the longest!” Smart told AARP. “I don't feel like I'm any better now than I was when I was 20, but certainly the opportunities I'm being given the last 20 years have become more and more gratifying and challenging. It's a sweet spot in my life, compared to what culturally is going on. I'm not going to question it."

Just as the growth of streaming is changing the face of TV, it may be that Hollywood is beginning to recognize that older audiences want to see faces that resemble our own.

"That's the good thing about being an actor,” says Smart. “They always need older actors. You can act until you are 100."

Here are the nominees for the 2021 Emmy Awards:

Lead Actress, Comedy

• Jean Smart, 69 (Hacks)
• Aidy Bryant (Shrill)
• Kaley Cuoco (The Flight Attendant)
• Allison Janney, 61 (Mom)
• Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish)

Lead Actor, Comedy

• Anthony Anderson, 50 (Black-ish)
• Michael Douglas, 76 (The Kominsky Method)
• William H. Macy, 71 (Shameless)
• Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso)
• Kenan Thompson (Kenan)

Lead Actor, Limited Series, Movie or Anthology

• Paul Bettany, 50 (WandaVision)
• Hugh Grant, 60 (The Undoing)
• Ewan McGregor, 50 (Halston)
• Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton)
• Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton)