Jean Smart achieved a significant milestone at the Emmy Awards, winning her fifth consecutive award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Deborah Vance in HBO Max's "Hacks." This historic win makes Smart the first woman to secure an Emmy in this category for every season of her show.
During her acceptance speech, Smart expressed gratitude to the series creators, Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky, stating, "It all begins and ends with them. I love you guys so much."
This latest Emmy brings Smart's career total to eight, tying her with Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most acting Emmys won by a female performer. Previously, Smart had downplayed the significance of such a record, referring to it as a "technicality" in an August appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" She noted that the achievement was tied to the show's run length, contrasting it with Julia Louis-Dreyfus's successful seven Emmys for "Veep" over its seven-season run.
"Hacks," which concluded its series finale in May, also set an Emmys record with 24 nominations for its fifth and final season. This haul made it the most-nominated final season of a comedy in Emmy history, and the most-nominated comedy season overall, surpassing FX's "The Bear" and Apple TV+'s "The Studio," which each received 23 nominations for their respective seasons.
The acclaimed series is credited with ushering in a new wave of recognition for Smart, a seasoned actress who has worked in Hollywood for decades. "Hacks" propelled her into the spotlight as a celebrated comedy star.
Reflecting on the show's legacy with co-star Hannah Einbinder, Smart shared in an April interview with NPR that she hopes "Hacks" will be remembered for its blend of heartfelt emotion and humor. "I hope that people will remember it as a show that was able to move people and go to some kind of darker places," she said, "but also be really, really, really, really funny — that we were able to sort of realistically do all of that in the same world."