{"id":628112,"date":"2026-08-09T05:07:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/628112\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T05:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T05:07:24","slug":"does-an-oscar-win-help-at-the-emmys-heres-what-history-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/628112\/","title":{"rendered":"Does an Oscar win help at the Emmys? Here’s what history says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Does being a former Oscar winner help an actor stand out in a competitive Emmy race? Well, yes and no.<\/p>\n

This year, there are six Oscar winners competing in the Emmy acting categories:<\/p>\n

Each of these contenders represents a case study in how much an Oscar win can affect your Emmy chances.<\/p>\n

\"Tina<\/a> \"Betty<\/a> <\/p>\n

Take Curtis, who competed at the Emmys<\/a> unsuccessfully for her lead performance in the 1998 TV movie Nicholas’ Gift. That was before she earned her first Oscar nomination \u2014 and win \u2014 as Best Supporting Actress for the 2022 Best Picture Everything Everywhere All at Once. In 2024, Curtis earned her first of three Emmys nods for playing momma bear Donna Berzatto on The Bear, and walked away with a trophy as Best Comedy Guest Actress. She lost her 2025 bid to prior Emmy champ Julianne Nicholson, who added a trophy for Hacks next to the one she had for Mare of Easttown.<\/p>\n

\"OliviaOlivia Colman at the 2019 OscarsStewart Cook\/PMC<\/p>\n

That’s not unlike Olivia Colman, who came up short at the Emmys on her first go-round with The Night Manager (Best Limited\/Movie Supporting Actress in 2016). With a Best Actress Oscar for The Favourite (2018) on her shelf, Colman competed twice more unsuccessfully for Fleabag (Best Comedy Supporting Actress in 2019) and The Crown (Best Drama Actress in 2020) before finally being, well, crowned for The Crown in 2021. (Colman also earned two unsuccessful comedy guest actress bids for The Bear, losing to Curtis on the first try.)<\/p>\n

Then there’s Janney, a seven-time Emmy champ for The West Wing (supporting in 2000 and 2001, lead in 2002 and 2004), Mom (supporting in 2014 and 2015), and Masters of Sex (guest in 2014). After winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for I, Tonya in 2017, Janney competed twice more unsuccessfully for Mom in 2018 and 2021, failing to triumph after making the jump from supporting to lead comedy actress \u00e0 la The West Wing.<\/p>\n

Contrast that with Cloris Leachman, who is tied with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most acting Emmy wins. Leachman won her first of eight Emmys in 1973 for the TV movie A Brand New Life, right after she took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscars for The Last Picture Show (1971). Before her Oscar win, Leachman lost her 1971 comedy supporting actress bid for The Mary Tyler Moore Show; after, she won back-to-back prizes for Mary Tyler Moore in 1974 and 1975, and just kept on winning all the way up to Malcolm in the Middle. In a way, Leachman pulled a reverse-Janney.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you have someone like Regina King, who racked up Emmy wins for American Crime (Limited\/Movie Supporting Actress in 2015 and 2016) and Seven Seconds (Limited\/Movie Actress in 2018) before snagging her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk. Shortly thereafter, King took home a fourth Emmy for Watchmen (Limited\/Movie Actress in 2020), proving the TV Academy wouldn’t give the recent Oscar victor the cold shoulder.<\/p>\n

Field starred on Gidget and The Flying Nun before winning an Emmy for her dramatic performance in the 1977 limited series Sybil. That helped her land her Oscar-winning role in Norma Rae (1979), which led to a second Best Actress victory for Places in the Heart (1984). Although neither of those Oscar victories helped with her movie\/mini actress bids for A Woman of Independent Means (1995) and A Cooler Climate (2000), they undoubtedly gave her a leg-up with her wins for ER (Drama Guest Actress in 2001) and Brothers and Sisters (Drama Actress in 2007).<\/p>\n

In this way, Field has a lot in common with Patricia Arquette, who won the Best Drama Actress Emmy in 2006 for Medium. While she was shooting that series, she was working on Boyhood, the 12-year project that won her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2014. Five years later, she returned to the Emmys with lead and supporting actress bids for Escape at Dannemora and The Act, winning for the latter. While her Oscar win undoubtedly helped with that victory, it’s been less successful when it comes to her drama supporting actress noms for Succession (2022 and 2025).<\/p>\n

One person who could follow the Field Emmy-to-Oscar-to-Emmy pipeline is Ahmed, who took home the Best Miniseries\/Movie Actor prize for The Night Of… in 2017, long before he’d earned his first Best Actor Oscar bid for Sound of Metal in 2020. The very next year, he won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short for The Long Goodbye, and is now hoping to use that in his favor for a second Emmy victory.<\/p>\n

Conversely, Ahmed could go the route of Anthony Hopkins, who won a pair of Emmys early on for Best Limited\/Movie Actor (The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case in 1976 and The Bunker in 1981) ahead of his 1991 Best Actor Oscar victory for The Silence of the Lambs. Iconic as that performance was, it didn’t help him win the 2017 Best Drama Actor Emmy for Westworld.<\/p>\n

Oldman, meanwhile, tried and failed with a comedy guest acting bid for Friends back in 2001, long before he earned his long overdue first Oscar bid for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Best Actor in 2011). Oldman has been unable to parlay his Best Actor Oscar victory for Darkest Hour (2017) into an Emmy win for either of his previous Slow Horses nominations (2024 and 2025).<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Downey Jr. at the 2024 OscarsRich Polk\/Variety<\/p>\n

Like Oldman, Robert Downey, Jr. competed unsuccessfully as comedy supporting actor for Ally McBeal in 2001 before winning the supporting actor Oscar for Oppenheimer (2023). Yet when Downey Jr. reaped an Emmy bid the next year for his lead turn in the limited series The Sympathizer (2024), there was no Oscar afterglow to be found.<\/p>\n

Jeff Bridges similarly came up short at the Emmys for A Dog Year (Best Limited\/Movie Actor in 2010) months after clinching his long-overdue Oscar win for Crazy Heart (Best Actor in 2009), and still couldn’t catch a break with his bid for The Old Man (Best Drama Actor in 2023).<\/p>\n

Newly minted Oscar champ Sam Rockwell (Best Supporting Actor in 2017) couldn’t catch a break for either Fosse\/Verdon (Limited\/Movie Actor in 2019) or The White Lotus (Drama Supporting Actor in 2025).<\/p>\n

William Hurt may have won the Oscar for Kiss of the Spider Woman (Best Actor in 1985), but that did little to help his Emmy chances for Damages (Drama Supporting Actor in 2009) or Too Big to Fail (Limited\/Movie Actor in 2011). <\/p>\n

Similarly, Kevin Spacey, a two time Oscar winner for The Usual Suspects (Best Supporting Actor in 1995) and American Beauty (Best Actor in 1999) who struck out for Recount (Limited\/Movie Actor in 2008) and House of Cards (Drama Actor in 2014, 2015, and 2016).<\/p>\n

This year’s best test case for whether winning an Oscar gives an advantage at the Emmys will be with Youn, who won the Best Supporting Actress prize for Minari (2020) and competes this year for Season 2 of Beef. Since this is her first Emmy nomination, there’s no telling whether she’ll be a Jane Fonda, who triumphed at the Emmys on her first try for the 1984 TV movie The Dollmaker after snagging Best Actress Oscars for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978), or a Matthew McConaughey, who couldn’t use his 2013 Oscar victory for Dallas Buyers Club as a springboard for an Emmy victory for True Detective the next year.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the problem with trying to determine whether or not an Oscar win gives you an advantage at the Emmys: for every example of it helping, there’s another of it not making a difference at all. Sure, you can point to Kate Winslet, who took home Best Miniseries\/Movie Actress awards for Mildred Pierce (2011) and Mare of Easttown (2021) after her Best Actress Oscar win for The Reader (2008). But what about Cate Blanchett, who came up short for both Mrs. America (2020) and Disclaimer (2025) despite being a double Oscar winner for The Aviator (Best Supporting Actress in 2004) and Blue Jasmine (Best Actress in 2013)?<\/p>\n

\"KathyKathy Bates at the 2026 OscarsGilbert Flores\/Penske Media<\/p>\n

Look at Kathy Bates, who won the Best Actress Oscar for Misery in 1990. Bates competed 10 unsuccessful times at the Emmys before she finally triumphed for Two and a Half Men (Comedy Guest Actress in 2012), winning a second trophy for American Horror Story: Coven (Limited\/Movie Supporting Actress in 2014). At the same time, Bates came up short just last year for Matlock, failing to even make the Best Drama Actress lineup this year.<\/p>\n

Bates’ frequent American Horror Story co-star, two-time Oscar winner Jessica Lange (Best Supporting Actress for Tootsie in 1982 and Best Actress for Blue Sky in 1994), similarly came up short at the Emmys for A Streetcar Named Desire (1996) and Normal (2003) before triumphing for Grey Gardens (2009), AHS: Murder House (2012), and AHS: Coven (2014). Even after that, Lange lost for the AHS entries Asylum (2013), Freak Show (2015), and Apocalypse (2019), and hasn’t been nominated since.<\/p>\n

Lange also lost at the Emmys for her performance as Oscar winner Joan Crawford in another Ryan Murphy-produced limited series, Feud: Bette and Joan (2017). Both Lange and her Oscar-winning co-star, Susan Sarandon (Best Actress for Dead Man Walking in 1995), were bested by none other than Big Little Lies star Nicole Kidman, an Oscar winner for The Hours (Best Actress in 2002). Kidman, it should be noted, had already competed at the Emmys for Hemingway & Gellhorn, losing to Julianne Moore for Game Change two years before she won her first Oscar for Still Alice (Best Actress in 2014).<\/p>\n

And around and around we go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Does being a former Oscar winner help an actor stand out in a competitive Emmy race? Well, yes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[191168,77877,434,18,7612,117,10563,19,17,46891,26283,5747,265142],"class_list":["post-628112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-2026-emmys","tag-allison-janney","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-emmys","tag-entertainment","tag-gary-oldman","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jamie-lee-curtis","tag-riz-ahmed","tag-sally-field","tag-youn-yuh-jung"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117063821763305414","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}