Jean Smart does it again, earning her fifth consecutive Emmy nomination for “Hacks”
As the HBO comedy ends its five-year run this year, this Seattle native and UW alum is in line to win her fifth consecutive Emmy.
Jean Smart gave an outstanding performance in the fifth and final season of “Hacks,” resulting in her 15th Emmy nomination. If she wins, she’ll tie Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the most acting Emmys for a performer.
It was a smart–and obvious–call on July 8 for Jean Smart, ’74, to receive her fifth Emmy nomination in five years for playing the hilarious, irascible comedian Deborah Vance in the hit HBO show “Hacks.”
Smart, you might remember, was destined to go to college at Washington State University but her mom wanted her to stay close by because Smart was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 13. So she came to the UW instead, was one of just 10 students who made the cut into the UW’s Professional Actor Training Program, and the rest, as they say, is history.
She has become one of the greatest actors of her generation and shows no signs of slowing down, if you put aside the knee injury she suffered in summer 2025 when she was performing on Broadway. She never planned to go into TV, only theater, but TV and the movies is where she has created one of the best acting careers around.
With this latest Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Smart—who won the same award for all four prior seasons of “Hacks”—is on the verge of tying the Emmy record held by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman’s record for most acting Emmys for an actor (eight).
As always, the competition is stiff in this year’s Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, as Smart is up against Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”), Lisa Kudrow (“The Comeback”), Elle Fanning (“Margo’s Got Money Troubles”) and Quinta Brunson “(Abbott Elementary”). Besides her four Emmys for “Hacks,” Smart previously took home Emmys in the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Lana Gardner in seasons seven and eight of “Frasier” and the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in “Samantha Who?”
Asked earlier this year by Jimmy Kimmel how many Emmys Smart has, she said, “I have seven, but I lost one. I don’t know where it is.” It’s pretty likely will have another when the Emmy Award show is held on Sept. 14.