Monday night at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards brought a few surprises and a few expected wins. Chicago was represented throughout the evening in many of the wins!
Between The Second City alums, actors born in Chicago, and shows set in Chicago, we’ve got your rundown on all the winners representing our city.
Julia Garner – Ozark
No, Julia Garner, who won the Emmy for Best Drama Supporting Actress for her performance in Ozark, isn’t from Chicago, but the Netflix show follows a Chicago man (Jason Bateman) involved in laundering drug money who uproots his family to a resort near the Lake of the Ozarks. In the first season several scenes were filmed in Chicago at locations including BP Pedestrian Bridge in Millennium Park and a building on the corner of East Lake Street and North Garland Court in Downtown. The most recent season had Atlanta stand in for the scenes set in Chicago. Throughout four seasons of the series, Ozark earned a whopping total of 44 nominations. This was Garner’s third win for Best Supporting Actress and the show earned an Emmy win for Jason Bateman’s directing in season 2.
Laurie Metcalf – Hacks
Laurie Metcalf, who won Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in the HBO Max series Hacks, was born in Carbondale, Illinois, but made her way to Chicago and began her career with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. This is Metcalf’s fourth Emmy win out of her 12 nominations since 1992 when she won her first Emmy award for her performance on the sit-com Roseanne. It was a surprising win over font-runner Jane Lynch, also a Chicago girl, born and raised in the south suburb of Dolton.
Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary
Second City alum Quinta Brunson made history Monday night as the third Black writer and the second Black female writer to win Best Writer for a comedy series. She is the creator, executive producer, writer, and star of the ABC comedy Abbott Elementary. While still attending college at Temple University, Brunson would travel to Chicago to take classes at The Second City, following in the footsteps of some of her comedic idols before eventually leaving Temple and making her way to Los Angeles where her career really began to take hold. Brunson was also nominated for Best Actress in a comedy series, and Abbott Elementary was nominated for Best Comedy Series against Chicagoan Jason Sudeikis and his show Ted Lasso (which took home the award).
Brendan Hunt and Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso racked up 4 Emmy award wins out of their 20 nominations!
Ted Lasso creators, writers, and stars Brendan Hunt and Jason Sudeikis BOTH hail from Chicagoland. In 2021, when Sudeikis accepted his Emmy award in 2021, he even gave a shout out to Chicago in his acceptance speech, thanking his “mentors and teachers” in Chicago. Brendan Hunt grew up in Chicago and attended high school at Kenwood Academy and then studied theater at Illinois State University, before returning to Chicago where he met Sudeikis doing improv at The Second City in Chicago in the late ’90s.
Sudeikis won best lead actor for the second year in a row. The show won Best Comedy Series, MJ Delaney earned Best Director, and Brett Goldstein earned Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Roy Kent.
Sudeikis once again mentioned Chicago in his acceptance speech for Best Actor, bragging “I did take classes at The Second City”
Watch Sudeikis accept the Award for Best Comedy here:
Joia DaVida reports on the entertainment industry in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
