This year’s Primetime Emmy Awards are fast approaching. Indeed, we’re only three months away from finding out who’s going to take home an award in 2022. Per History, the first-awarded Emmy dates back as far as the year of 1949 for categories such as Most Popular Television Programme or Best Film Made For Television.
Leading up to the Emmys, we’re here to look at the decade of 2010s, which was packed with many excellent performers rightfully getting awarded for their work. We’ll turn our focus specifically on the drama series and the best Emmy-award winning performances of both actors and actresses. Here is our list of the eight best.
8 Jon Hamm — Mad Men (2015)
With a plot spanning from the 1960s to 1970s, Mad Men focuses on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a talented creative director working at an advertising company. His success rises and declines following the changing events of American society during those two decades. The period drama managed to run for seven seasons, from 2007 to 2015. Although the story also follows people in Don's life, Hamm does an amazing job with his character and was rightfully awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series back in 2015. Don is basically a miserable alcoholic who tries filling the void by gaining success in his field.
7 Jodie Comer — Killing Eve (2019)
Killing Eve is a British spy thriller completely written by women. The plot focuses on an FBI investigator Eve (Sandra Oh) who is assigned to capture the assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Eventually, both of the women become obsessed with each other. The whole series fills you up with so much emotion. The two of them couldn't even stand being in the same room without the passion erupting into chaos, and it turned into them loving each other with tenderness. Both of the performances by Oh and Comer are beautiful things to witness. While each was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series multiple times throughout the show's run, Comer took home the Emmy in 2019.
6 Claire Foy — The Crown (2018)
The Crown is a historical Netflix drama series telling the story of Queen Elizabeth II's reign throughout the years. Claire Foy in particular portrayed the Queen in the first two seasons when the story focused on Elizabeth's marriage to Phillip up until the birth of Prince Edward. The whole series itself is a very rewatchable piece of media and will definitely have you in its chokehold once you tune in. Foy specifically did an amazing job with the first two seasons and many fans dearly miss her in the show. One of her specialties was definitely delivering powerful speeches. No wonder she landed an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2018.
5 Elisabeth Moss — The Handmaid’s Tale (2017)
The Handmaid’s Tale was the first TV series produced by Hulu to win a major award, those being Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as the Golden Globe Award. Starring Elisabeth Moss in the lead role, the dystopian plot tells the story of a Second American Civil War, where fertile women are used for child-bearing slavery. It's arguably one of the few dystopian stories that are told in the "during", instead of "after", which gives us a completely new perspective on how society so quickly unravels. As for Moss, she is scarily good at what she does and definitely deserves all the recognition. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2017.
4 Billy Porter — Pose (2019)
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Billy Porter has become the first openly gay Black man to be nominated for and win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and that was for Pose in 2019. Spanning through the 1980s and 1990s, the Ryan Murphy TV series focuses on New York City's drag ball culture in the African American and Latino communities. The show is both very heartwarming and heartbreaking, especially when you realize that some of plot concerning Porter's character is based on the actor's own life, as outlined by CNN. We're definitely recommending for you to watch it if you want proper queer representation.
3 Tatiana Maslany — Orphan Black (2016)
Who would deserve the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstandling Lead Actress in a Drama Series more than Tatiana Maslany who literally played all the five main characters who were distinctively unique? Orphan Black raises ethical questions concerning human cloning and its effect on humanity. Sarah Manning is the lead character who finds out that she's one of many other clones and wants to find out the truth, which leads her to meeting her identical sisters. The show received high critical appraisal, especially for Maslany's excellent performances. Although the series ended in 2017, per EW, a sequel series Orphan Black: Echoes in production.
2 Bryan Cranston — Breaking Bad (2010)
Named by the critics as one of the greatest TV series of our time, Breaking Bad is a neo-Western thriller focusing on Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a chemistry teacher diagnosed with stage-three cancer who turns to the crime world of drugs to secure money for his family's future. The show was awarded with numerous major awards, with Cranston earning the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. The show is both funny and deals with questions of mortality and morality.
1 Viola Davis — How To Get Away With Murder (2015)
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Last but not least, the amazingly talented Viola Davis, arguably one of the best actresses of our generation. How To Get Away With Murder is a legal American drama series with Davis in the leading role as law professor Annalise Keating, who gets involved in a murder case along with her best students. Despite all the characters getting involved in extremely dark situations, you can't help but love them. As for Davis, there's not enough words to describe just how spectacular she is as Keating. Just stop everything you're doing and watch the show, and you'll see why she made history as the first Black woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2015.