Emmy Awards 2026: Jean Smart creates history as she bags best actress award for ‘Hacks’

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Jean Smart receives Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for ‘Hacks’ during the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Jean Smart has created history at the Primetime Emmys 2026 as she bagged her eighth award during the ceremony on Tuesday (September 15, 2026). Jean won the honour for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role of comedian Deborah Vance on HBO Max’s Hacks , making her the first comedy lead actor to win the award for every season of a single television series.

The award win has tied her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the all-time record.

Accepting the award, Jean joked and said, “Just the men stay standing, the girls get to sit down.” She then went on to thank her collaborators and ended her brief speech saying, “What a ride this has been!”

Jean was nominated in the category along with Quinta Brunson for Abbott Elementary , Ayo Edebiri for The Bear , Elle Fanning for Margo’s Got Money Troubles , and Lisa Kudrow for The Comeback .

Jean won her first two Emmys in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Fraiser and The District and followed that up with bagging Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Samatha Who?. She won the Emmy for playing Deborah Vance in 2021 as she repeated the streak in 2022, 2024 and 2025 for the consecutive seasons.

Created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, Hacks tells the story of a legendary comedian, Deborah, who struggles to hold on to her legacy and hires a young writer to bring a new spark in her material. In the fifth season, Deborah embarks on a final campaign to control her legacy as she rebuilds her career after quitting her late-night talk show.

entertainment (general) / entertainment award / arts, culture and entertainment / cinema / English cinema / television

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