On September 15, Dan and Eugene Levy will make history as the first father-son hosts of the Emmys (and Eugene is also up for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special for his Apple TV+ series). The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy).
But there will be many more families with more representatives: this year several spouses and partners were nominated.
In some cases, the candidates met on set. In other cases, one candidate may have achieved success first, potentially empowering the other partner in various ways. Whatever the reason, viewers will see a community of winners who are remarkably close-knit, and likely to thank the people who may soon be thanking them on the same stage.
Sarah Paulson and her partner Holland Taylor received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, respectively: Paulson for her role in Prime Video's Mr. and Mrs. Smithand Taylor for Apple TV+ The morning showBoth, of course, have received their fair share of Emmy nominations in previous years, with Paulson winning for her role as prosecutor Marcia Clark in Ryan Murphy's FX series The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016. Taylor also has one win under her belt, for her supporting actress role on ABC's The practice in 1999.
After his Emmy nomination, Paulson said DAY that due to poor cell phone reception, she had somehow forgotten what was happening that day. “I remembered it mostly because I knew Holland might get nominated,” she said. “And I was waiting to see if that was going to happen. So I didn't know if my publicist was calling to tell me that, yes, Holland had been nominated, or if I had been nominated, but my call hadn't gone through. I kept driving down the hill. She kept calling, she fell, she kept calling, she fell again. And I was like, 'Well, maybe I'll never know.'”
Carrie Coon and husband Tracy Letts had a lot to celebrate with their Emmy nominations. Coon was honored in the Lead Actress in a Drama category for her portrayal of Bertha Russell in HBO's The Golden Age (his second nod overall), while Letts earned his first nomination in the Guest Actor in a Drama category for his role in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.
Talking to DAYCoon said her husband “was watching the live broadcast because he wanted to see if I had been nominated. And as soon as he [heard my name]turned it off. A few minutes later, someone texted me, “Tracy just got nominated for a guest spot!” I was holding my crying son and I texted Tracy right away. It was the first time she'd heard about it, so it was really funny.”
Naomi Watts received her first Emmy nomination in the category of Lead Actress in a Limited/Anthology Series for her role as Babe Paley in the FX series Feud: Capote vs. Swanswhile her husband, Billy Crudup, who has been nominated twice previously and won in 2020 for his performance in The morning showis nominated again for the same series. Incidentally, this all follows an Oscar season in which real-life couples Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (Barbie), Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley (Barbie), Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas (Oppenheimer), and Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (Anatomy of a Fall) were nominated for their collaborations.
Spouses (and It's always sunny in Philadelphia co-stars Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney both received nods: Olson for her guest-acting performance in Tricks and McElhenney for his role as executive producer on Welcome to WrexhamOlson has already received three Emmy nominations, while McElhenney won Outstanding Unstructured Reality for the same program last year.
Creative collaborations between couples are also commonplace. Paul W. Downs and wife Lucia Aniello are both nominated for writing Tricks (Aniello also received a nomination for directing.) And Shogun creators (and real-life married couple) Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks scored nominations, and not just in the Outstanding Drama Series category. They were nominated for their writing on Shogunthe episode “Anjin”, with a further nod to Kondo for “Crimson Sky”.
Finally, a reunion of sorts: Gary Oldman and Lesley Manville are both nominated this year. Oldman is nominated for leading actor in SLow horseswhile Manville gets recognition for her supporting actress work in The crownThe two got married and even have grandchildren in common, but divorced in 1990.
This story originally appeared in the September 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.