EMMYS 2017: Sterling K. Brown Wins Lead Drama Actor Emmy For 'This Is Us'

Sterling K. Brown won the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series on Sunday night for his performance as Randall Pearson on NBC’s This Is Us, a series that took America and the TV Academy by storm, as evidenced in its sky-high ratings and 11 nominations. Its been 19 years since an African American won this category. (It feels real big, Brown said backstage after his win.) Brown edged out his co-star Milo Ventimiglia, Westworld’s Anthony Hopkins, Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk, The Americans’ Matthew Rhys, Ray Donovan’s Liev Schreiber and House of CardsKevin Spacey. Though none of the nominees have won this particular award before, Brown took home the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Limited Series at last year’s awards for his role as Chris Darden on The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. You are the best white TV family a brother can ever have, Brown said, accepting his award and thanking his castmates. Backstage, he continued the speech that was cut off, thanking the shows writers, producers, showrunners and creator Dan Fogelman, who he called the Hebrew hammer with which our house is built, adding that Fogelman is not trying to make America great again, hes trying to make it the best its been. Donald Glover won the Emmy award for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series at the 2017 Emmy Awards Sunday for his work on Atlanta. “Yo, I’m so happy, wow,” he began. “Thank you guys so much, this is nuts. I want to thank my mom and dad, the city of Atlanta, FX.” “I want to thank Trump for making black people number one on the most-oppressed list,” he said. “He’s probably the reason I’m up here.” The actor won in one of the most diverse categories at this year’s show, facing stiff competition from Anthony Anderson (Black-ish), Aziz Ansari (Master of None), Zach Galifianakis (Baskets), William H. Macy (Shameless) and reigning winner Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent). Atlantas Donald Glover is the first black director to win an Emmy and is only the second black man to win lead actor in a comedy. This is Glover’s second Emmy win of the night: He made history as the first African-American to win outstanding director of a comedy series. Emmys 2017 Winners List Best Comedy: “Veep” (HBO) Best Drama: “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu) Best Limited Series: “Big Little Lies” (HBO) Best Actress, Comedy: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep” (HBO) Best Actor, Comedy: Donald Glover, “Atlanta” (FX) Best Actress, Drama: Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu) Best Actor, Drama: Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us” (NBC) Best Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie: Nicole Kidman, “Big Little Lies” (HBO) Best Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie: Riz Ahmed, “The Night Of” (HBO) Television Movie: “Black Mirror: San Junipero” (Netflix) Supporting Actor, Drama: John Lithgow, “The Crown” (Netflix) Supporting Actress, Drama: Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu) Supporting Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) Supporting Actress, Comedy: Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie: Alexander Skarsgard, “Big Little Lies” (HBO) Supporting Actress, Limited Series or a Movie: Laura Dern, “Big Little Lies”(HBO) Variety Sketch Series: “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) Directing for a Comedy Series: Donald Glover, “Atlanta” (“B.A.N.”) (FX) Variety Talk Series: “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO) Reality Competition Program: “The Voice” (NBC) Writing for a Comedy Series: Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe, “Master of None”(“Thanksgiving”) (Netflix) Writing for a Drama Series: Bruce Miller, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (“Offred (Pilot)”) (Hulu) Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Drama: Charlie Brooker, “Black Mirror: San Junipero” (Netflix) Directing for a Drama Series: Reed Morano, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (“Offred (Pilot)”) (Hulu) Directing For a Limited Series: Jean-Marc Vallée, “Big Little Lies” (HBO) Directing for a Variety Series: Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live” (“Host: Jimmy Fallon”) Writing for a Variety Series: “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO) *Structured Reality Program: “Shark Tank” (ABC) *Unstructured Reality Program: “United Shades of America With W. Kamau Bell” (CNN) *Guest Actress, Drama: Alexis Bledel, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu) *Guest Actor, Drama: Gerald McRaney, “This Is Us” (NBC) *Guest Actress, Comedy: Melissa McCarthy, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) *Guest Actor, Comedy: Dave Chappelle, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) *Animated Program: “Bob’s Burgers” (FOX) *Reality Host: RuPaul Charles (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”)

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EMMYS 2017: Sterling K. Brown Wins Lead Drama Actor Emmy For 'This Is Us'