16 Emmy-less Actors Who Deserve TV’s Biggest Award

By their very nature, awards shows always end up with contenders who go home empty-handed. With the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards celebrating the best of scripted television come September and nominees being announced in July, we’re rounding up those actors who could—and, frankly, should!—be in the running this year, have been nominated more than once, and have, unfortunately, never won. It’s an honor just to be nominated—but aren’t these talented stars long overdue?

Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross
Emmy nominations: 7 and 3
Eligible for: “Black-ish” (ABC), “Grown-ish” (Freeform)

It’s about time someone from the Johnson family made it to the top of Emmy voters’ lists. As parents Dre and Bow, Anderson and Ross represent both the best of traditional family sitcoms and everything the genre is becoming. Full of history and often recognizably relatable, their dynamic never fails to produce laughs. That is, until creator Kenya Barris chooses to unpack thorny, even tragic issues—which, thanks to Anderson and Ross, miraculously works.

Angela Bassett
Emmy nominations: 4
Eligible for: “9-1-1” (Fox)

Remember when Bassett brought ferociousness and mysticism, depending on what each anthologized season needed, to “American Horror Story”? Or her grounded power in “The Rosa Parks Story”? Or when she broke our hearts on “Master of None”? Her work on police drama “9-1-1,” as should be clear by now, resembles none of those performances. Captivating as ever, Bassett is particularly masterful in tense, high-stakes scenarios, when both the camera and our attention can’t help but gravitate toward her.

Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski
Emmy nominations: 4 and 5
Eligible for: “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix)

The talented Burgess deserves his spot on this list for going four for four in his “Kimmy Schmidt” Emmy nominations; we’re crossing our fingers he can extend that track record come July. His equally brilliant co-star Krakowski, who somehow never snatched an Emmy for her legendary “30 Rock” performance, is unmatched when it comes to haughty hilarity. And when the two share scenes together, they spin comedic gold.

Don Cheadle
Emmy nominations: 8
Eligible for: “Black Monday” (Showtime)

Cheadle broke into the Emmys world with double nominations in 1999, then followed it up with nominated work on “Things Behind the Sun,” “ER,” and four nods in a row for the immensely enjoyable “House of Lies.” Now, the onscreen legend is back on Showtime again on the 1980s Wall Street comedy “Black Monday.” His cocky, cocaine-snorting Maurice Monroe is a character for the ages.

George Clooney
Emmy nominations: 3
Eligible for: “Catch-22” (Hulu)

A caveat: Clooney has an Emmy to his name, in the form of the 2010 Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. But his acting nods total just two for “ER,” his breakout role. Shouldn’t we rectify this and give this Hollywood titan a competitive Emmy? This year is his first chance in a while, with his supporting work on “Catch-22,” Hulu’s limited series (which he also executive produces) about World War II Army Air Forces bombardiers, based on Joseph Heller’s classic novel.

Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O’Neill, and Sofía Vergara
Emmy nominations: 5, 3, and 4
Eligible for: “Modern Family” (ABC)

Eric Stonestreet, Ty Burrell, and Julie Bowen have claimed Emmy trophies, leaving the remaining three adult “Modern Family” cast members with dust going into its final season. And there’s a reason, 10 seasons in, the ABC hit keeps raking in the accolades: these actors’ performances are greater than the sum of their (already great) parts. Until the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences institutes a comedy ensemble award, each individual member of this family should be recognized for their endlessly inventive ways to make us laugh.

Lena Headey
Emmy nominations: 4
Eligible for: “Game of Thrones” (HBO)

Queen Cersei needs a statue to match her crown. Headey has made her “Game of Thrones” role one of TV’s best villainesses by taking every line, every strained breath, every opportunity to infuse the character with spite. She had no problem pushing Westeros’ reigning queen to wicked extremes; as this epic drew to its conclusion and Cersei stooped lower and lower in her quest to exert power, Headey relished each dastardly act with that bemused, crooked smile.

READ: Everything You’d Ever Need to Know About the Emmy Awards

Hugh Laurie
Emmy nominations: 10
Eligible for: “Catch-22” (Hulu), “Veep” (HBO)

Laurie has an astounding 10 Emmy nods to his name—the majority for his long-running performance as the title role on “House”—making him the actor on this list most deserving of a win, mathematically speaking. His scene-stealing appearances on “Veep” hit new heights in the series’ masterpiece of a finale, and Laurie further got to do his mesmerizing, magnetic thing on Hulu’s “Catch-22.”

Matt LeBlanc
Emmy nominations: 7
Eligible for: “Man With a Plan” (CBS)

Although forever known for “Friends,” LeBlanc actually holds more Emmy noms for Showtime’s “Episodes,” the reliably funny David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik series that ended in 2017. His ability to exaggerate and parody that trickiest of characters—himself—grew with each development in the show’s send-up of Hollywood life. This year, he’s again eligible for leading actor in a comedy thanks to “Man With a Plan,” CBS’ family sitcom about a dad in over his head, which features the kind of comedy LeBlanc could probably do in his sleep.

Sandra Oh
Emmy nominations: 6
Eligible for: “Killing Eve” (BBC America)

Edged out last year by Claire Foy, Oh has made a glorious return to our TV screens with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s thriller-comedy-drama “Killing Eve.” Audiences (not to mention SAG and Golden Globe Award voters) all seem to agree: We’ve missed the comic timing and dramatic heft we saw from her during many seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Season 2 of “Killing Eve” all but guarantees Oh her seventh Emmy nod.

Rosie Perez
Emmy nominations: 3
Eligible for: “High Maintenance” (HBO)

Fun fact: Perez is a three-time Emmy nominee for dance. Her work choreographing “In Living Color” in the ’90s never took home a trophy, and despite compelling appearances on the small screen throughout the years, her acting hasn’t yet been recognized either. In addition to being riotously funny on the U.K. action-comedy series “Bounty Hunters,” Perez dazzled, in her inimitable way, throughout a memorable and heartbreaking episode of “High Maintenance” Season 3.

Robin Wright
Emmy nominations: 7
Eligible for: “House of Cards” (Netflix)

The final season of “House of Cards,” which was preceded by offscreen drama almost as intense as that onscreen, aired in November with Wright as the series’ undisputed lead and driving force. There are moments of her performance as Claire Underwood that seem more evocative of a force of nature than a mere mortal; the 2019 Emmys mark the final opportunity to crown (elect?) this unstoppable character and the star who brought her to life.