One of the most celebrated acting Emmy nominations in recent years was that of “Better Call Saul” cast member Rhea Seehorn in 2022. Her first of two Best Drama Supporting Actress bids for the series was especially well-received because she earned it after her portrayal of Kim Wexler had been ignored by the TV academy five times. Scroll through our photo gallery below to learn more about this and the other 25 instances of specific TV character performances that finally merited Emmy bids after six or more years.
Including Seehorn, 11 actors were first nominated for their respective shows’ sixth seasons, and the other 15 were forced to wait up to 12 years for their initial mentions. Among those who came close to this distinction by first being recognized five seasons into their performances are Tom Bosley (“Happy Days”), Mike Farrell (“M*A*S*H”), Mariska Hargitay (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”), and Suzanne Pleshette (“The Bob Newhart Show”).
This list only includes performers who were classified as comedy or drama series regulars for six full seasons each before first being nominated for said shows. For example, this rules out Marla Gibbs, who appeared in every season of “The Jeffersons” and received her first supporting bid for its seventh, but had been deemed a guest star until season four. Also excluded are variety show nominees who meet the season number requirement but mainly played non-continuing characters, such as Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”) and Harvey Korman (“The Carol Burnett Show”).
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Milburn Stone (‘Gunsmoke,’ 1968) – Season 13
Image Credit: CBS Category: Drama Supporting Actor (WON)
Role: Galen “Doc” Adams
When “Gunsmoke” ended in 1975, Stone and series lead James Arness simultaneously made history as the first actors to play the same TV characters for 20 continuous years. This was Stone’s only Emmy bid. Arness was nominated for the show’s second, third, and fourth seasons but never won.
Other nominees:
Joseph Campanella (“Mannix”)
Lawrence Dobkin (“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”)
Leonard Nimoy (“Star Trek”) -
Sherman Hemsley (‘The Jeffersons,’ 1984) – Season 10
Image Credit: CBS Category: Comedy Actor
Role: George Jefferson
Hemsley originated this character on 13 episodes of “All in the Family” before The Jeffersons transitioned to their own spinoff. His TV wife, Isabel Sanford, received her first of seven nominations after year five and triumphed in 1981, but he went unnoticed until the penultimate season.
Other nominees:
Dabney Coleman (“Buffalo Bill”)
Ted Danson (“Cheers”)
Robert Guillaume (“Benson”)
John Ritter (“Three’s Company”) – WINNER -
Pat Harrington Jr. (‘One Day at a Time,’ 1984) – Season 9
Image Credit: CBS Category: Comedy Supporting Actor (WON)
Role: Dwayne Schneider
This CBS series (the remake of which aired from 2017 to 2020), received just three Emmy nominations during its nine-season run. Its first of two wins came in the comedy directing category in 1982.
Other nominees:
Rene Auberjonois (“Benson”)
Nicholas Colasanto (“Cheers”)
Tom Poston (“Newhart”)
George Wendt (“Cheers”) -
Alfie Allen (‘Game of Thrones,’ 2019) – Season 8
Image Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO Category: Drama Supporting Actor
Role: Theon Greyjoy
“Game of Thrones” received a record-breaking 32 nominations for its final season, including 10 for acting. The four male performers in that group had all been on the show from the start, but Allen was the only one who had never been recognized by Emmy voters before.
Other nominees:
Jonathan Banks (“Better Call Saul”)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Game of Thrones”)
Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) – WINNER
Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”)
Michael Kelly (“House of Cards”)
Chris Sullivan (“This Is Us”) -
Ron Glass (‘Barney Miller,’ 1982) – Season 8
Image Credit: Marissa Roth/WWD Category: Comedy Supporting Actor
Role: Ron Harris
Glass was the seventh and final “Barney Miller” cast member to receive an Emmy notice for the show. None of the all-male group’s collective 18 bids resulted in wins, making the sitcom the record holder for most unsuccessful acting Emmy nominations.
Other nominees:
Danny DeVito (“Taxi”)
Steve Landesberg (“Barney Miller”)
Christopher Lloyd (“Taxi”) – WINNER
Harry Morgan (“M*A*S*H”)
David Ogden Stiers (“M*A*S*H”) -
Steven Hill (‘Law & Order,’ 1998) – Season 8
Image Credit: NBC Category: Drama Supporting Actor
Role: Adam Schiff
Hill was the third regular “Law & Order” cast member to receive a nomination, after Michael Moriarty and Sam Waterston. During its original 20-season run, the legal drama picked up just one acting win for Elaine Stritch’s 1993 guest performance.
Other nominees:
Gordon Clapp (“NYPD Blue”) – WINNER
Hector Elizondo (“Chicago Hope”)
Eriq La Salle (“ER”)
Noah Wyle (“ER”) -
Kevin James (‘The King of Queens,’ 2006) – Season 8
Image Credit: CBS Category: Comedy Actor
Role: Doug Heffernan
James’s bid for this CBS sitcom’s penultimate season represented its one and only Emmy nomination. Earlier in the series’ run, he had appeared as Heffernan in crossover episodes of “Becker,” “Cosby,” and “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
Other nominees:
Steve Carell (“The Office”)
Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”)
Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”) – WINNER
Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”) -
Matt LeBlanc (‘Friends,’ 2002) – Season 8
Image Credit: NBC Category: Comedy Actor
Role: Joey Tribbiani
LeBlanc earned this notice two years before starting his tenure as the star of the “Friends” spinoff, “Joey.” Aside from competing here twice more for “Friends,” he also received four lead nominations for playing a fictionalized version of himself on Showtime’s “Episodes.”
Other nominees:
Kelsey Grammer (“Frasier”)
Bernie Mac (“The Bernie Mac Show”)
Matthew Perry (“Friends”)
Ray Romano (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) – WINNER -
Jerry Orbach (‘Law & Order,’ 2000) – Season 8
Image Credit: NBC Category: Drama Actor
Role: Lennie Briscoe
This was Orbach’s third Emmy nomination and only one for this role. He had previously contended as a guest on the sitcom “The Golden Girls” (1990) and as a supporting player in the telefilm “Broadway Bound” (1992).
Other nominees:
Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”)
James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”) – WINNER
Martin Sheen (“The West Wing”)
Sam Waterston (“Law & Order”) -
Matthew Perry (‘Friends,’ 2002) – Season 8
Image Credit: NBC Category: Comedy Actor
Role: Chandler Bing
Perry and LeBlanc were the last “Friends” regulars to receive Emmy nominations, leaving Perry’s TV wife, Courtney Cox, as the only one who never captured the academy’s attention. She was, however, finally recognized (along with her five former costars) as an executive producer of the 2021 variety special “Friends: The Reunion.”
Other nominees:
Kelsey Grammer (“Frasier”)
Matt LeBlanc (“Friends”)
Bernie Mac (“The Bernie Mac Show”)
Ray Romano (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) – WINNER -
Sophie Turner (‘Game of Thrones,’ 2019) – Season 8
Image Credit: HBO Category: Drama Supporting Actress
Role: Sansa Stark
Turner began playing the eventual Lady of Winterfell when she was 14 years old and continued in the role until age 22. Of the four female cast members who were considered regulars throughout the series’ run, she was the last to earn Emmy recognition.
Other nominees:
Gwendoline Christie (“Game of Thrones”)
Julia Garner (“Ozark”) – WINNER
Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”)
Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”)
Maisie Williams (“Game of Thrones”) -
Frances Bavier (‘The Andy Griffith Show,’ 1967) – Season 7
Image Credit: CBS Category: Comedy Supporting Actress (WON)
Role: Aunt Bee Taylor
Bavier played this character for 11 straight seasons, first on this show and then for three years on the continuation series “Mayberry R.F.D.” She also appeared as Aunt Bee on two episodes of the spinoff “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”
Other nominees:
Nancy Kulp (“The Beverly Hillbillies”)
Marion Lorne (“Bewitched”) -
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (‘Game of Thrones,’ 2018) – Season 7
Image Credit: HBO Category: Drama Supporting Actor
Role: Jamie Lannister
Coster-Waldau was nominated here for both of this series’ final seasons and lost on both occasions to his TV brother, Peter Dinklage (who also triumphed in 2011 and 2015).
Other nominees:
Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) – WINNER
Joseph Fiennes (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
David Harbour (“Stranger Things”)
Mandy Patinkin (“Homeland”)
Matt Smith (“The Crown”) -
Bonnie Franklin (‘One Day at a Time,’ 1982) – Season 7
Image Credit: CBS Category: Comedy Actress
Role: Ann Romano
Franklin starred as this divorced mother of two teenage girls for a total of nine seasons. She was 31 years old when the series premiered in 1975, and her TV daughters – Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli – were only 15 and 16 years her junior.
Other nominees:
Nell Carter (“Gimme a Break!”)
Carol Kane (“Taxi”) – WINNER
Swoosie Kurtz (“Love, Sidney”)
Charlotte Rae (“The Facts of Life”)
Isabel Sanford (“The Jeffersons”) -
Christopher Meloni (‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,’ 2006) – Season 7
Image Credit: NBC Category: Drama Actor
Role: Elliot Stabler
The first “Law & Order” spinoff premiered in 1999 and starred Meloni and Mariska Hargitay as partnered detectives. Hargitay was first nominated for Best Drama Actress for season five (and won for season seven), but Meloni had to wait a bit longer to be noticed by Emmy voters. A decade after his 2011 departure from the show, he reprised the role in both a recurring and lead capacity on “SVU” and “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” respectively.
Other nominees:
Peter Krause (“Six Feet Under”)
Denis Leary (“Rescue Me”)
Martin Sheen (“The West Wing”)
Kiefer Sutherland (“24”) – WINNER -
Jennifer Aniston (‘Friends,’ 2000) – Season 6
Image Credit: NBC Category: Comedy Supporting Actress
Role: Rachel Green
Aniston received two supporting and three lead nominations for this role and won Best Comedy Actress in 2002. She and 1998 featured champ Lisa Kudrow were the only “Friends” regulars who bagged trophies for their work on the show.
Other nominees:
Kim Cattrall (“Sex and the City”)
Lisa Kudrow (“Friends”)
Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”) – WINNER
Doris Roberts (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) -
Kristin Davis (‘Sex and the City,’ 2004) – Season 6
Image Credit: HBO Category: Comedy Supporting Actress
Role: Charlotte York Goldenblatt
Davis was the last of the central “Sex and the City” quartet to earn Emmy recognition. She later played Charlotte in two feature films and on the continuation series “And Just Like That.”
Other nominees:
Kim Cattrall (“Sex and the City”)
Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”)
Cynthia Nixon (“Sex and the City”) – WINNER
Doris Roberts (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) -
Matthew Fox (‘Lost,’ 2010) – Season 6
Image Credit: ABC Category: Drama Actor
Role: Jack Shephard
“Lost” amassed 11 acting nominations over the course of half a dozen seasons, including two that resulted in supporting wins for Terry O’Quinn (2007) and Michael Emerson (2009).
Other nominees:
Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”)
Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) – WINNER
Michael C. Hall (“Dexter”)
Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”)
Hugh Laurie (“House”) -
Kit Harington (‘Game of Thrones,’ 2016) – Season 6
Image Credit: HBO Category: Drama Supporting Actor
Role: Jon Snow
Harington picked up two bids for his portrayal of Snow, the second of which came in the drama lead category in 2019.
Other nominees:
Jonathan Banks (“Better Call Saul”)
Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”)
Michael Kelly (“House of Cards”)
Ben Mendelsohn (“Bloodline”) – WINNER
Jon Voight (“Ray Donovan”) -
Dan Levy (‘Schitt’s Creek,’ 2020) – Season 6
Image Credit: Pop TV Category: Comedy Supporting Actor (WON)
Role: David Rose
Levy won a total of four Emmys for “Schitt’s Creek” in 2020, including in the categories of Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Directing, and Best Comedy Writing.
Other nominees:
Mahershala Ali (“Ramy”)
Alan Arkin (“The Kominsky Method”)
Andre Braugher (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”)
Sterling K. Brown (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
William Jackson Harper (“The Good Place”)
Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Kenan Thompson (“Saturday NIght Live”) -
John Mahoney (‘Frasier,’ 1999) – Season 6
Image Credit: NBC Category: Comedy Supporting Actor
Role: Martin Crane
This was Mahoney’s first of two nominations for this role. He lost on this outing to his TV son, David Hyde Pierce, and in 2003 to Brad Garrett (“Everybody Loves Raymond”).
Other nominees:
Peter Boyle (“Everybody Loves Raymond”)
Peter MacNicol (“Ally McBeal”)
David Hyde Pierce (“Frasier”) – WINNER
David Spade (“Just Shoot Me!”) -
Annie Murphy (‘Schitt’s Creek,’ 2020) – Season 6
Image Credit: Pop TV Category: Comedy Supporting Actress (WON)
Role: Alexis Rose
Murphy’s victory helped “Schitt’s Creek” become the first series to conquer all seven major comedy categories (Series, Directing, Writing, Lead Actor and Actress, and Supporting Actor and Actress).
Other nominees:
Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
D’Arcy Carden (“The Good Place”)
Betty Gilpin (“GLOW”)
Marin Hinkle (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”)
Yvonne Orji (“Insecure”)
Cecily Strong (“Saturday Night Live”) -
Marion Ross (‘Happy Days,’ 1979) – Season 6
Image Credit: ABC Category: Comedy Supporting Actress
Role: Marion Cunningham
Ross’s two nominations for playing Mrs. C. came five years apart. The only actresses to experience larger gaps between bids for the same series are Lisa Kudrow (“The Comeback,” nine years), Maya Rudolph (“Saturday Night Live,” eight years), and Aida Turturro (“The Sopranos,” six years).
Other nominees:
Polly Holliday (“Alice”)
Loretta Swit (“M*A*S*H”)
Sally Struthers (“All in the Family”) – WINNER -
Rhea Seehorn (‘Better Call Saul,’ 2022) – Season 6A
Image Credit: AMC Category: Drama Supporting Actress
Role: Kim Wexler
Seehorn received double bids on her first Emmys outing, the second of which came in the Best Short Form Actress category for “Cooper’s Bar.”
Other nominees:
Patricia Arquette (“Severance”)
Julia Garner (“Ozark”) – WINNER
Jung Ho-yeon (“Squid Game”)
Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”)
J. Smith-Cameron (“Succession”)
Sarah Snook (“Succession”)
Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”) -
Ralph Waite (‘The Waltons,’ 1978) – Season 6
Image Credit: CBS Category: Drama Actor
Role: John Walton
Waite’s TV wife (Michael Learned), son (Richard Thomas), and parents (Ellen Corby and Will Geer) were nominated at least twice each before him. Waite’s was one of the series’ last five bids, as it received none for its final three seasons.
Other nominees:
Ed Asner (“Lou Grant”) – WINNER
James Broderick (“Family”)
James Garner (“The Rockford Files”)
Peter Falk (“Columbo”)
Jack Klugman (“Quincy M.E.”) -
Maisie Williams (‘Game of Thrones,’ 2016) – Season 6
Image Credit: HBO Category: Drama Supporting Actress
Role: Arya Stark
Williams played Ned Stark’s middle child from ages 13 to 21. She was the fourth actress to be nominated for this show after Emilia Clarke, Diana Rigg, and Lena Headey.
Other nominees:
Emilia Clarke (“Game of Thrones”)
Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”)
Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”) – WINNER
Maura Tierney (“The Affair”)
Constance Zimmer (“UnREAL”)
