Shogun star Anna Sawai becomes the first Asian actress to win an Emmy for a drama series
Anna Sawai made history when she won the Emmy for Best Drama Actress for Shogun during the 2024 Emmys on Sunday night.
Sawai was nominated alongside Jennifer Aniston (The morning show), Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), Maya Erskine (Mr and Mrs Smith), Imelda Staunton (The Crown) and Reese Witherspoon (The morning show).
With her first Emmy win, Sawai became the first actress of Asian descent to win in the Lead Actress in a Drama Series category at the Emmys.
A visibly moved Sawai joked: “I cried before my name was announced. I feel really bad today.”
She began her speech by thanking the Academy for nominating her along with people “whom she watched and loved as a child.”
She thanked the FX team for “believing in our story” and co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo for giving her “the role of a lifetime” as Lady Mariko.
“Thank you to each and every one of the crew and cast led by Hiro (Sanada). He really opened doors and continues to open doors for people like me,” he said. Sanada previously won the Emmy for best drama actor for his Shogun role and became the second actor of Asian descent (after Squid Game‘s Lee Jung-jae) and the first Japanese actor to win the Emmy for Best Drama Actor.
“This is for all women who expect nothing and continue to be role models for everyone,” she concluded her speech.
The actress, who plays Lady Mariko in the FX series, had previously won the TCA Award for Best Single Performance in a Drama, beating out all other male and female actors.
Before the show Shogun led the Emmy nominations with 25 nominations, including Best Drama Series, setting several records. No other show in any category received more nominations.
In addition to Sawai’s nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series, Shogun There were also nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Tadanobu Asano, who plays the samurai Kashigi Yabushige, and Takehiro Hira for his role as Ishido Kazunari. Néstor Carbonelle was also nominated for Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Rodrigues.
The series, which took nearly 10 years to make, marked an important moment for Asian representation and non-English language television. Following Netflix’s 2022 Korean hit Squid Game, Shogun is only the second predominantly non-English language series to be nominated in the Outstanding Drama Series category. All of the series’ honored Japanese cast members are nominees for the first time, and most are also the first-ever Japanese nominees in their respective categories in Emmy history.
Shogun Co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo announced in May that two more seasons are in the works.
The 2024 Emmys were broadcast live from the Peacock Theater in LA on ABC. Hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy.
