Jamie Lee Curtis On First Emmy For ‘The Bear’: “Luckiest Girl In The World”

Natalie Oganesyan and Lynette Rice
·3 min read

Jamie Lee Curtis has clinched her first Emmy win, in the Guest Actress in a Comedy Series category, for her work in FX’s The Bear Season 2’s acclaimed episode, “Fishes” — and she feels like the “luckiest girl in the world.”

Her success at the awards show comes after her first Academy Award win this year, for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the buzzy Everything Everywhere All At Once.

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“I’ve been an actor since I was 19,” she told Deadline at night two of the Creative Arts Emmys. “I’m 65. I sold yogurt that makes you sh– for seven years. I just never thought in my life that I would get to do work at this level of depth and complexity. It’s just been the thrill of my creative life these last couple of years.”

When asked if she will go for the EGOT (she’ll need Grammy and Tony wins next), the veteran actress said, “I can’t sing at all, and I’ve never been on stage. Actually, I’ve never done a play and so I can’t imagine. I don’t stay up that late.”

However, she conceded: “But you know what? I never thought any of this was going to be possible in my life at all. So the fact that this has happened, I’m something of a late bloomer. I’m totally a big late bloomer. I’ve learned a lot late in my life, and I’m also very patient.”

Speaking more broadly of her late success and the nature of the industry, particularly as it treats older women, she said: “I think we’re all underestimated. And as actors, you just hustle for a job — any job. Look at my career. I’ve done a lot of weird stuff because I just love the process. This is an industry full of rejection. You are rejected every day — every day — when you’re an actor.”

She added of The Bear, “You know, there is a saying: Hurt people hurt people. I also think you can add to that: Helped people help people.”

In the blood-pumping, chaotic and tense episode — a flashback installment that traces Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) dysfunctional family at a holiday dinner — Curtis portrays the neurotic and alcohol-addled Berzatto matriarch. Toggling between outbursts of yelling and fits of crying, she paints a difficult, painful image of a relative in need, over the course of an episode that doubles the usual runtime, with 66 minutes. As a guest actress, she is also joined by Jon Bernthal (who won the male version of the category), John Mulaney, Bob Odenkirk and Sarah Paulson.

“This is really the story of The Bear,” she continued, “and to be the source of someone’s pain is very difficult and yet to watch this group of people come together — both the kitchen family and the family family — work it out is astonishing.”

A strong Emmys contender and favorite, The Bear has also seen wins tonight in the following categories: Picture Editing for a Single-Camera Comedy Series and Casting for a Comedy Series. (You can keep up-to-date on the winners here.)

Curtis’ win marks her first at the awards ceremony. She was previously nominated in 1998, for the Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, for her turn in Nicolas’ Gift.

An edited presentation of the Creative Arts Emmys will air Saturday, Sept. 14 at 8 P.M. on FXX. With tonight’s second night, held in downtown Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, 48 more Emmys will be handed out in categories that vary from guest actress in a drama to picture editing for an anthology. Meanwhile, an additional 25 awards will be handed out at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15. ABC will air that show live coast-to-coast starting at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET, also from the Peacock Theater.

Lynette Rice contributed to this report.

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