‘Shogun’ Star Anna Sawai Becomes First Actor of Asian Descent to Win Drama Actress Emmy

Lexy Perez
·3 min read
12

Anna Sawai made history after winning the Emmy for best drama actress for Shogun during Sunday night’s 2024 Emmys.

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.

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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).

When taking the stage, a visibly emotional Sawai quipped, “I was crying before my name was announced. I’m a mess today.”

She began her speech by thanking the Academy for nominating her alongside people she “grew up watching and love.” She went on to thank the FX team for “believing in our story” as well as co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo for giving her “the role of a lifetime” as Lady Mariko.

“Thank you to every single one of the crew and the cast led by Hiro [Sanada]. He really has opened doors and continue to opens doors for people like me,” he said. Sanada previously won the Emmy for 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 performer to win the best drama actor Emmy.

“This is to all the women who expect nothing and continue to be an example to everyone,” she ended her speech.

The actress, who portrays Lady Mariko in the FX series, previously won the TCA Award for best individual achievement in a drama over all other male and female performers.

Ahead of the show, Shogun led the Emmy nominees with 25 noms, including best drama series, setting several records in the process. No other show of any category scored more nominations.

Besides Sawai getting a nomination for best drama series actress, Shogun also earned supporting dramatic actor nominations for Tadanobu Asano, who plays 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 bring to fruition, marked a major moment for Asian representation and non-English-language television. Following Netflix’s 2022 Korean hit Squid Game, Shogun was just the second majority non-English-language series to be nominated in the outstanding drama series category — The series won in the category. All of the series’ honored Japanese castmembers were first-time nominees on an individual basis, and most were also the very first Japanese nominees in their respective categories in Emmys history.

Shogun co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo revealed in May that two more seasons are in the works.

The 2024 Emmys aired live from L.A.’s Peacock Theater on ABC. Eugene and Dan Levy hosted.

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