Who will win the Emmy for Best Comedy Actress? Gold Derby editors Marcus James Dixon, Rob Licuria, Charles Bright and Ralph Galvan think that Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the frontrunner to win her fourth consecutive Emmy for “Veep,” but admit that cases could be made for all six leading ladies to come away with Emmy gold, especially Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation”) who’s never won before. Watch our new video slugfest at the bottom of this post.
Click here to see the updated list of all 2015 Emmy episode submissions
Louis-Dreyfus has won three years in a row at the Emmys as Best Comedy Actress for “Veep.” To make it four straight times, she will have to defeat two of last year’s competitors: Edie Falco (“Nurse Jackie”) and Poehler. Past winners in other categories are Lisa Kudrow (“The Comeback”) and Lily Tomlin (“Grace and Frankie”). First-timer Amy Schumer (“Inside Amy Schumer”) joins the group.
Louis-Dreyfus has been the champ for this category the past three straight years. She has also had Emmy victories as a supporting actress for “Seinfeld” and as a lead on “The New Adventures of Old Christine” among her 20 total nominations. In other seasons of the HBO comedy, she has been the U.S. Vice-President, but this fourth season of “Veep” moved Selina Meyer into the White House as the U.S. President. She is submitting the season finale (“Election Night”), in which Selina and her staff find their nerves growing frayed as each state result is called on the night of the election.
Gold Derby odds to win: 2/3
Poehler has four Emmy nominations this year, including two for producing and acting on “Parks and Recreation” plus two for hosting and writing the 2015 Golden Globe Awards. That brings her career total to 17 bids without a victory so far. She has played small-town government employee Leslie Knope throughout the seven seasons of the NBC comedy. Her one-hour series finale (“One Last Ride”) was the 12th episode of the season as the team gathers one final time before they go their separate ways with a look 10 years into the future for each team member.
Gold Derby odds to win: 11/2
Schumer had a writing nomination last year for her variety sketch show and now adds four more this season. She is nominated in this lead category plus for directing, writing and producing “Inside Amy Schumer” for Comedy Central. Her acting episode is the second show of the third season (“Cool With It”) in which Amy goes to a strip club, stars in a boy band’s music video and fights crime as a plainclothes police detective.
Gold Derby odds to win: 13/2
Kudrow is nominated again in this category after a previous bid for “The Comeback” in 2006. This is her 10th career Emmy nomination with a prior victory in 1998 for “Friends.” The long-delayed second season on HBO has her in the role of veteran sitcom actress Valerie Cherish. For this fifth episode (“Valerie Is Taken Seriously”), Valerie’s set up for an exclusive interview by the network’s publicity department. Later, Valerie visits Paulie G’s old writing partner when she’s concerned about her current boss.
Gold Derby odds to win: 14/1
This year marks the 22nd career Emmy nomination for Tomlin with five writing victories and one for narration. On the first-year Netflix comedy “Grace and Frankie,” she plays Frankie Bergstein, a hippie art teacher whose husband announces he is in love with his best friend. She is submitting the season finale (“The Vows”) in which Frankie is forced to help her husband Sol clean out their old house and winds up sleeping with him. Grace then comforts Frankie, who finally recognizes that the marriage is over.
Gold Derby odds to win: 25/1
For Falco, this year’s nomination is her sixth for the Showtime comedy. Along with the six that she reaped for “The Sopranos,” she is now tied with Angela Lansbury for the most by an actress in a leading role on a series. She has won a total of four Emmys, including one for the first season of “Nurse Jackie.” On the program, she has played drug-addicted nurse Jackie Peyton for seven seasons. The finale (“I Say a Little Prayer”) was the 12th episode with a storyline where Jackie and Kevin are greeted by a surprise visitor during Grace’s confirmation rehearsal. On the last day before All Saints closes its doors Jackie is offered a job at Bellevue Hospital, and wants Zoey to come with her.
Gold Derby odds to win: 100/1
See Dixon’s Emmy predictions here, Licuria’s here, Bright’s here and Galvan’s here. Compare their Emmy predix to the overall combined Gold Derby odds and rankings here.
Experts Emmy predictions: All 32 categories
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