The television academy handed out a slew of Daytime Emmy Awards at the Creative Arts ceremony held on Friday night, April 28 (see the complete list of winners here). But while many of those categories usually fly under the radar, sometimes the winners of those awards come from Hollywood’s A-list. This year that included victories for stars including Blair Underwood, Ethan Hawke, Guillermo Del Toro, Kelsey Grammer and Laurence Fishburne.
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Underwood won Best Children’s Series as an executive producer of NBC’s “Give,” in which a celebrity panel examines charities and then decides which to give to and how much. This is the first Emmy for Underwood, and it was his first nomination despite an extensive TV resume that includes “L.A. Law,” “Sex and the City,” “In Treatment,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and most recently “Quantico.”
Hawke’s award was Best Interactive Original Daytime Content for “Invasion!” It’s a virtual reality animated short about aliens hellbent on taking over the world when they encounter adorable rabbits — one of which is played by the viewer. It was written and directed by Eric Darnell (“Madagascar”) and featured Hawke as the voice of Cosmos. As with Underwood, this was Hawke’s first Emmy nomination and win.
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Del Toro won Best Directing for an Animated Program for “Trollhunters,” along with Rodrigo Blaas. Del Toro also created the series, which streams on Netflix and tells the story of a teenage boy who discovers a mystical amulet and becomes the chosen warrior of a secret underground society of trolls. The acclaimed filmmaker behind “Hellboy,” “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Pacific Rim” ventured into TV before with the horror series “The Strain,” but this is his first recognition from the TV academy.
Grammer is well acquainted with the Emmys. He won Best Comedy Actor four times at the Primetime Emmys for “Frasier” (1994, 1995, 1998, 2004), and he was also awarded Best Voice-Over Performance for playing Sideshow Bob in “The Simpsons” (2006). At these awards he claimed Best Performer in an Animated Program for “Trollhunters,” in which he voices Blinky, a troll mentor to the teenage protagonist. That gives Grammer six performance Emmys in total.
Fishburne is also a past Emmy winner. At this event he was awarded Best Pre-School Animated Program as an executive producer of Amazon’s “The Snowy Day,” a one-hour film based on a 1962 children’s book about a boy who goes on a walk to bring home Christmas Eve dinner after the first snowfall of the season in his neighborhood. Before this Fishburne won a pair of Primetime Emmys: Best Drama Guest Actor for “Tribeca” (1993) and Best TV Movie as a producer of “Miss Evers’ Boys.”
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