“Orange is the New Black” boasts the biggest cast on television — yes, even bigger than “Game of Thrones” — which got me thinking, which members of the ensemble have been submitted for Emmy consideration? It turns out Netflix entered 15 “Orange is the New Black” cast members from the eligible fourth season, down from 17 last year. Once again, Taylor Schilling has been submitted as the only lead star of “Orange” for playing fish-out-of-water prisoner Piper Chapman. Schilling earned an Emmy nomination in 2014 as Best Comedy Actress before the show shifted over to the drama races in 2015.
So far, the only performer to prevail for “Orange is the New Black” has been Uzo Aduba — and she did so twice. Aduba won Best Comedy Guest Actress in 2014 as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren and then took home the Best Drama Supporting Actress trophy in 2015. While she was snubbed last year, Aduba is back on the ballot again this year where she has a strong chance of returning since reigning champ Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”) and “Game of Thrones” stars Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Maisie Williams are all ineligible.
Joining Aduba in the race for Best Drama Supporting Actress are Danielle Brooks as Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson, Blair Brown as Judy King, Kimiko Glenn as Brook Soso, Natasha Lyonne as Nicky Nichols, Taryn Manning as Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett, Adrienne C. Moore as “Black Cindy” Haynes, Kate Mulgrew as Galina “Red” Reznikov, Jessica Pimentel as Maria Ruiz, Laura Prepon as Alex Vause and Samira Wiley as Poussey Washington. Of this group, only Mulgrew and Lyonne were nominated for “Orange,” back in 2014.
In the Best Drama Supporting Actor category, two men are represented: Michael J. Harney as Officer Sam Healy and Nick Sandow as Joe Caputo. They’ve both been with “Orange” since the very beginning and so Emmy nominations would be a long time coming.
And the show is putting forth one guest star from Season 4: Laverne Cox as Sophia Burset for Best Drama Guest Actress. The former 2014 nominee has chosen the episode “Doctor Psycho” as her official submission, which the Emmy ballot describes as the following: After Caputo ignores Sophia’s requests to review the decision of her being in SHU, she stages several protests for her release — from stuffing her clothing down the toilet to clog it up to lighting her cell on fire.
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