Maya Rudolph made history by becoming the first person in 20 years to win consecutive Emmys in the same category, the New York Post reports.
At the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday, Rudolph won her second consecutive Emmy award this year for her voice role in Big Mouth and another second consecutive Emmy for guesting on Saturday Night Live. Also, she became the third Black woman ever to win back-to-back Emmys.
Last year, Rudolph won in the same category for her spot-on portrayal of Vice-President Kamala Harris. This year, she won for hosting the show that made her a household name. During that episode, she played Beyoncé eating spicy wings, a parody of Complex's Hot Ones show.
After taking the top prize, Rudolph expressed her excitement backstage.
“Wow that’s amazing,” she told reporters, according to Deadline. “I feel honored to be part of something like that. I feel like this Emmy is very fitting in that it’s for something that feels like such a personal achievement. It’s for hosting my childhood love and dream and at a place in my life, I finally realized it’s what I do best, and what makes me happiest when I perform. I feel really honored that I’m part of a legacy as the third woman of color to achieve that.”
Rudolph said after impersonating Harris, she got the chance to meet the VP via Zoom.
“We did meet during a fundraiser before the election over Zoom,” she recalled. “She was quite aware that I was playing her and was so lovely and cool, and it was so exciting to talk to her and to meet her, and to get a chance to be a part of her orbit. But she’s so cool; she was great about it, and I think that’s always the mark of someone who knows that they’re impenetrable and they’re doing something great in the world because she knows I’m doing it with love and she’s so fantastic that someone is impersonating her.”
Rudolph also acknowledged the significance of her win and was honored to be recognized by her peers.
“It holds such a special place in my heart, and it’s the first place where I really found my people in work and created a work family,” she shared. “And I feel really proud that [the award is] for something that I love so much. It’s just wild to love something and then be recognized for it. That’s even better than you imagine because I think that when you love something so much, that is the reward. So, it’s nice when people recognize something that you’re already happy about.”
With her win, Rudolph joins the company of Regina King, who won back-to-back Emmys for her supporting role in American Crime in 2015 and 2016, and Uzo Aduba, won consecutively for Orange is the New Black.
