Jean Smart is chasing Emmy history with Hacks.
If the seven-time Emmy champ wins again for the HBO Max comedy’s fifth and final season, she will tie Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman with eight acting Emmys — the most ever.
Smart is currently ranked No. 1 in Gold Derby’s odds to win Best Comedy Actress, putting her in prime position to reach that milestone. What once looked like a late-career resurgence has become one of the most dominant runs the category has ever seen.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus reached eight acting Emmys over a four-decade career defined by three milestone comedies: Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Veep. She also earned three additional Emmys as a producer on Veep, bringing her overall total to 11 and solidifying her legacy as one of television’s most-decorated performers.
Cloris Leachman, whose career spanned decades across comedy, drama, and variety programs, long stood as the benchmark for performance wins, with memorable work that included Emmy-winning turns in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Promised Land, and Malcolm in the Middle.
Now, Smart seems poised to join them.
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A victory this year would mark Smart’s fifth Emmy for playing Deborah Vance on Hacks, placing her in rare company. In the history of Best Comedy Actress, only Louis-Dreyfus has won more times for a single role, with six trophies for Veep, while Candice Bergen also reached five wins for Murphy Brown.
Smart currently has four wins in Best Comedy Actress, tied with Helen Hunt for Mad About You. A fifth would move her into a tie for second place all-time with Candice Bergen and Mary Tyler Moore — both five-time winners in the category — leaving only Louis-Dreyfus ahead with a record seven.
In addition to her lead actress trophies for Hacks, Smart has also won Comedy Supporting Actress for Samantha Who? (2008) and twice as a guest actress for Frasier (2000–01), making her one of the few performers to claim Emmys in lead, supporting, and guest categories.
All signs point to that total growing. According to Gold Derby’s current predictions, Smart remains the overwhelming favorite to take the prize again, comfortably ahead of contenders including Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback), Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Elle Fanning (Margo’s Got Money Troubles), and Ayo Edebiri (The Bear).
Her dominance in comedy is hard to ignore. Smart is undefeated in every comedy Emmy category she has been nominated in, winning for Frasier, Samantha Who?, and Hacks. By contrast, all of her losses have come in dramas, with nominations for The District, 24, Harry’s Law, Fargo, Watchmen, and Mare of Easttown.
If the odds hold, Smart will not only close out Hacks on top, but also etch her name alongside Louis-Dreyfus and Leachman at the very peak of Emmy history.
