Kerry Washington Earns 4 Emmy Nominations, Pays Tribute to Late Friend

Kerry Washington is now a four-time Emmy nominee.

Yesterday, the actress was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for Little Fires Everywhere. With her production company, Simpson Street, she also earned nods for Outstanding Limited Series or Movie for Little Fires Everywhere, Outstanding Television Movie for American Son, and Outstanding Variety Special for Live in Front of a Studio Audience.

“To be recognized in this way this morning is such an honor — but to be able to share it with my partner Pilar Savone and our Simpson Street family makes it even more meaningful,” she said in a statement shared by EW.

She continued, “The experiences we’ve been able to have this year were beyond our wildest dreams: working with the legendary Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel to bring iconic shows from the ’70s to new audiences with Live in Front of a Studio Audience, to adapting American Son, a Broadway play about Black lives and police violence to Netflix, to bringing Celeste Ng’s beautiful novel Little Fires Everywhere to life with my incredible friends Reese Witherspoon, Lauren Neustadter and Liz Tigelaar.

She joins the record number of black artists — a total of 33– who got recognised for their exceptional delivery.

Washington also mourned her dear friend and Little Fires Everywhere director, Lynn Shelton, who earned a posthumous nod for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special for the series finale of Little Fires Everywhere, titled “Find a Way.”

Shelton died on May 16 after being hospitalized as a result of a previously unidentified blood disorder. She was 54.

Paying her tribute, Washington said, “The tears came this morning when I heard about Lynn Shelton’s nomination for Little Fires Everywhere. I’m so incredibly grateful that the Television Academy has chosen to honor Lynn with this very deserved nomination. I know she’s celebrating in the beyond.”