TV Emmys dedicate time to honoring various actors and series By Reuters

By Danielle Broadway and Christina Anagnostopoulos

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – At the Emmy Awards on Sunday, Hollywood celebrated a diverse lineup of nominees and winners for television’s biggest honors and celebrated the success of Latino, LGBTQ+ and Japanese talent and stories.

Disney’s “Shogun” took the first prize for best drama series after the record number of Emmys for a single season of a television series.

Japanese actors Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada won best actress and actor for “Shogun,” while Frederick EO Toye won best director for a drama series for his work on the series.

The series also won 14 trophies at the Creative Arts Emmys, a precursor event that recognizes guest actors and crafts like cinematography and production design.

The series attracted attention for featuring a majority Japanese cast, with Japanese being the main language spoken in the series. After winning Best Drama, Sanada gave words of thanks in Japanese.

A standout among the Latin American winners was “The Bear” actor Liza Colon-Zayas, who plays a chef named Tina Marrero.

Colon-Zayas beat out industry giants Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett for Best Supporting Actress.

“And to all the Latinas looking up to me. Keep believing and voting. Vote for your rights,” Colon-Zayas said during her acceptance speech.

Echoing him, actor and comedian John Leguizamo described the Hollywood opportunity gaps he faced throughout his Hollywood career.

Leguizamo called himself a “DEI hire,” saying D is for diligence, E for excellence, I for imagination.

DEI usually stands for “diversity, equity and inclusion,” the kinds of initiatives that help increase representation for historically overlooked communities. Vice President Kamala Harris has received allegations of right to be employed by the DEI since her presidential nomination.

“Everybody played us except us. I didn’t see many people on TV who looked like me,” Leguizamo said of his childhood.

“We need more stories from excluded groups, Black, Asian, Jewish, Arab, LGBTQ+ and disabled. And this show tonight is proof that our industry is making progress,” he added.

Mexican actor Diego Luna, an anchor, also spoke in Spanish and reminded the audience that 50 million people speak that language in the United States.

The awards ceremony’s focus on inclusion and diversity was also a key consideration for Governors Award winner Greg Berlanti.

The Governors Award recognizes an individual, company or organization that has made a “profound, transformative and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television.”

“TV history was made on ‘Dawson’s Creek’ because Greg was the first scripted producer to show a prime-time gay kiss between two teenagers, and that was in 2000, I remember being so proud” , said actor and presenter Joshua Jackson.

Berlanti is a prolific showrunner with over 45 shows and a record 20 scripted series on television concurrently.

He described himself as a “closeted gay kid” and gave a heartfelt speech about how grateful he is to his late mother, along with a special thank you to his husband, Robbie Rogers (NYSE: ).

“Back then, the only way to tell if another kid might be gay was if they also watched Dynasty and Dallas, and they could name all four Golden Girls.”

He received a standing ovation.

Similarly, actor Jodie Foster thanked his wife Alexandra Hedison at the end of his acceptance speech for winning best actress in a limited series for her role in “True Detective: Night Country.”

The Emmy Awards also gave a special nod to actor Nava Mau.

Following in the footsteps of black actor Laverne Cox, who was the first openly transgender person to be nominated for an acting Emmy, was Mexican actor “Baby Reindeer” Mau.

Mau was the first transgender woman to be nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work on the Netflix (NASDAQ:) show.