Zendaya Was ‘Too Nervous’ to Deal With Her Emmy Nomination — What Record Will She Break If She Wins?
September 2020 is a notable month for actor Zendaya. Not only does she celebrate a birthday at the top of it, but she could end it as an Emmy winner. Here’s what Zendaya said about the day she was nominated, and how she could make history if she took home the award.
Zendaya is nominated for her first Emmy for ‘Euphoria’
On July 28, 2020, the Television Academy announced the nominees for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Among them is Zendaya, who is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series alongside Jennifer Aniston, Olivia Colman, Jodie Comer, Laura Linney, and Sandra Oh.
Zendaya is nominated for her role in the first season of the HBO teen drama Euphoria. She portrays Rue Bennett, a teenager who returns to high school after going to rehab for drug addiction. The series received critical acclaim, and a second season is in the works.
She thanked fans and collaborators on social media
“I’m honestly speechless, my heart is just overflowing with love and gratitude,” Zendaya wrote on Instagram hours after the nominations were announced. “I’m so incredibly honored to work beside the talented people that I get to call family. I am a small piece of a big beautiful puzzle and I’m so proud of all of you.”
Zendaya thanked Euphoria creator Sam Levinson, distributor HBO, production company A24, and the Television Academy “for this beautiful acknowledgment.” She also mentioned the fans, writing, “Thank you to everyone out there who’s watched and given our show life.” She finished, “We out here Emmy nominated y’all!!”
Zendaya took a few hours to sleep after getting the news
So why did it take her a while to post on social media? Speaking to guest host Ben Platt on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Zendaya explained Levinson called to tell her about her nomination early in the morning, a time he knows not to call her, so she thought “something bad must have happened,”
When he told her the good news, Levinson was crying, as was her mom when Zendaya talked to her. “I was kind of overcome with all this emotion,” she said. She continued, “I was too nervous and excited to take it all in…I was like I’m just going to shut down and sleep for a little bit and then hopefully this will still be a real thing when I wake up.”
She is poised to break this Emmy record if she wins
Several young actors have received Emmy nominations in the past, but, relatively speaking, they are few and far between. In recent years, teenage actors such as Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) earned nods, and in 2019, When They See Us star Asante Blackk (then 17), was nominated.
Zendaya, who turned 24 on September 1, 2020, could become the youngest person to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. This would break the record set the year before by Comer, who first won for her role in Killing Eve when she was 26.
