Jean Smart wins Emmy for lead actress in a comedy for ‘Hacks’ final season, tying record

14 Sep 2026, 17:52 by Anthony Solorzano · The Seattle Times

LOS ANGELES — What’s more iconic than selling out Madison Square Garden? Winning an Emmy for every season of a show.

Jean Smart won the Emmy for lead actress in a comedy on Monday for the fifth and final season of “Hacks.” She has won the award for every season of the show, living up to the legendary status of her character. She now has eight Emmys overall, tying Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most acting Emmys (Louis-Dreyfus won lead actress for six of the seven seasons of “Veep”).

The actor was up against Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”), Elle Fanning (“Margo’s Got Money Troubles”) and Lisa Kudrow (“The Comeback”) in the category.

Smart played Deborah Vance, a stand-up comedian whose tumultuous relationship with her young comedy writer, Ava Daniels, played by Hannah Einbinder, was at the center of HBO Max’s comedy, which ended in May. The show’s final season focused on Deborah rebuilding her career after quitting her late-night talk show and running into roadblocks as she attempts to make her dream of headlining a comedy show at Madison Square Garden a reality (it ended up being held in Central Park).

Smart told the Los Angeles Times in 2021 that playing Deborah gave her the opportunity to perform a character that felt new to her. After reading the script, she thought it had everything needed to be great. “If I could pick out a dozen of my favorite parts I’ve ever done, on stage or in front of the camera, and put them in the body of one person, I feel like (Deborah) is an amalgam of a lot of my favorite things.”

Smart previously won Emmys for guest actress playing Lana Garner on “Frasier” in 2000 and 2001, and in 2008, she won for supporting actress for playing Regina Newly on the ABC sitcom “Samantha Who?”