Emmy Winners for Best Supporting Actress - Comedy

1. Alice Pearce

Making a career out of a post-nasal drip, this scene-stealing character comedienne was one of the best Broadway and Hollywood had to offer. It's too bad, then, that she wasn't utilized in films more often for this slight, chinless, parrot-faced, squawky-voiced bundle of (kill)joy could draw laughs ...

Role: Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched (1966)

2. Frances Bavier

Actress | The Andy Griffith Show

Frances Bavier was born in New York City on December 14, 1902. Her first Broadway appearance was in April 1925 in "The Poor Nut," the start of a successful Broadway career. She traveled with the USO to entertain the U.S. troops in the Pacific during World War II. Her last appearance on Broadway was...

Role: Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show (1967)

3. Marion Lorne

Actress | Strangers on a Train

Forever embraced as the mumbling, bumbling Aunt Clara on the Bewitched (1964) television series, endearing character actress Marion Lorne had a five-decade-long career on the stage before ever becoming a familiar TV household name.

Born Marion Lorne MacDougall on August 12, 1883 (other sources list ...

Role: Aunt Clara on Bewitched (1968)

4. Karen Valentine

Actress | Room 222

Karen Valentine was born on a chicken farm in northern California and made her professional debut, at the age of 16, on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show"). After performing as a contestant on a live national broadcast of "The Miss Teenage America Pageant", Ed Sullivan phoned ...

Role: Alice Johnson on Room 222 (1970)

5. Valerie Harper

Actress | Mary Tyler Moore

Making people laugh was only one facet of Valerie Harper's career, which extended from the stage to television and feature films. A native of Suffern, New York -- "I was born to suffer" -- Harper began her career as a dancer with the corps de ballet at Radio City Hall during its spectacular heyday....

Role: Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1971, 1972, 1973)

6. Sally Struthers

Actress | All in the Family

Cute as a button and with a petite, porcelain prettiness and vulnerability that endeared her to the American public, Sally Struthers nabbed a series role in the early 1970s and became a solid part of TV history as a member of a dysfunctional family quartet in the milestone sitcom, All in the Family...

Role: Gloria Stivic on All in the Family (1972, 1979)

7. Cloris Leachman

Actress | The Last Picture Show

The legendary actress set a record when at age 82, she appeared on Dancing with the Stars (2005). Cloris Leachman was born on April 30, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa to Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman and the former Cloris Wallace. Her father's family owned a lumber company, Leachman Lumber Co. She ...

Role: Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1974)

8. Betty White

Actress | The Proposal

Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Christine Tess (Cachikis), a homemaker, and Horace Logan White, a lighting company executive for the Crouse-Hinds Electric Company. She was of Danish, Greek, English, and Welsh descent.

Although she was best known as the devious Sue Ann Nivens on the ...

Role: Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1975, 1976)

9. Mary Kay Place

Actress | Being John Malkovich

Mary Kay Place (born September 23, 1947) is an American actress, singer, director, and screenwriter. She is known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series....

Role: Loretta Haggers on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1977)

10. Julie Kavner

Actress | The Simpsons

Julie Deborah Kavner is an American actress. She first attracted notice for her role as Brenda Morgenstern, the younger sister of Valerie Harper's title character in the sitcom Rhoda (1974), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She is best ...

Role: Brenda Morgenstern on Rhoda (1978)

11. Loretta Swit

Actress | M*A*S*H

Equally versatile at comedy and drama, Loretta Swit was born on November 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey. Her parents, Polish immigrants, were not in favor of her making a stab at a show business career. Performing on stage from age 7, however, nothing and nobody could deter her.

A natural singer ...

Role: Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan on M*A*S*H (1980)

12. Eileen Brennan

Actress | Clue

A supremely gifted, versatile player who could reach dramatic depths, as exemplified in her weary-eyed, good-hearted waitress in The Last Picture Show (1971), or comedy heights, as in her sadistic drill captain in Private Benjamin (1980), Eileen Brennan managed to transition from lovely Broadway ...

Role: Doreen Lewis on Private Banjamin (1981, 1982)

13. Carol Kane

Actress | The Princess Bride

American stage, screen and television actress, and comedian Carol Kane (b. Carolyn Laurie Kane, June 18, 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio), was born to Elaine Joy (née Fetterman), a jazz singer and pianist, and Michael Myron Kane, an architect. Her family is Jewish (from Russia, Poland, and Austria). Due ...

Role: Simka Dahblitz on Taxi (1983)

14. Rhea Perlman

Actress | Cheers

Rhea Perlman was born on March 31, 1948 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Cheers (1982), Barbie (2023) and Matilda (1996). She has been married to Danny DeVito since January 28, 1982. They have three children.

Role: Carla Tortelli on Cheers (1984, 1985, 1986, 1989)

15. Jackée Harry

Actress | 227

Jackée Harry was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and reared from the age of nine in Harlem, New York, by her mother, Flossie. At the tender age of fourteen, Jackée landed the lead role of the King in her school's production of The King and I. Upon graduation from New York City's High School ...

Role: Sandra Clark on 227 (1987)

16. Estelle Getty

Actress | The Golden Girls

She was truly one mother of a mom...on stage, on film and on TV. A favorite firecracker on 80s and 90s television, tiny character player Estelle Getty became best known for her carping, meddlesome moms -- complete with bemused, cynical looks, irreverent digs and dead-pan Henny Youngman-like ...

Role: Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls (1988)

17. Bebe Neuwirth

Actress | Jumanji

Beatrice "Bebe" Neuwirth is the daughter of Sydney Anne, an artist, and Lee Paul Neuwirth, a mathematician. Born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, she started out as a dancer. Her New York career started out in "A Chorus Line". She won a Tony Award for her part in "Sweet Charity" and two Emmy ...

Role: Lilith Crane on Cheers (1990, 1991)

18. Laurie Metcalf

Actress | Lady Bird

Laurie Metcalf was born June 16, 1955 in Carbondale, Illinois, the oldest of three children of Libby (Mars), a librarian, and James Metcalf, a budget director. She was raised in Edwardsville, Illinois. Laurie attended Illinois State University, where she obtained her bachelor of arts in theater in ...

Role: Jackie Harris on Roseanne (1992, 1993, 1994)

19. Christine Baranski

Actress | Mamma Mia!

Christine Baranski is an American actress from Buffalo, New York. She has had a relatively lengthy career in both film and television. She has been nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, winning once. One of her most popular roles was that of neuroscientist Dr. Beverly Hofstadter in the sitcom " The Big ...

Role: Maryann Thorpe on Cybill (1995)

20. Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Actress | Seinfeld

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was born on January 13, 1961, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, to Judith (LeFever), a special needs tutor and author, and Gérard Louis-Dreyfus, a billionaire businessman. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she spent her childhood in Washington, D.C., and New ...

Role: Elaine Benes on Seinfeld (1996)

21. Kristen Johnston

Actress | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Kristen Johnston studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School in New York City.

She won two Emmys for her role on 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996). She has appeared on many other television shows, including Ugly Betty (2006), ER (1994), Bored to Death (2009) and, perhaps most memorably, ...

Role: Sally Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun (1997, 1999)

22. Lisa Kudrow

Actress | Friends

Hardly the dumb blonde of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), Lisa was born in Encino, California on July 30, 1963. Her mother, Nedra S. (Stern), worked as a travel agent, and her father, Lee N. Kudrow, is a physician. Her parents are both from Jewish families (from Belarus, Russia, and ...

Role: Phoebe Buffay on Friends (1998)

23. Megan Mullally

Actress | Will & Grace

Megan is an only child born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Martha, was a model, and her father, Carter Mullally Jr., was a contract player for Paramount. Megan first entered Northwestern University intending to study acting, but switched to English literature. However, she still ended up ...

Role: Karen Walker on Will & Grace (2000, 2006)

24. Doris Roberts

Actress | Everybody Loves Raymond

Doris Roberts was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Ann (Meltzer) and Larry Green. She was raised in New York, and took her stepfather's surname. Roberts was a 20-year veteran of the Broadway stage before she began appearing steadily in character roles in film and on television during the 1970s. A ...

Role: Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005)

25. Cynthia Nixon

Actress | Sex and the City 2

Cynthia Nixon was born in New York City on April 9, 1966, to Anne Elizabeth Knoll, an actress, and Walter E. Nixon, Jr., a radio journalist. She has German and English ancestry. Nixon made a memorable film debut in Little Darlings (1980). Her Broadway credits include "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," "...

Role: Miranda Hobbes on Sex and the City (2004)

26. Jaime Pressly

Actress | My Name Is Earl

Emmy® Award winning actress Jaime Pressly is known for her wide range of film and television roles. Pressly currently appears in Welcome to Flatch (2022). Previously, she played Jill Kendall, opposite Anna Faris and Academy Award winner Allison Janney, on Chuck Lorrie's hit CBS Comedy "Mom".

Before ...

Role: Joy Turner on My Name is Earl (2007)

27. Jean Smart

Actress | Babylon

Tall (5'10"), lovely, statuesque Seattle native Jean Elizabeth Smart was born on September 13, 1951. The second of four children born to a teacher and his wife, she developed an early interest in acting and attended the University of Washington following her graduation from Seattle's Ballard High ...

Role: Regina Newly on Samantha Who? (2008)

28. Kristin Chenoweth

Actress | Pushing Daisies

Kristin Chenoweth is an American stage, screen and television actress, though, depending on who you ask, Chenoweth fans may disagree on what her most famous roles are. Since Chenoweth began her career, she has been credited with roles in musicals and plays on and off-Broadway, on various television...

Role: Olive Snook on Pushing Daisies (2009)

29. Jane Lynch

Actress | Wreck-It Ralph

Jane Marie Lynch is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series Glee (2009-2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recognition for her roles in Christopher Guest's mockumentary films, such as Best in ...

Role: Sue Sylvester on Glee (2010)

30. Julie Bowen

Actress | Happy Gilmore

Julie Bowen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the middle daughter of Suzanne and John Luetkemeyer Jr., a real estate developer. Her early education was at Calvert School in Baltimore, and Garrison Forest School, Maryland. She moved on to St. George's School, Rhode Island and then attended ...

Role: Claire Dunphy on Modern Family (2011, 2012)

31. Merritt Wever

Actress | Signs

Merritt Wever is an American actress, who earned an Emmy Award for playing the character Zoey on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie. She appeared in the films Birdman, Into the Wild, Neal Cassady, Michael Clayton, Series 7: The Contenders, Signs, The Adventures of Sebastian Cole, Bringing Rain, All I...

Role: Zoey Barkow on Nurse Jackie (2013)

32. Allison Janney

Actress | The Help

Allison Janney is an award-winning actress who has earned a solid reputation in stage productions and in many supporting roles on screen, and who more recently has become prominent by portraying one of the major characters in the popular TV series The West Wing (1999).

Entertainment Weekly magazine ...

Role: Bonnie Plunkett on Mom (2014, 2015)

33. Kate McKinnon

Actress | Ghostbusters

Kathryn McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984), known professionally as Kate McKinnon, is an American actress and comedienne, who is best known as a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live and The Big Gay Sketch Show, and for playing the role of Dr. Jillian Holtzmann in the 2016 Ghostbusters ...

Role: Various characters on Saturday Night Live (2016, 2017)

34. Alex Borstein

Actress | Family Guy

Alex Borstein is a Chicago-born American actress, known for her work on the animated sitcom Family Guy (1999), Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005), Bad Santa (2003), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017). Borstein became a MADtv cast member in 1997, during the sketch comedy show's third season. ...

Role: Susie Myerson on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2018, 2019)

35. Annie Murphy

Actress | Schitt$ Creek

Annie Murphy's past projects have included Rookie Blue, Flashpoint, Good God, The Story of Jen, Beauty and the Beast, and Blue Mountain State and has also worked in theatre in Montreal and Toronto.

Murphy made her major breakthrough on "Schitt's Creek," where she starred alongside Eugene Levy, ...

Role: Alexis Rose on Schitt's Creek (2020)

36. Hannah Waddingham

Actress | Ted Lasso

Hannah Waddingham was born in 1974, in Wandsworth, London. Her family was involved in performing arts as her mother, Melodie Kelly, and both her maternal grandparents were opera singers.

She is best known for her contribution to West End musical theatre, particularly her performances in the original...

Role: Rebecca Welton on Ted Lasso (2021)

37. Sheryl Lee Ralph

Actress | Oliver & Company

Sheryl Lee Ralph was born December 30, 1956 in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. She is known for her roles in Moesha (1996), Its A Living (1980), and Instant Mom (2013). Her Career Began in the late 1970s. She has been Married to Vincent Hughes since July 30, 2005 a Pennsylvania state senator. She was ...

Role: Barbara Howard on Abbott Elementary (2022)

38. Ayo Edebiri

Actress | Bottoms

Ayo Edebiri is an American comedian, writer, producer and actress. She appeared on Comedy Central's Up Next and co-hosts the podcast Iconography with Olivia Craighead. Edebiri joined the cast of Big Mouth's fourth season and is a main cast member on The Bear. Edebiri was born in Boston and raised ...

Role: Sydney Adamu on The Bear (2023)