2019 Emmys: Jodie Comer Slays The Competition And Wins Her First Emmy For Killing Eve
Jodie Comer isn't just Killing Eve, she's killing the Emmys game — her first ever Emmy nomination also netted her first Emmy win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama.
On Killing Eve, Comer doesn't play the titular character of Eve — that honor goes to Sandra Oh, who plays detective Eve Polastri — but rather, a brutal serial killer who goes by Villanelle (her real name is Oksana Astankova). During the first season of the show (which is based on the Villanelle novels by Luke Jennings), Eve begins hunting Villanelle, and the two women become obsessed with each other, leading to a high-stakes game of cat and mouse performed by two actresses at the top of their game. In 2018, Oh, who was nominated alongside Comer during this year's Emmys, made history by becoming the first ever actress of Asian descent nominated for this particular category.
Comer is still an up-and-comer, and ever since Killing Eve arrived on the small screen in 2018, she has proven herself as a star on the rise. Prior to that, she appeared mostly in smaller British series, though international audiences might recognize her as the leading role of Elizabeth of York in Starz' The White Princess, which premiered in 2017.
One of Comer's biggest strengths in her role as Villanelle — an obsessive, shape-shifting killer who is constantly adopting new identities — is her ability to adopt a huge variety of accents; the actress originally hails from Liverpool, but plays a Russian native who can mimic pretty much any accent around.
As she took the stage to accept her award, Comer was clearly surprised. As it turned out, she definitely wasn't prepared to win, considering that she didn't even invite her parents to the ceremony. On her way up to the stage, she embraced Oh, who looked thrilled for her co-star. During her speech, Comer gave a shout-out to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who served as head writer and showrunner during Killing Eve's first season and scooped up an insane amount of statues for her show Fleabag during the telecast.
Who did Comer beat out?
Aside from Oh, who was nominated in the same category for the same show and would have made further Emmys history by winning, Comer still had plenty of formidable actresses to beat out for the award. The young actress snagged a victory over Academy Award winners and nominees (Viola Davis and Laura Linney, who were nominated for How to Get Away With Murder and Ozark, respectively), fan favorites (Mandy Moore for This Is Us), and venerated actresses (Robin Wright for House of Cards), but she faced her stiffest competition when it came to the Mother of Dragons herself, Emilia Clarke, who was nominated for Game of Thrones' final season.