Julia Louis-Dreyfus Makes Emmy History With Sixth ‘Veep’ Lead Actress Win

Veep‘s Julia Louis-Dreyfus scored her sixth straight Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy tonight for the HBO show. The victory set a new record for the TV vet as she passed Candice Bergen and Don Knotts to score the most wins by a performer for the same role in the same show.

The 6th Veep victory also makes seven total wins for Louis-Dreyfus as a Lead Actress including one for The New Adventures Of Old Christine. Overall, it fills her trophy case with eight acting wins, bolstered by her 1996 Supporting Emmy for Seinfeld. She is now tied with Cloris Leachman for the most wins as a performer.

From the stage tonight, just before Veep scored the Comedy Series prize again, Louis-Dreyfus offered “massive thanks to HBO, (Veep) creator Armando Iannucci and the exceptional Dave Mandel.” Mandel took over showrunning the series in season 5 after Iannucci chose to spend more time in the UK with his family.

The next season will be the last for the series that sees Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, the former vice president and (briefly) president, who is struggling to navigate uncharted political territory.

The Emmy winner tonight promised a “final season with a lot of surprises. We did have a whole storyline about impeachment, but we abandoned it because we were worried someone else might get to it first.” She added, “This is, and continues to be, the role of a lifetime and an adventure of utter joy.”

This was one of the more crowded Emmy categories with seven entries, meaning someone came within 2% of the sixth place nominee and won an invite as well. With three other returnees looking to knock Louis-Dreyfus off her perch, a couple of newcomers including a two-time Oscar winner, and a carpetbagger from the supporting category, this was one to watch.

Also nominated tonight were Pamela Adlon (Better Things), Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish), Jane Fonda (Grace And Frankie), Lily Tomlin (Grace And Frankie), Allison Janney (Mom) and Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)