Emmy nominee profile: Cherry Jones (‘Succession’) pits family against each other in her bid to win a 4th trophy

Christopher Tsang
·3 min read

Last year “Succession” broke the record for the most acting nominations in a single year at the Emmys with 14, and it tied that tally in its final season in 2023. Like last year there are three women from the show in the Best Drama Guest Actress category, one of whom is a perennial favorite and a previous winner for the HBO satirical drama: Cherry Jones for her role as Nan Pierce.

SEE‘Succession’ is poised to complete its Golden Globes winning streak

Jones began her career as a founding member of the American Repertory Theater in 1980 and has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, having performed in distinguished plays such as “Stepping Out,” “Our Country’s Good,” “Angels in America,” “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” and “The Glass Menagerie” and winning Tony Awards for Best Actress for “The Heiress” and “Doubt.” On screen, she has had an active career with roles in films like “Erin Brockovich,” “Ocean’s Twelve,” and “Knight of Cups,” and in TV series like “Frasier,” “The West Wing,” “Transparent,” “American Crime” and most recently “Five Days at Memorial.”

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This is her fifth Emmy nomination, and she’s almost undefeated in her previous four bids with three wins under her belt for “24” in 2009, “The Handmaid’s Tale” in 2019, and “Succession” in 2020. The last two of those victories were in this very category. In the final season of “Succession,” she solely appears in the premiere amidst the battle between Logan Roy and his children. They both attempt to buy Nan’s news conglomerate Pierce Global Media (PGM), with the siblings traveling to California to negotiate a bid in person. Nan strategically forces them into making a higher offer than Logan, whom she distrusts, and eventually accepts their sale price.

SEEGolden Globes records: Meryl Streep, Martin Scorsese, ‘Succession,’ …

Jones’s past wins make her a formidable opponent, but no actress has won this category three times, so a potential repeat triumph for “Succession” would set a new record. The Emmys do have a tendency to award repeat winners in the guest categories, though (consider multiple champs Margo Martindale for “The Americans” and Ron Cephas Jones for “This Is Us”), as well as character actors who have worked in the industry for many years as Jones has for over four decades. Combine that with the nominations domination of “Succession” for the final season, and you’ve got a potentially winning formula. She will also join Martindale and Patricia Clarkson for “Six Feet Under” as the only women to win this prize twice for a single series.

Along with her “Succession” castmates Hiam Abbass and Harriet Walter, Jones faces off against a trio of actresses from “The Last of Us”: Melanie Lynskey, Anna Torv and Storm Reid. This is the first nomination for Abbass, Torv, and Reid, while Lynskey and Walter are double nominees this year: Lynskey is also up for Best Drama Actress for “Yellowjackets” and Walter contends for Best Comedy Guest Actress for “Ted Lasso.” Overall, Lynskey is on her third nomination in two years, and Walter has been recognized five times in the guest categories over the last four years.

This article is part of Gold Derby’s “Emmy nominee profile” series spotlighting the 2023 acting contenders.

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