From The First Australian Woman To Win Best Actress In A Drama To The First Asian Woman To Win In A Limited Series, Here Are 9 Ways The Emmys Made History Last Night

1.Quinta Brunson became the second Black woman to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in Abbott Elementary. The last winner was Isabel Sanford, who won for The Jeffersons (way back in 1981!).

She fought back tears during her speech, saying, "I love making Abbott Elementary so much, and I'm so happy to be able to live my dream and act out comedy. I say that every time, but I just love comedy so much that I'm so happy to be able to get this."

2.When Ayo Edebiri won Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in The Bear, it was the first time in Emmys history that both comedy awards went to Black women.

Ayo expressed her gratitude for her parents in her acceptance speech. "Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all of that. I love you so much. Probably not a dream to immigrate to this country and have your daughter go, 'I wanna do improv,' but you are real ones."

3.The Bear won 10 awards, breaking Schitt's Creek's record from 2020 for the most Emmy wins in a season for a comedy series. Additionally, The Bear broke the record for most wins for a comedy series in its first season, beating The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the most wins for any series in its first season, beating The West Wing.

4.Ali Wong became the first Asian woman to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for her performance in Beef.

She thanked her family in her acceptance speech, saying, "I wouldn't be standing here without my parents, my amazing parents, my mother and my father who I so wish was alive to share this moment with me. My hilarious father who loved me unconditionally and taught me the value of failure. To my beautiful daughters, Mari and Nikki, you are my everything, and thank you for inspiring me. This is for you."

5.RuPaul — already the most awarded person in the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition category — won again for RuPaul’s Drag Race. He became the first host to win eight consecutive years in a row.

6.RuPaul’s Drag Race now has 29 Emmys, extending its record for the most awarded reality program in Emmys history.

He shared an inspiring speech in response to outrageous legislation in recent years banning drag library events. "If a drag queen wants to read you a story at a library, listen to her because knowledge is power, and if someone tries to restrict your access to power, they are trying to scare you. So listen to a drag queen! We love you!"

7.Sarah Snook became the first Australian to win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in Succession.

She gave a shoutout to her daughter, saying, "The biggest thank you is to someone who won't understand anything that I'm saying at the moment, but I carried her with me in this last season. And really, it was her who carried me. It's very easy to act when you're pregnant because you’ve got hormones raging. It was more that the proximity of her life growing inside me gave me the strength to do this and this performance, and I love you so much."

8.Elton John became the 19th person to earn EGOT status by winning Outstanding Variety Special for Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium. For those who don't know, an EGOT is someone who's won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.

While he couldn't attend the awards ceremony due to a recent operation, producer Ben Winston spoke on behalf of Elton. "We knew this show would be historic, because it was going to be Elton’s last ever show in North America on tour. We knew it would be historic because it was Disney’s first live global stream. We didn’t know it would be historic because it was going to win a man, who has created the soundtrack to our lives, he’s done so much great for society, who is all of our hero. We didn’t know it would win him an EGOT."

9.And finally, actors of color won 5 out of 12 acting awards — tying with the record set in 1991.

You can check out the rest of our Emmys coverage here.