Uzoamaka Aduba shed tears of joy on Saturday night as she accepted her first-ever Emmy for her portrayal of Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Orange is the New Black at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmys. This was the first Emmy win for OITNB, too, followed up later in the evening by an award for casting director, Jennifer Euston and an editing award for William Turro. Aduba was in friendly competition with castmates Laverne Cox — the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for an Emmy — and Natasha Lyonne for the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series category. OITNB has a total of 12 Emmy nominations, with more awards being decided at the main event on August 25th.
via Invision/AP
“I feel so full, that’s why the tears come out,” Aduba told reporters in the press room after the award show. “I’m stuffed really. I’m beyond full. My cup runneth over right now. I feel absolutely all of those things. I feel full of joy, like a fountain. Mission accomplished.”
OITNB is Aduba’s first television acting role. In her own account of her road to OITNB — her first name means “The road is good” in Igbo — Aduba wrote that she was at her breaking point as a struggling actor when OITNB called her to offer a two-episode arc on the show. She was added as a cast regular in Season Two.
Mission accomplished, indeed.
via Tommaso Boddi/WireImage
Good for her! She is so talented. I realize that it’s not good for people to get typecast into playing a certain type of character for their careers, but I’d pay good money to see her live as the Fool in King Lear. She would rock that part so hard. And she looks lovely in these photos.
I’m always in awe of how beautiful the OITNB actresses look off set. Ms. Aduba certainly takes the cake. She looks so stunning, and I’m so happy for her.
holy shit that woman is gorgeous
The first time I saw Uzo Aduba in an off-set picture, it took me a moment to reckognize her. That’s when you know an actor is incredible: when their character is physically different from them through no other means than the expressions they infuse into their face, creating an actual distinguishable person.
YUSSS! I love her!
Yay, good for her! Well deserved.
I had the honor to see Uzo in “Godspell” on Broadway – she has a phenomenal voice, phenomenal. Then I saw her in “Broadway Backwards” which is a fundraiser for Equity Fights Aids – the participants sing Broadway love songs but from a gay perspective. Again, she was phenomenal. Met her at the after party and she could not have been more gracious and lovely. She deserves all the success in the world and I’m excited the world is finding out about her talent.
Um, that sounds amazing. I would love for her to sing on the show!
Laverne cox seems to have been given the male pronoun, actor, rather than the female version actress, given to Natasha Lyonne I the eyre next sentence.
I’m sure it’s just an oversight, but the sort that can hurt.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Jessica! In the post, “actress” is not meant to describe Natasha specifically, but used in the context of the name of the award, the “Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series” award, for which all three actors were nominated. “Actor” is a term that can be used for actors of any gender and is later used again to describe Uzo’s career title. However, I can see how it is confusing the way it’s written and, therefore, could be seen as offensive. I’m happy to change it to actress all the way through. AP style is kind of on the fence about whether to use “actor” for all actors or to use “actor/actress” to denote gender, but leans towards “actor” for all genders.
yes!