At the 77th Emmy Awards, which took place on Sunday, Cristin Milioti took home her first Emmy Award for her portrayal of Sofia Gigante in The Penguin. She won the Emmy for lead limited series actress, marking her first Emmy win and nomination.
As she accepted the award, she was candid about mental health as she said, “Sorry, I wrote this on the back of notes I took in therapy the other day, so don’t look at the back."
She continued intensely, "It’s very hard to make sense of being alive right now in this world, so I’m deeply grateful for the bright spots." Speaking about the team behind The Penguin and her character, she added, “Making this show with our incredible cast and crew, and getting to inhabit this woman, was a bright spot for me. Despite it being very grisly, playing her felt like flying.”
On a lighter note, she took to humour while expressing her gratitude to her family. “Thank you for supporting your strange kid and showing the movies that were very inappropriate for my age.”Thanking Lauren LeFranc, creator of The Penguin, she said, “whose brain I want to freebase.”
After ticking off multiple thank-yous rapidly, she concluded her speech by closing her eyes, grinning ear to ear and saying, "I love you, and I love acting so much!"
Cristin Milioti's career began on stage, where she earned a Tony nomination for Best Musical Actress and a Grammy win for Best Musical Theatre Album for her role as Girl in the Broadway musical Once (2012). She gained prominence on screen with her role as Tracy McConnell, aka the Mother, in the TV series How I Met Your Mother (Seasons 8-9). Her notable film credits include Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Palm Springs (2020), and the Black Mirror episodes USS Callister (2017) and its interactive special USS Callister: Into Infinity.
Milioti's co-competitors in the category for lead limited series actress include Michelle Williams (Dying for Sex), Rashida Jones (Black Mirror), Meghann Fahy (Sirens), and Cate Blanchett (Disclaimer). The Penguin also garnered nominations for Outstanding Limited Series, Lead Actor in a Limited Series (Colin Farrell), Directing for a Limited Series, and Writing for a Limited Series.
