At the 77th Emmy Awards 2025, which took place on Sunday, Tramell Tillman scripted history on receiving the Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for his performance in Apple TV+'s Severance. He became the first Black man to take home an award in the category. The win became all the more special as that was the only acting category which had not honoured a Black performer in 77 years.
It was not until 2015, when Viola Davis won the award, that a Black woman won in the lead drama actress category for How to Get Away with Murder. Tramell Tillman comes after Billy Porter in becoming the first openly gay Black man to be nominated for and to win an Emmy Award. While Tillman won in the supporting drama actor category, Porter bagged an award in a lead acting category.
Other nominees in the category were Zach Cherry and John Turturro, also nominated for Severance; Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs and Sam Rockwell for The White Lotus; and James Marsden for Paradise.
During the show's first season in 2022, Severance earned 14 Emmy nominations, but Tillman was overlooked. This year, the series earned 27 nominations. Accepting the award, Tillman said, “You remember what you want to remember. You make time for what you want to make time for, do the work, show up, and most importantly, for the love of God, don’t embarrass me in public.”
13 Black actors have been nominated 23 times in the supporting drama actor category from the time it was established in 1970. In 2021, Giancarlo Esposito, O-T Fagbenle and Michael K Williams, were all nominated in the same category, with none of them bagging the award.
Actors of colour from around the world have since made their mark on the category, with notable winners including Park Hae-soo and O Yeong-su from Squid Game (2022), Will Sharpe from The White Lotus (2023), and Tadanobu Asano and Takehiro Hira from Shōgun (2024).
Tillman was last seen in Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning on the big screen. Next, he is all set to be seen in Lena Dunham's Good Sex and in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
