David Harbour won his first Emmy Award on Sunday night, taking home Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his turn as Floyd Smernitch in HBO’s “DTF St. Louis.” The win came at the Creative Arts Emmys, held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and marked his fourth nomination after two previous losses for playing Jim Hopper in “Stranger Things.”
Harbour beat out a field that included his own co-stars Jason Bateman and Richard Jenkins, along with Richard Gadd for “Half Man,” Charles Melton for “Beef” and Nick Offerman for “Death by Lightning.” He called out the competition directly from the podium. “In terms of my fellow nominees, it was not a fair fight,” he said, crediting creator Steve Conrad for writing a character he called genuinely original. He closed by thanking HBO “for all your tons of notes,” drawing laughter from the room. “They honestly helped the show so much.”
Backstage, the 51-year-old actor described the win as disorienting. “It always feels somewhat unreal, you feel a little bit out of your body,” he said. Harbour told reporters he began acting professionally two decades before “Stranger Things” made him famous at 40, working small theater jobs in Maine for $50 a week early in his career. He said that history shaped how he handled sudden stardom and left him prepared to keep working regardless of what came next. He and Conrad developed “DTF St. Louis” together over four years before it reached HBO.
The show, a dark comedy centered on a love triangle in suburban St. Louis, collected 13 Emmy nominations this year and has already won six, including writing and directing for Conrad, picture editing, cinematography and Harbour’s acting prize. Co-star Linda Cardellini also won, taking supporting actress in the same category over castmate Joy Sunday.
Harbour, an executive producer on the series through his company Bravo Axolotl, could add a second trophy next Monday if “DTF St. Louis” wins outstanding limited series at the Primetime telecast. This year marked the first time the supporting acting categories for limited series were awarded during the Creative Arts ceremony rather than during the main broadcast.
