Linda Cardellini won her first Emmy Award on Sunday night, taking Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for HBO’s “DTF St. Louis” after four career nominations. The 51-year-old actress fought back tears at the Creative Arts Emmys ceremony at the Peacock Theater, calling the moment “a real dream come true.”
Cardellini plays Carol Love-Smernitch, a suburban wife whose affair with a local weatherman sets off a chain of events that ends in murder. On stage, she thanked her parents, her husband Steve Rodriguez and their daughter Lyra Rose before turning to showrunner Steve Conrad. “Thank you for your beautiful heart and your beautiful mind,” she said. “Thank you for this part and giving me this chance.” Backstage, she described her heartbeat racing as she walked toward the podium and looked out at castmates also up for awards that night.
She beat a category that included Dakota Fanning, Laurie Metcalf, Joy Sunday, Youn Yuh-jung and Constance Zimmer, and her “DTF St. Louis” co-star David Harbour won the corresponding supporting actor prize minutes later, also his first Emmy. Harbour called the reception to the show hard to believe, thanking HBO for its notes during production. The married duo, who play an onscreen couple caught in a love triangle, embraced after their wins.
“DTF St. Louis,” created and directed by Conrad, pulled in 13 nominations this year and had already picked up trophies for writing, directing, picture editing and cinematography by the time Cardellini took the stage. The series also landed nods for Bateman, Jenkins and Sunday, along with a nomination for outstanding limited series.
Cardellini’s win closes out a three-decade career that stretches from “ER” and “Mad Men” to “Bloodline,” “Dead to Me” and a turn as Laura Barton in Marvel’s “Avengers” and “Hawkeye” projects. She had come close before, with nominations for “Mad Men” in 2013 and twice for “Dead to Me” in 2020. The Creative Arts ceremonies air together Sept. 12, ahead of the Primetime Emmys on Sept. 14.
