Hiro Murai spent a decade collecting Emmy nominations without a directing win to show for it. That changed Monday night, when the Television Academy named him Outstanding Director for a Comedy Series for Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay,” making him the first Asian director to take that category and only the third Asian director to win any Emmy, following Lee Sung Jin for “Beef” and Hwang Dong-hyuk for “Squid Game.”
Murai beat out five other nominees, including Christopher Storer for “The Bear” and Lucia Aniello for “Hacks,” for his work steering the horror-tinged Apple comedy through its first season. He directed both the premiere and finale, bookending a run that swung between genres and tone while keeping its emotional core intact. Accepting the award, Murai thanked series creator Katie Dippold for letting him “ride shotgun” on the project, then turned to his family and his partner, Emma, closing his remarks by telling them he loved them.
“Widow’s Bay” arrived as the night’s biggest winner, collecting 14 Emmys from 19 nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series, lead actor honors for Matthew Rhys, and supporting wins for Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root and Betty Gilpin. Dippold built the show with Murai in mind from the start, telling TheWrap she was rewriting the series while rewatching “Atlanta,” the FX comedy that first established Murai’s reputation as a director capable of grounding absurd, genre-bending material in something believable. She said that instinct shaped how ambitious she let the scripts become, admitting she pushed the material further specifically to give him more to direct.
Murai’s path to that stage began far from network television. Born in Japan and based in Los Angeles, he started as a cinematographer and visual-effects artist before building a career directing music videos for Childish Gambino and Earl Sweatshirt. His 2018 video for Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” won him a Grammy.
When Donald Glover, who performs under that name, created “Atlanta” in 2016, he brought Murai on as director, launching a partnership that produced nearly 30 episodes over four seasons and four Emmy nominations. Murai went on to direct installments of “Barry” and “Station Eleven,” and won his first Emmy as an executive producer on “The Bear,” before Monday’s win finally recognized his work behind the camera itself.
