Are the Emmys the new Oscars? A-list talent on the 2017 Emmy red carpet

Viola Davis made her name on Broadway twenty-one years ago when she scorched the stage in August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars.” Steven Soderbergh took notice, and cast her in “Out of Sight,” “Traffic” and “Solaris.” By the late 2000s, she was one of Hollywood’s most sought after actresses, earning Oscar nominations for her performances in “Doubt,” “The Help” and “Fences” (her first win). She’s going for her second Best Actress Emmy this year (her third nomination for “How to Get Away with Murder”), and she’s going to look fabulous win or lose.

Evan Rachel Wood was a mere twelve years old when she drew Hollywood’s attention playing Sela Ward’s daughter on the critically acclaimed “Once and Again.” She broke through with her searing portrayal of a troubled teenager in Catherine Hardwicke’s “Thirteen,” which led to a string of high-profile roles in both studio and independent movies. Now she’s once again wowing television critics as a self-aware android host on HBO’s “Westworld.”

Robin Wright got her start on the daytime soap “Santa Barbara,” but it was her iconic portrayal of Princess Buttercup in Rob Reiner’s “The Princess Bride” that made her a star. She generally stuck to the big screen for twenty-five years before joining Kevin Spacey on Netflix’s “House of Cards.” This year marks her sixth Emmy nomination. Shockingly, she’s never been nominated for an Oscar.

The legendary Welsh actor is at home on stage, on film or on your television, but he’s been a household name since he had “an old friend for dinner” as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs.” Though Hopkins is best known for movies, he’s a two-time Emmy winner, and might very well take home his third for his portrayal of Robert Ford on HBO’s “Westworld.”

Liev Schrieber is no stranger to television, but he’s done the bulk of his work in front of a movie camera. That all changed when he took the lead as the two-fisted fixer “Ray Donovan” for Showtime. Five seasons later, “Ray Donovan” is one of the cable network’s most popular and critically acclaimed series, and Schreiber is nominated for his fourth Emmy.

Long before Kevin Spacey became one of Hollywood’s most respected movie stars, he was slugging it out as a character actor, taking whatever parts were available regardless of the medium. He made an impression in the late 1980s as a wily arms dealer on the TV show “Wiseguy,” but it was on stage (winning a featured actor Tony in 1991 for “Lost in Yonkers”) and on screen (Best Supporting Actor in 1996 for “The Usual Suspects,” then Best Actor in 2000 for “American Beauty”) that he enjoyed his most success – until four years ago when he returned to television as Frank Underwood on Netflix’s “House of Cards.” Now he’s a perennial Emmy nominee (though not yet a winner).

Here’s another actor that’s comfortable in any medium. William H. Macy parlayed his early stage success (as co-founder of the St. Nicholas Theater Company with David Mamet) into a steady film- and television-acting career spanning several decades. He was a dependable “that guy” character actor until 1996’s “Fargo,” for which he received his first Oscar nomination. After years of memorable movie roles, Macy found a ramshackle home on Showtime’s “Shameless” as the ne’er-do-well alcoholic patriarch Frank Gallagher (for which he’s once again earned a Best Actor Emmy nomination).

When you think of Jane Fonda, you probably think “movie star”… or fitness guru or Vietnam War protestor or daughter of Henry and sister to Peter. You certainly wouldn’t think television star, because, until her recurring role on HBO’s “The Newsroom” in 2012, she only had three TV credits to her name (although one of them, “The Dollmaker,” earned her a Best Actress Emmy in the 1980s). Now Fonda’s got three seasons of the Netflix dramedy “Grace and Frankie” in the can, and she’s going for her second Emmy this year.

Seven-time Academy Award nominee Robert De Niro is as closely associated to motion pictures as any actor in the history of the medium. His career is movies. But maybe that’s about to change. In 2017, he played the notorious fraudster Bernie Madoff in HBO’s “The Wizard of Lies,” and received mostly rave reviews from television critics. Now that he’s been nominated for an Emmy, perhaps he’ll dip his toe into the TV pool more often.

Australian actor Geoffrey Rush was in his mid-forties when he scored his first critical triumph as the mentally-ill concert pianist David Helfgott in Scott Hicks’s “Shine.” He won the Oscar for Best Actor, and has been one of the most sought-after movie actors ever since. He’s done a little bit of television over the years (winning a Best Actor Emmy for “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers”), and he’ll be walking the Emmy red carpet once again for his performance as Albert Einstein in NatGeo’s “Genius.”

Angela Bassett has earned her fourth Emmy nomination for her performance in Aziz Ansari’s “Master of None.” She’s done lots of television over the years, but it’s hard not to think of her as a movie star first. She was brilliant in John Sayles’s “Passion Fish,” every bit Denzel Washington’s equal in “Malcolm X” and, come on now, she was Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do with It”. Big screen or small, they don’t come anymore talented or glamorous than the inimitable Ms. Bassett.

Movie stars don’t come more glamorous or talented than Nicole Kidman, who’s been wowing filmgoers since her breakthrough performance in 1989’s “Dead Calm.” Kidman’s a four-time Oscar nominee (she won in 2002 for “The Hours”), and she shows no signs of turning away from the medium that made her a global sensation, but she’s going to be making more time for television now that “Big Little Lies,” which she stars in and produces, has been renewed for a second season. She could take home two Emmys this year!

Two-time Academy Award winner Jessica Lange is movie royalty, but she’s been keeping busy in television over the last decade. She won an Emmy in 2009 for “Grey Gardens” and took home two more in 2012 and 2014 for her twisted work on “American Horror Story.” She’ll be strutting down the Emmy red carpet once again this year, hoping to out-duel her “Feud” co-star Susan Sarandon (and “Big Little Lies” stars Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon) for Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.

Susan Sarandon is the definition of a working actress. She has been a ubiquitous presence in film and television over her career spanning forty-plus years, and she’s won… well, she’s only won one Academy Award (Best Actress for “Dead Man Walking”), but she’s sure been nominated for plenty of Oscars and Emmys. This year she takes her sixth crack at an Emmy for her diabolical portrayal of Bette Davis in “Feud.”

“Big Little Lies” represents Reese Witherspoon’s first substantial television performance since 1993’s “Return to Lonesome Dove,” and her very first Emmy nomination. She’s up against some stiff movie star competition (Jessica Lange, Nicole Kidman and Susan Sarandon), but if she doesn’t win this year, she’ll probably get another crack after “Big Little Lies” season two. Regardless, we’ll all win when Reese works her red carpet magic before the big broadcast.

You won’t see a better performance in film or television than David Thewlis’s mesmerizingly dark portrayal of Johnny Fletcher in Mike Leigh’s “Naked.” Since this big-screen triumph (for which he won Best Actor at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival), Thewlis has been a go-to actor for challenging and downright twisted roles. He’s probably best known as Remus Lupin in the “Harry Potter” series, but he’ll be stalking the Emmy red carpet this year in search of a Best Supporting Actor trophy for his work on FX’s “Fargo.”

British-born actress Thandie Newton made a deep first impression with early film roles in “Flirting” (alongside Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts), “Interview with the Vampire” and “Beloved,” but she’s never turned her nose up at television. She took a recurring part on “ER” during the show’s later seasons and starred in the U.S. version of “The Slap.” Now she’s up for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her fearless portrayal of the curious “host” Maeve in HBO’s “Westworld.” This could be her best work to date.

Judy Davis first made her mark in Gillian Anderson’s “My Brilliant Career.” She quickly became one of Australia’s most beloved movie stars, and became an in-demand Hollywood actress thanks to indelible performances in “Barton Fink,” “Husbands and Wives” and “The Ref.” Her career in the U.S. really took off when she began doing steady television work in the early ‘90s. She’s won three Emmy nominations since 1992, and is up for her fourth thanks to her deliciously catty portrayal of gossip queen Hedda Hopper in FX’s “Feud.”

Superlatives fail when it comes to Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s one of the most beautiful movie stars we’ve ever seen, and a remarkably versatile actress who’s stunning to watch even when the material fails her. She’s been nominated for three Oscars and, inexplicably, has yet to win one. Perhaps her first major television role in thirty years (as Ruth Madoff in HBO’s “The Wizard of Lies”) will earn her some long-overdue awards recognition. 

Though Jonathan Nolan frequently collaborates with his older brother Christopher Nolan on the screenplays for big-screen fare like “Memento,” “The Dark Knight” and “Interstellar,” he’s no stranger to television. He created the long-running procedural “Person of Interest” for CBS, and, along with co-creator Lisa Joy, placed a modern spin on Michael Crichton’s “Westworld.” Thanks to “Westworld,” Nolan could take home three Emmys this year; one for the show, one for directing the pilot and one for co-writing the pilot (with Ms. Joy).

Shailene Woodley worked regularly in television as a child, but it was her critically praised performance as George Clooney’s rebellious daughter in 2011’s “The Descendants” that shot her career into the stratosphere. The “Divergent” series and “The Fault in Our Stars” made her a movie star, but she still has time for television, especially if Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern are involved. Woodley’s up against her co-star Dern for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, as well as heavy-hitters like Judy Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Regina King and Jackie Hoffman.

Jean-Marc Vallee made his debut movie in 1995, and it was a long road to the critical and commercial success he enjoyed with 2009’s “The Young Victoria.” He wrote and directed 2011’s “Dallas Buyer’s Club,” for which Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. He made his television debut this year alongside his “Wild” collaborator Reese Witherspoon with “Big Little Lies,” and might just win an Emmy or two for his troubles.

Longtime movie publicist Ava DuVernay exploded out of relative obscurity with 2014’s “Selma,” and is now considered one of our most exciting and provocative filmmakers. Provocation is the order of the day in her celebrated documentary “13th,” which uses the issue of mass incarceration to examine the United States’ ongoing struggle with racial inequality. The film was produced for Netflix, and earned DuVernay her first three Emmy nominations (for producing, directing and writing). 

Where would Ron Howard’s career be without television? He won America’s heart as Opie Taylor on “The Andy Griffith Show” and went from teenager to young adult in front of our eyes as Richie Cunningham on “Happy Days.” And then he kissed the medium goodbye for a while to become one of the most successful filmmakers in Hollywood. He directed his first episode of television in thirty-four years for the NatGeo show “Genius,” and received his very first Emmy nomination as a reward.

Steven Zaillian has been an A-list Hollywood screenwriter since 1985’s “The Falcon and the Snowman.” He’s been nominated for four Oscars, won one (for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1993 for “Schindler’s List), and made millions as a go-to studio “script doctor” (generally uncredited) on some of the most successful movies ever made. But Zaillian is a storyteller first, and he found a tale that worked remarkably well for television in “The Night Of.” It’s his first TV credit, and it’s earned him two Emmy nominations.