Palisadian Actresses Bring Home the Emmys

By GABRIELLA BOCK | Reporter

During a night scintillating with feminine victory, talented women from Pacific Palisades were among the top winners at last weekend’s 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

Tying with Hulu’s dystopian lady drama “The Handmaid’s Tale,” HBO’s female-driven limited-series “Big Little Lies” won eight awards during the Sunday, Sept. 19, ceremony.

Based on the same-titled best-seller by Liane Moriarty, HBO’s 10-part idyllic murder mystery showcased a powerhouse of Palisadian talent from its actors to its production crew.

Long-time Palisadian Laura Dern took home the gilded trophy for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series while former Palisadian Nicole Kidman garnered the award for Best Actress in a Limited Series.

Despite recently losing her bid for President of the Motion Picture Academy, Dern—a two-time Academy Award-nominated actress—celebrated her first Emmy win.

The actress has made a stellar return since her days as David Lynch’s muse in the 1980s, most recently when she appeared alongside former Palisadian Reese Witherspoon in 2014’s “Wild.”

“It’s been an incredible year for women in television,” “Big Little Lies” star and executive producer Witherspoon said when accepting the show’s award for Best Limited Series.

Around 10 million viewers tuned in to Sunday night’s event as Palisadian Julia Louis-Dreyfus made television history when she picked up yet another Best Actress in a Comedy award for her role as Vice President-turned-first-female-President Selina Meyer in HBO’s politically-charged satire “Veep.”

Sweeping the category for six consecutive years, Louis-Dreyfus is the first person to beat her own previously held record of five Emmy wins for best lead actress in a single series.

In her acceptance speech, Louis-Dreyfus thanked the “fine, funny and powerful” ladies in her category before revealing a plot that didn’t make it into the show’s final season.

“We did have a storyline about an impeachment but we abandoned that because we worried that somebody else might get to it first,” Louis-Dreyfus said.