Zendaya’s portrayal of Rue Bennett in HBO Euphoria led her to win her second Emmy on Monday, with the former child star winning Best Lead Actress in a Drama.
Zendaya’s competition consisted of Kill Eveby Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer, ozarkis Laura Linney, The morning showby Reese Witherspoon and yellow jackets“Melanie Lynskey.
In 2020, Zendaya won the lead actress statuette for her performance in Euphoriafor the first season, edging out perceived favorites Jennifer Aniston and Laura Linney. At the time, she made history as the youngest woman to ever win this race.
Earlier this year, TVLine picked Zendaya as one of our Dream Emmy nominees, writing that the Disney Channel alum “is that way. Damn. good. to what she does. In Episode 5, aka the time her character’s mother confronted her about her drug relapse, “Zendaya steered Rue through her erratic and emotional hairpin turns at high speed, bringing the character towards disaster but still (barely) pulling her back from the brink.”
She also earned tons of praise from viewers, coming out on top among TVLine readers in our poll for who should win this year’s Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama. Zendaya got 28% of the vote, followed by Linney (27%), Lynskey (22%), Comer (12%), Oh (7%) and Witherspoon (5%).
In addition to the acting nod, Zendaya was also nominated as executive producer of her series, which was up for Outstanding Drama, and two nominations for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for “Elliot’s Song” and “I’ m Tired” from Season 2. (Schmidadon“Corn Puddin” by finally earned that win at the Creative Arts Emmys, held earlier in September. See the list of winners.)