LOS ANGELES — Jean Smart has cracked the Emmys code.
Smart, who grew up and started acting in Seattle, was nominated Tuesday for the Emmy Award for best leading actress in a comedy, a category she won last year for her turn on HBO Max's "Hacks" as Deborah Vance, a past-her-prime stand-up comic with a Vegas casino residency.
The Emmy Awards will be presented at 5 p.m. Sept. 12 on NBC and Peacock.
Smart began acting at Ballard High School in the 1960s and followed her acting passion to the University of Washington. She leads a slew of funny women on "Hacks," which racked up a total of eight nominations, including a nod for the year's best comedy series.
Olympia screenwriter Dan Erickson's dystopian office drama "Severance" scored big for Apple TV+, earning five nominations, including a nod for best drama series.
The Western Washington University graduate's script was caught in production limbo until 2016, when it appeared on BloodList's annual collection of the best unproduced genre screenplays. In 2019, Ben Stiller was tapped as executive producer and director. The show stars Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro and Christopher Walken, all of whom were nominated for their roles.
Elsewhere in Evergreen State connections: Actor Margaret Qualley was nominated for lead actress in a limited series or movie for "Maid," the Netflix series inspired by Washington resident Stephanie Land's 2019 bestselling memoir, "Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive."
Read the full list of nominees, led by "Succession" and "Squid Game," online at wenatcheeworld.com/go/.
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