Most Emmy Awards Won by a Performer: Top 10 Ranked

The record for the most Emmy Awards won by a performer is eight, and as of the 78th Primetime Emmys on 14 September 2026 four people share it. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman had held the mark alone; Jean Smart, for Hacks, and Allison Janney, for The Diplomat, each reached eight on the same night.

This ranking counts wins in performance categories only: lead, supporting and guest acting, variety performance and character voice-over. Producing, writing and directing awards are noted where they matter but do not count, which is why Louis-Dreyfus’s 11 total Emmys appear here as eight. Nominations are Primetime Emmy nominations in all categories.

The 10 Performers With the Most Emmy Awards

1. Julia Louis-Dreyfus: 8 Wins

Nominations: 26 | First win: 1996, Seinfeld | Last win: 2017, Veep

Louis-Dreyfus won for three different sitcom leads, which no one else has done: Elaine Benes in Seinfeld in 1996, the title role in The New Adventures of Old Christine in 2006, and Selina Meyer in Veep every year from 2012 to 2017. The six consecutive wins for one role are a record in themselves.

Three more Emmys as an executive producer of Veep take her total to 11, tying Carl Reiner for the most ever by an actor, according to her Television Academy record. Her 26 nominations are also the most of anyone in this table.

1. Cloris Leachman: 8 Wins

Nominations: 22 | First win: 1973, A Brand New Life | Last win: 2006, Malcolm in the Middle

Leachman’s eight wins span 33 years and five programmes: a television film in 1973, two supporting wins as Phyllis on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1974 and 1975, a variety performance on Cher in 1975, the Screen Actors Guild 50th anniversary special in 1984, Promised Land in 1998 and two guest wins as Grandma Ida on Malcolm in the Middle. She held the outright record from 2006 until Louis-Dreyfus matched it in 2017.

1. Jean Smart: 8 Wins

Nominations: 15 | First win: 2000, Frasier | Last win: 2026, Hacks

Smart’s 2026 win for Hacks was her fifth as Deborah Vance, one for every season the show has run, which makes her the first woman to win an acting Emmy for every season of a series. Two guest wins for Frasier in 2000 and 2001 and a supporting win for Samantha Who? in 2008 complete the eight, listed in full on her Television Academy page.

1. Allison Janney: 8 Wins

Nominations: 16 | First win: 2000, The West Wing | Last win: 2026, The Diplomat

Janney won four times as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing, twice in supporting and twice in lead, then added guest wins for Masters of Sex and two supporting wins for Mom in 2014 and 2015. Her 2026 supporting actress in a drama win for The Diplomat brought her level with the leaders, with wins spread across drama and comedy in both lead and supporting categories.

5. Ed Asner: 7 Wins

Nominations: 17 | First win: 1971, The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Last win: 1980, Lou Grant

Asner holds the record for the most acting Emmys by a man and remains the only performer to win for playing the same character in a comedy and a drama: Lou Grant earned him three supporting comedy wins on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and two lead drama wins on the spin-off Lou Grant. Wins for the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man in 1976 and Roots in 1977 came in between.

5. Mary Tyler Moore: 7 Wins

Nominations: 15 | First win: 1964, The Dick Van Dyke Show | Last win: 1993, Stolen Babies

Moore won twice as Laura Petrie and four times as Mary Richards, including two awards in 1974 when the Academy briefly split comedy acting into series and single-episode categories. Her seventh, for the television film Stolen Babies in 1993, came 29 years after her first.

7. Tyne Daly: 6 Wins

Nominations: 16 | First win: 1983, Cagney and Lacey | Last win: 2003, Judging Amy

Daly won lead actress in a drama four times in six years for Cagney and Lacey, then added supporting wins for Christy in 1996 and Judging Amy in 2003. Her 16 nominations span three decades.

7. Art Carney: 6 Wins

Nominations: 12 | First win: 1954, The Jackie Gleason Show | Last win: 1984, Terrible Joe Moran

Carney’s wins as Ed Norton are the oldest on the list, starting in 1954 for The Jackie Gleason Show and continuing on The Honeymooners in 1956. Two of his six, in 1967 and 1968, were in a special classification for individual achievement rather than a standard acting category, which some counts exclude. His last came for the television film Terrible Joe Moran in his sixties.

7. John Lithgow: 6 Wins

Nominations: 13 | First win: 1986, Amazing Stories | Last win: 2017, The Crown

Lithgow’s six wins cover guest, lead comedy and supporting drama categories across four decades: Amazing Stories in 1986, three lead comedy wins as Dick Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun, a guest win as the Trinity Killer on Dexter in 2010, and Winston Churchill in The Crown in 2017.

7. Maya Rudolph: 6 Wins

Nominations: 16 | First win: 2020, Saturday Night Live | Last win: 2024, Big Mouth

Rudolph reached six faster than anyone else here, all between 2020 and 2024: two guest actress wins for playing Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live and four character voice-over awards as Connie the Hormone Monstress in Big Mouth. Voice-over is a juried Creative Arts category, which is why some lists leave her out.

How the 2026 Emmys Rewrote the Record

The 78th ceremony produced two additions to the record in one night. Smart’s win was widely expected; Janney’s, in a supporting drama field, was not, and it turned a two-way tie into a four-way one. The full list of winners is on the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards page.

The same evening Matthew Rhys became the first performer to win lead acting Emmys in drama, comedy and limited series, taking both lead comedy for Widow’s Bay and lead limited for The Beast in Me, the first man to win two lead awards in a single year. Noah Wyle won lead drama for The Pitt for the second year running, Rhea Seehorn won for Pluribus, and Sally Field for Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Why the Count Depends on the Categories

Total Emmys and acting Emmys are different lists. Louis-Dreyfus has 11 in all, Bryan Cranston has seven in all but five for acting, and Alan Alda’s six are spread across acting, writing and directing. Tim Conway is often credited with six but has four performance wins and one for writing. Restricting the count to performance is the only way to compare an actor of the 1950s, when categories were few, with one working today.

The ceremony has also grown. Art Carney competed in a handful of acting categories; today’s ceremony includes guest and voice-over awards that did not exist for Moore or Asner. Records in television, like those in our ranking of the best-selling albums of all time, reward longevity as much as peak, and the four leaders all won across at least 15 years. The best-selling mobile games list shows the same effect in a very different industry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who has won the most Emmy Awards for acting?

Four performers are tied on eight: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Cloris Leachman, Jean Smart and Allison Janney. Smart and Janney joined the record at the 78th Primetime Emmys on 14 September 2026.

Who has the most Emmys overall?

Among performers, Julia Louis-Dreyfus with 11, eight for acting and three as an executive producer of Veep, a total she shares with Carl Reiner. Across all disciplines the leaders are producers and craft nominees with far larger totals.

Which man has won the most acting Emmys?

Ed Asner, with seven, five of them for playing Lou Grant across two series. Art Carney and John Lithgow are the next men on the list with six each.

Has anyone won an Emmy for every season of a show?

Jean Smart has, for all five seasons of Hacks, the first woman to do so. Julia Louis-Dreyfus won for six of Veep’s seven seasons, missing only the final one after the show’s return in 2019.

Related Articles

• Best-Selling Wii Games of All Time: Top 10 Ranked
• Largest Charitable Donations in History: Top 10 Ranked
• GTA 6 Soundtrack Artists: Who Is Confirmed