Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Awarded for	Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
First award	2016
Final award	2023
Currently held by	Tim Robinson, ; I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2023)
Website	emmys.com

This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series. These awards, like the guest acting awards, are not presented at the Primetime Emmy Awards show, but rather at the Creative Arts Emmy Award ceremony.

In January 2024, the Television Academy announced several rule changes for the 76th Emmy Awards, including adjustments to the short form categories. Due to a decline in submissions over the past five years, the Academy combined the separate awards for Outstanding Actor and Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series into a single, gender-neutral category: Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.^[1] This consolidation aimed to streamline the awards process and better reflect the current state of short form content.

Winners and nominations

indicates the winner

2010s

Year	Actor	Program	Role	Network
2016 (68th) ^[2]
	Rob Corddry	Childrens Hospital	Dr. Blake Downs	Adult Swim
	Rob Huebel	Childrens Hospital	Dr. Owen Maestro	Adult Swim
	Jack McBrayer	Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell	Ollie	Adult Swim
	Oscar Nunez	The Crossroads of History	Jack	History
	Lou Diamond Phillips	The Crossroads of History	Chieftain	History
2017 (69th) ^[3]
	Kim Estes	Dicks	Amanda	Vimeo
	Ty Burrell	Boondoggle	Ty	ABCd/ABC.com
	John Michael Higgins	Tween Fest	Todd Crawford	Go90
	Jason Ritter	Tales of Titans	Greg	Go90
	Ben Schwartz	The Earliest Show	Josh Bath	Funny or Die
	Alan Tudyk	Con Man	Wray Nerely	Comic-Con HQ
2018 (70th) ^[4]
	James Corden	James Corden's Next James Corden	James Corden	CBS on Snapchat
	Alexis Denisof	I Love Bekka & Lucy	Glenn	Stage13.com
	Melvin Jackson Jr.	This Eddie Murphy Role Is Mine, Not Yours	Melvin Jackson Jr./Eddie Murphy	YouTube
	DeStorm Power	Caught: The Series	DeStorm Power	YouTube
	Miles Tagtmeyer	Broken	Liam	Vimeo
2019 (71st) ^[5]
	Chris O'Dowd	State of the Union	Tom	Sundance
	Ed Begley Jr.	Ctrl Alt Delete	Dr. Rosenblatt	Vimeo
	Jimmy Fallon	Beto Breaks the Internet	Beto O'Rourke	NBC
	Ryan O'Connell^{[note 1]}^[6]	Special	Ryan Hayes	Netflix
	Patton Oswalt	An Emmy for Megan	Patton	AnEmmyForMegan.com

2020s

Year	Actor	Program	Role	Network
2020 (72nd) ^[7]
	Laurence Fishburne	#FreeRayshawn	Lt. Steven Poincy	Quibi
	Mamoudou Athie	Oh Jerome, No (Cake)	Jerome	FX
	Corey Hawkins	Survive	Paul	Quibi
	Stephan James	#FreeRayshawn	Rayshawn Morris
	Christoph Waltz	Most Dangerous Game	Miles Sellars
2021 (73rd) ^[8]
	J. B. Smoove	Mapleworth Murders	Chief Billy Bills	Quibi
	Brendan Scannell	Bonding	Pete Devon	Netflix
	Kevin Hart	Die Hart	Kevin Hart	Quibi
	John Lutz	Mapleworth Murders	Gilbert Pewntz
	John Travolta	Die Hart	Ron Wilcox
2022 (74th) ^[9]
	Tim Robinson	I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson	Various Characters	Netflix
	Anthony A. Anderson	Anacostia	Sean Williams-Grey	YouTube
	Bill Burr	Immoral Compass	Rick	Roku
	Brendan Gleeson	State of the Union	Scott	Sundance TV
	Ikechukwu Ufomadu	Words With Ike (Cake)	Ikechukwu Ufomadu	FX
2023 (75th) ^[10]
	Tim Robinson	I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson	Various Characters	Netflix
	Kevin Hart	Die Hart 2: Die Harter	Kevin Hart	The Roku Channel
	Ben Schwartz	Die Hart 2: Die Harter	Andre	The Roku Channel

Multiple wins

2 wins

Tim Robinson (consecutive)

Multiple nominations

2 nominations

Notes

^ In 2019, Jonathan Banks was nominated for the AMC series Better Call Saul Employee Training: Madrigal Electromotive Security. The nomination was rescinded after it was determined that several episodes were shorter than two minutes, violating the TV Academy's rule that six episodes air during the eligibility period with a runtime of at least two minutes. Sixth place finisher Ryan O'Connell became the fifth nominee.

References

^ "Rules Changes Announced for 76th Emmy Awards". Television Academy. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
^ Petski, Denise (July 19, 2019). "Television Academy Rules Emmy-Nominated 'Better Call Saul' Short Form Series Ineligible After All". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
^ "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2023.

[6] In 2019, Jonathan Banks was nominated for the AMC series Better Call Saul Employee Training: Madrigal Electromotive Security. The nomination was rescinded after it was determined that several episodes were shorter than two minutes, violating the TV Academy's rule that six episodes air during the eligibility period with a runtime of at least two minutes. Sixth place finisher Ryan O'Connell became the fifth nominee.

[1] "Rules Changes Announced for 76th Emmy Awards". Television Academy. Retrieved 2024-12-16.

[2] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2016.

[3] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2017.

[4] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 12, 2018.

[5] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 16, 2019.

[7] Petski, Denise (July 19, 2019). "Television Academy Rules Emmy-Nominated 'Better Call Saul' Short Form Series Ineligible After All". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 19, 2019.

[8] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 29, 2020.

[9] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2021.

[10] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2022.

[11] "Nominees/Winners". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 13, 2023.

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v t e Primetime Emmy Award categories
Programs	Comedy Series Drama Series Limited or Anthology Series Television Movie Reality Competition Program Talk Series Scripted Variety Series Animated Program Documentary or Nonfiction Series Documentary or Nonfiction Special Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Game Show Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series Structured Reality Program Unstructured Reality Program Variety Special (Live) Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)
Performance	Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Lead Actor in a Drama Series Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Lead Actress in a Drama Series Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Guest Actor in a Drama Series Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Guest Actress in a Drama Series Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Character Voice-Over Performance Host for a Game Show Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program Narrator
Directing	Directing for a Comedy Series Directing for a Drama Series Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Directing for a Variety Series Directing for a Variety Special Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program Directing for a Reality Program
Writing	Writing for a Comedy Series Writing for a Drama Series Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Writing for a Variety Series Writing for a Variety Special Writing for a Nonfiction Program
Animation	Individual Achievement in Animation
Casting	Casting for a Comedy Series Casting for a Drama Series Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Casting for a Reality Program
Choreography	Choreography for Scripted Programming Choreography for Variety and Reality Programming
Cinematography	Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Cinematography for a Reality Program Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour) Cinematography for a Series (One Hour)
Commercials	Commercial
Costume Design	Contemporary Costumes Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes Period Costumes Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Programming
Hairstyling	Contemporary Hairstyling Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Hairstyling
Lighting	Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Variety Series Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Variety Special
Main Title / Motion Design	Main Title Design Motion Design
Makeup	Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) Prosthetic Makeup
Music	Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score) Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score) Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) Music Direction Music Supervision Original Main Title Theme Music Original Music and Lyrics
Picture Editing	Picture Editing for a Multi-Camera Comedy Series Picture Editing for a Single-Camera Comedy Series Picture Editing for a Drama Series Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program Picture Editing for a Structured or Competition Reality Program Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program Picture Editing for Variety Programming
Production Design	Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More) Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour or Less) Production Design for a Variety or Reality Series Production Design for a Variety Special
Sound Editing	Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour) Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program
Sound Mixing	Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour) Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program Sound Mixing for a Reality Program Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special
Special Effects	Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie / Special and Visual Effects in a Single Episode
Stunts	Stunt Coordination Stunt Performance
Technical Direction	Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Series Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Special
Engineering	Engineering Philo T. Farnsworth Award
Retired	Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series Children's Program Costumes for a Series Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Interactive Program Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) New Series Program of the Year Short Form Animated Program Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Short Form Variety Series Super Emmy Variety Series Voice-Over Performance
Emmy categories Primetime Daytime International Sports Children's and Family