With Emmy nominations voting officially underway, the Television Academy’s ballots are offering insight into which performances could break through when nominations are unveiled on July 8.
Of the 20 stars who hosted “Saturday Night Live” during its 51st season, NBC put only 11 forward for guest comedy acting consideration — a pointed pullback from a year ago, when all 20 of the Season 50 hosts landed on the ballot. Submitted for guest comedy actor are Bad Bunny, Ryan Gosling, Harry Styles, Jack Black, Colman Domingo, Will Ferrell and Connor Storie, while the guest comedy actress race features Amy Poehler, Olivia Rodrigo, Melissa McCarthy and Ariana Grande.
The nine hosts left off the ballot were more surprising. Among the season’s biggest gets who were not submitted include Matt Damon (a former nominee for hosting in 2019), Alexander Skarsgård (featuring Ashley Padilla’s viral “Trump Mom” sketch), Glen Powell, Josh O’Connor, Finn Wolfhard and Miles Teller; along with music popstar Sabrina Carpenter, famed comedian Nikki Glaser and recent Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor (“One Battle After Another”).
And then there is the entire ballot for performers, which boasts one of the largest peer groups of the TV Academy.
Across the 17 performer categories, 1,573 submissions are in contention this year, down from 1,706 in 2025 — a decline of nearly 8%. Across the 17 acting races, Prime Video’s “The Boys” and “Saturday Night Live” each drew 28 performer submissions, the most of any series. HBO Max’s “The Pitt” follows at 24, followed by its network counterpart “Euphoria” at 23, the now cancelled “The Copenhagen Test” from Peacock at 21 and the final season of “Hacks” with 20. Other series featuring bulky performer submissions include “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat” (19), “Only Murders in the Building” and “Tulsa King” (18) and “Fallout” (17).
According to Academy rules, the number of nominees in each category is determined by the volume of submissions, with the field expanding to a sixth lead or supporting nominee only once entries cross the 80-submission threshold. This year, all six lead acting races will produce just five nominees.
Lead drama actor holds essentially steady at 78, nearly matching last year’s 77, when 134 names crowded the ballot. Lead drama actress slipped to 63 from 75, continuing a long decline from 109 in 2023 and 114 in 2022. Lead comedy actor fell to 43, the smallest field in the category across the past five years and a steep retreat from 51 last year and the 84 logged in 2022. Lead comedy actress held nearly even at 46, down a single name from 47.
The combined limited series and movie lead races are also seeing a downward trend. Lead actor (limited) ticked up to 52 from 48 but remains well off the 97 of 2023. Lead actress dropped to 41 from 53, a far cry from the 96 in 2023.
The supporting drama categories remain the most crowded acting races, but still shows the long-term decline, which is staggering. Supporting drama actor stands at 228, roughly level with last year’s 233 yet down from a record 436 in 2022 — meaning, a loss of more than 200 submissions in four years. Supporting drama actress sits at 222, against 227 last year and 385 in 2022. The supporting comedy races are the one places of the acting ballots, where the numbers are up, despite the overall series decline.
Supporting comedy actor jumped to 185 from 163 last year and 147 in 2024, the biggest year-over-year gain anywhere on the ballot. Supporting comedy actress also rose, to 149 from 141.With a loss of 40 submissions, supporting actor in a limited series or movie tumbled to 84 from 124, the largest decline of any acting race. At the same time, supporting actress (limited) fell to 66 from 105, a 39-person plummet. They both had record highs with their 2023 totals of 209 and 177.
The guest races stay crowded and self-submission-friendly. Guest comedy actor dipped to 88 from 97, while guest comedy actress rose to 82 from 74. On the drama side of guest actor, the category was nearly steady at 84, down three from 87, while guest drama actress saw the cycle’s sharpest guest decline, falling to 51 from 77.
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