While the first Primetime Emmys battle involving two male drama series costars occurred in 1957, it took until 1980 for there to be such a showdown in the corresponding female category. In the time since on-screen mother and daughter Sada Thompson and Kristy McNichol (“Family”) faced off, 10 more pairs of dramatic lead actresses have been pitted against each other at the Emmys between one and six times each. Scroll through our chronological photo gallery to learn more about the 22 separate cases of dual Best Drama Actress nominations.
The largest portion of this category’s costar face-offs is credited to Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless of “Cagney & Lacey.” After Gless replaced Daly’s first season costar, Meg Foster, the pair never failed to jointly earn TV academy recognition, leading to a record four wins for Daly (1983-1985, 1988) and two for Gless (1986-1987). The other series that account for multiple entries on this list (three apiece, to be exact) are “L.A. Law,” “The Sopranos,” and “Killing Eve.”
This gallery does not include actresses who were nominated in this category for series on which they only made single-episode guest appearances. Daly and Gless’s wins represent half of those that have derived from these 22 situations, the rest of which are attributed to Barbara Babcock (“Hill Street Blues,” 1981), Sela Ward (“Sisters,” 1994), Edie Falco (“The Sopranos,” 1999, 2001), Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve,” 2019), and Olivia Colman (“The Crown,” 2021).
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Kristy McNichol and Sada Thompson (‘Family,’ 1980)
Image Credit: ABC Characters: Buddy Lawrence and Kate Lawrence
Characters’ relationship: Daughter and mother
Season 5
Result:
Both lost to Barbara Bel Geddes (“Dallas”)Additional nominations:
McNichol – 1977-1979 (all supporting; won 1977, 1979)
Thompson – 1977-1979 (won 1978) -
Barbara Bel Geddes and Linda Gray (‘Dallas,’ 1981)
Image Credit: CBS Characters: Ellie Ewing and Sue Ellen Ewing
Characters’ relationship: Mother and daughter-in-law
Season 4
Result:
Both lost to Barbara Babcock (“Hill Street Blues”)Additional nominations:
Bel Geddes – 1979-1980 (won 1980) -
Barbara Babcock and Veronica Hamel (‘Hill Street Blues,’ 1981)
Image Credit: NBC Characters: Grace Gardner and Joyce Davenport
Characters’ relationship: Police precinct coworkers’ love interests
Season 1
Result:
Babcock wonAdditional nominations:
Hamel – 1982-1985 -
Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless (‘Cagney & Lacey,’ 1983-1988)
Image Credit: CBS Characters: Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney
Characters’ relationship: Detective partners
Seasons 2-7
Results:
1983-1985, 1988 – Daly won
1986-1987 – Gless won -
Susan Dey and Jill Eikenberry (‘L.A. Law,’ 1987-1989)
Image Credit: NBC Characters: Grace Van Owen and Ann Kelsey
Characters’ relationship: Law colleagues
Seasons 1-3
Results:
1987 – Both lost to Sharon Gless (“Cagney & Lacey”)
1988 – Both lost to Tyne Daly (“Cagney & Lacey”)
1989 – Both lost to Dana Delany (“China Beach”)Additional nominations:
Eikenberry – 1990, 1994 (supporting) -
Swoosie Kurtz and Sela Ward (‘Sisters,’ 1994)
Image Credit: NBC Characters: Alex Reed and Teddy Reed
Characters’ relationship: Sisters
Season 4
Result:
Ward wonAdditional nomination:
Kurtz – 1993 -
Julianna Margulies and Sherry Stringfield (‘ER,’ 1997)
Image Credit: NBC Characters: Carol Hathaway and Susan Lewis
Characters’ relationship: Hospital coworkers
Season 3
Result:
Both lost to Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”)Additional nominations:
Margulies – 1995-1996 (both supporting), 1998-2000 (won 1996)
Stringfield – 1995-1996 -
Lorraine Bracco and Edie Falco (‘The Sopranos,’ 1999-2001)
Image Credit: HBO Characters: Jennifer Melfi and Carmela Soprano
Characters’ relationship: Mobster’s therapist and wife
Seasons 1-3
Results:
1999, 2001 – Falco won
2000 – Both lost to Sela Ward (“Once and Again”)Additional nominations:
Falco – 2003-2004, 2007 (won 2003)
Bracco – 2007 (supporting) -
Frances Conroy and Rachel Griffiths (‘Six Feet Under,’ 2002)
Image Credit: HBO Characters: Ruth Fisher and Brenda Chenowith
Characters’ relationship:
Season 1
Result:
Both lost to Allison Janney (“The West Wing”)Additional nominations:
Conroy – 2003, 2005-2006
Griffiths – 2003 (supporting) -
Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh (‘Killing Eve,’ 2019-2020, 2022)
Image Credit: BBC America Characters: Villanelle and Eve Polastri
Characters’ relationship: Archenemies
Seasons 2-4
Results:
2019 – Comer won
2020, 2022 – Both lost to Zendaya (“Euphoria”)Additional nomination:
Oh – 2018 -
Olivia Colman and Emma Corrin (‘The Crown,’ 2021)
Image Credit: Netflix Characters: Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana
Characters’ relationship: Mother and daughter-in-law
Result:
Colman wonAdditional nomination:
Colman – 2020
