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2025 Emmy predictions: best comedy actress

Buzzmeter Comedy Actress
(Illustration by Lesley Busby / Los Angeles Times; photos from Disney; Max; Peacock)

Reigning champ and winner for each of “Hacks’” previous three seasons, Jean Smart is the favorite here, with Natasha Lyonne, star, executive producer and occasional writer and director of “Poker Face,” joining her as the only other performer named on every ballot in Round 1.

“I’d love to see if Natasha Lyonne can really compete this year with Smart and [Quinta] Brunson,” says Trey Mangum. “But also, Ayo Edebiri may continue to be an awards darling and stun them all.” Marveling at how Lyonne “makes it look effortless,” Glenn Whipp says the multiple threat “looks like she’s having the time of her life.”

Lorraine Ali says, “Bridget Everett, Natasha Lyonne and Uzo Aduba all deliver fantastic and nuanced performances as eccentric outsiders and in roles that capitalize on their unconventional appeal.” Tracy Brown writes that Kathryn Hahn’s selfish witch on “Agatha All Along” “is pretty much everything society tells you women aren’t supposed to be, but you can feel Hahn having a blast, playing her.”

Predicting it will again be Smart’s time to shine, Matt Roush declares, “In the spirit of ‘It’s an honor to be nominated,’ let’s hope Bridget Everett receives that honor for her poignant, soul-baring realism.”

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And while Kristen Baldwin expects the final season of “What We Do in the Shadows” to get a series nom, “It still hurts that Natasia Demetriou [hasn’t been] nominated for her consistently batty (sorry) performance as the enterprising vampire Nadja of Antipaxos.”

More predictions: Comedy actor | Comedy series

1. Jean Smart, “Hacks”
2. Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”
3. Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
4. Bridget Everett, “Somebody Somewhere”
5. Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
6. Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”
7. Kathryn Hahn, “Agatha All Along”
8. Poorna Jagannathan, “Deli Boys”
9. Kate Hudson, “Running Point”
10 Uzo Aduba, “The Residence”

line drawing of a woman

Los Angeles Times

Lorraine Ali

1. (tie) Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”
1. (tie) Bridget Everett, “Somebody Somewhere”
3. (tie) Poorna Jagannathan, “Deli Boys”
3. (tie) Kate Hudson, “Running Point”
5. Uzo Aduba, “The Residence”
6. Jean Smart, “Hacks”

“Bridget Everett, Natasha Lyonne and Uzo Aduba all deliver fantastic and nuanced performances as eccentric outsiders and in roles that capitalize on their unconventional appeal. Kate Hudson brings it home as the first female owner of an NBA team, and Poorna Jagannathan is in her element as a mob boss.”

Entertainment Weekly

Kristen Baldwin

1. Jean Smart, “Hacks”
2. Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
3. Bridget Everett, “Somebody Somewhere”
4. Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
5. Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”
6. Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”

“While the comedy series nomination for ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ will take some of the sting away, it still hurts that Natasia Demetriou was never nominated for her consistently batty (sorry) performance as the enterprising vampire Nadja of Antipaxos.”

Los Angeles Times

Tracy Brown

1. Kathryn Hahn, “Agatha All Along”
2. Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”
3. Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
4. Jean Smart, “Hacks”
5. Bridget Everett, “Somebody Somewhere”
6. Poorna Jagannathan, “Deli Boys”

“Agatha Harkness is Kathryn Hahn at her finest — a bit hammy and extra but also sharp, smart and nuanced. Perhaps it’s because the character is pretty much everything society tells you women aren’t supposed to be, but you can feel Hahn having a blast playing her.”

Shadow and Act

Trey Mangum

1. Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”
2. Jean Smart, “Hacks”
3. Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
4. Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
5. Natasha Rothwell, “How to Die Alone”
6. Uzo Aduba, “The Residence”

“Who is going to provide the most competition to Jean Smart and Quinta Brunson? Is it Bridget Everett? I’d love to see if Natasha Lyonne can really compete this year. But also, Ayo Edebiri may continue to be an awards darling and stun them all.”

TV Guide

Matt Roush

1. Jean Smart, “Hacks”
2. Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”
3. Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
4. Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
5. Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”
6. Bridget Everett, “Somebody Somewhere”

“Once again, this is ‘Hacks’ star Jean Smart’s time to shine. No argument here. And in the spirit of ‘It’s an honor to be nominated,’ let’s hope Bridget Everett receives that honor for her poignant, soul-baring realism in ‘Somebody Somewhere,’ a quiet gem that deserves Emmy respect.”

line drawing of a man on a yellow circle

Los Angeles Times

Glenn Whipp

1. Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”
2. Jean Smart, “Hacks”
3. Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
4. Bridget Everett, “Somebody Somewhere”
5. Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”
6. Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”

“Like many great comic turns, Natasha Lyonne makes it look effortless on ‘Poker Face,’ her character drifting from place to place, stumbling into mysteries and solving them almost by accident. The formula hasn’t grown stale, mostly because Lyonne looks like she’s having the time of her life.”

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