The Golden Globes might have seemed like a wash for Black performers, but two favorites got their hardware Sunday–Ayo Edebiri and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
The two actors were the only two Black actors to win Sunday night amid many Black nominations from The Color Purple, Abbott Elementary, and other projects. Randolph won at the top of the night in the Supporting Female Actor – Musical or Comedy for her role as Mary Lamb in holiday-set film The Holdovers. Randolph thanked her character, who she said “made me feel seen in so many ways.”
Randolph spoke with Shadow and Act about her role in The Holdovers late last year, saying, “Why I take such pride in this woman is…that itis one of few experiences in which I have a character that can literally just be herself and not have to be the help literally to someone else. She can have her own feelings and take up space and not have it be about anything more or less than that.”
Edebiri won for Best Television Female Actor – Musical or Comedy for her role as Sydney Adamu in FX/Hulu’s The Bear. She very excitedly and charmingly thanked her The Bear acting “family,” her “real family,” and her agents and assistants who take care of all of her emails. Watch her full acceptance speech below.
Robert Townsend, who played Edebiri’s father in The Bear, talked about Edebiri’s acting talent in a 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, calling her a “baby unicorn.”
“She’s like a little force of nature. I love her being,” he said at the time. “As an artist, you respond to people’s energy and who they are. We call it that ‘it thing’ in show business and she has that it thing. She’s having the most amazing moment.”