Salli Richardson-Whitfield picked up two Emmy nominations for outstanding directing in a drama series this year — one for HBO Max's "The Gilded Age," the other for "Task" — making her the first Black woman to earn two directing nominations in the same category in a single year.
The double nod anchors a record year for Black women directors at the Television Academy: five nominations spread across three categories this cycle, the most the Emmys have recognized at once, according to a Variety analysis of the nominations. Hanelle Culpepper was nominated for drama directing on Hulu's "Paradise," and Ricki Hughes earned a nod for directing the variety special "Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable."
From acting to directing's aggressive camera
Richardson-Whitfield's route to the director's chair ran through acting first. "I started as an actress, so I always thought I'd be up there getting my Emmy for acting," she told Forbes this week. She has said filmmaker Ava DuVernay encouraged her to move behind the camera, and credits HBO executives Francesca Orsi and Casey Bloys with backing her early directing work.
Describing her approach on "The Gilded Age," she said: "I like the camera moving. I'd say my style on Gilded may be a little more aggressive than others."
It's really a validation of the hard work and sacrifice that I've made.
Salli Richardson-Whitfield, to Forbes
This is not her first milestone. In 2024, Richardson-Whitfield became the first Black woman ever nominated for an Emmy in the drama-directing category, for HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty." She has said she is now developing projects at HBO and considers a feature film a future goal.
The same nominations cycle also expanded Asian representation among directing and writing nominees, with Hiro Murai and Lee Sung Jin both cited by Variety's analysis. Murai remains one of only a handful of Asian directors to have won an Emmy in a directing category, alongside Tony To, who shared the prize for the 2002 miniseries "Band of Brothers," and Hwang Dong-hyuk, who won for "Squid Game" in 2022.
The directing categories will be decided at the Creative Arts Emmys on September 5 and 6, ahead of the main Primetime ceremony on September 14, which NBC and Peacock will broadcast live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.