5 Top Women’s Moments At The 2026 Emmys

1. Jean Smart Made Emmy History With Her Hacks Win

Jean Smart made history at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards by becoming the first female performer to win an Emmy for every single season of a television series.

Smart won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance as legendary comedian Deborah Vance in Hacks, marking her fifth consecutive win in the category for all five seasons of the series.

Her victory is a remarkable achievement in Emmy history. Smart won the award every season of Hacks, making her the first female performer to do so for a single television series.

The win also brought Smart’s career total to eight acting Emmy victories, placing her among the performers with the most acting Emmy wins in Emmy history.

For five seasons, Smart’s portrayal of Deborah Vance—a veteran comedian navigating an evolving entertainment industry while refusing to surrender her relevance, has been at the heart of Hacks. Her Emmy streak reflects the performance’s lasting impact.

The latest victory also provided a fitting conclusion to the acclaimed series, which ended with its fifth season.

“What a ride this has been!” Smart said during her acceptance speech, reflecting on the journey and thanking the show’s creators, HBO, and her family.

Smart’s Emmy night was ultimately about more than another award. It was about a five-season performance that became television history.

2. Allison Janney Tied The Record For Most Acting Emmy Wins

Allison Janney also made Emmy history during the ceremony. Janney won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as President Grace Penn in Netflix’s The Diplomat, bringing her career total to eight acting Emmy wins.

The victory puts Janney alongside Jean Smart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Cloris Leachman with eight acting Emmy wins. For Janney, the win adds another milestone to a career defined by versatility across television, film, and theater. She previously won multiple Emmys for her role as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing and later earned additional recognition for her work on Mom.

Her latest win also highlighted continued recognition of women in substantial, complex roles in television dramas.

From a fictional U.S. president on The Diplomat to an aging comedy legend on Hacks, the night celebrated women playing characters with authority, ambition, and complicated personal and professional lives.

3. Mariska Hargitay Made A Memorable Emmys Hosting Debut

Mariska Hargitay had a major Emmy moment as she took on hosting duties for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards.

The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star became the first woman in 15 years to host the Primetime Emmy Awards, following Jane Lynch’s hosting turn in 2011.

Hargitay leaned into her television legacy throughout the evening, opening the ceremony with a comedic musical number before delivering a monologue that spoofed Nicole Kidman’s viral AMC Theatres commercial.

The actress also brought her iconic SVU character, Captain Olivia Benson, into the ceremony through a sketch centered on another major pop-culture question: Would Taylor Swift show up to the Emmys?

In the sketch, Benson investigates the mystery alongside SVU co-star Ice-T, examining an evidence board filled with friendship bracelets and pop-culture clues. Swift ultimately appears as a suit-wearing rookie detective attempting to downplay the conspiracy.

The meta moment became even more playful when Swift was seen holding her real-life cat, Olivia Benson, named after Hargitay’s iconic character.

Hargitay’s hosting debut came after an especially significant Emmy weekend for the actress. Her documentary My Mom Jayne, which explores the life of her late mother, actress Jayne Mansfield, was also recognized during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Her presence throughout the Emmy festivities underscored the breadth of Hargitay’s career—from one of television’s longest-running scripted dramas to documentary filmmaking and, now, Emmy hosting.

4. Katie Dippold Turned An 18-Year-Old Idea Into An Emmy Winner

Katie Dippold had one of the night’s biggest behind-the-scenes victories.

Dippold won Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Widow’s Bay, her horror-comedy series, which also won Outstanding Comedy Series. The achievement is particularly notable because Dippold had been developing the idea for the project for 18 years before it ultimately became an Emmy-winning television series.

That long road from concept to television—and then to the Emmy stage—makes Dippold’s night one of the ceremony’s most notable creative success stories.

As a writer and producer, Dippold helped bring Widow’s Bay from an idea into a series that resonated with Emmy voters. Her wins also demonstrate the increasingly important role women play in shaping television not just as performers, but as the creators behind the stories audiences watch. Her success reminds us that an idea can take years to find its moment, and to have patience.

5. Reba McEntire And Sally Field Honored Dolly Parton

The ceremony also delivered an emotional tribute to Dolly Parton, bringing together two women who shared different but meaningful connections to the legendary entertainer.

Sally Field, who starred alongside Parton in the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, joined country music star Reba McEntire in honoring Parton during the ceremony, coming off her 4th Emmy win, for lead actress In A Movie Win for ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’.

Field reflected on her longtime friendship with Parton, describing her as genuine, humble, supportive, and funny, and highlighting her impact as both an artist and humanitarian.

“I couldn’t see then what a real giant Dolly was—not just as an artist, but as a human,” Field said.

She continued by reflecting on Parton’s humanitarian contributions and the impact she had on people in her home state of Tennessee and across the country. After Field spoke, McEntire took the stage to perform Parton’s 1983 song “Appalachian Memories.” As images celebrating Parton played during the performance, McEntire delivered an emotional final tribute as the song ended.

“I love you, Dolly. So much,” McEntire said.

The tribute brought the evening back to one of the central themes of the Emmys: legacy and honoring creativity. Parton’s influence has stretched across music, film, television, philanthropy and popular culture for decades. Bringing Field and McEntire—two women with their own significant careers of their own—together to honor her made the tribute particularly poignant.

From Jean Smart’s history-making Emmy streak to Allison Janney’s record-tying career achievement, Mariska Hargitay’s hosting debut, Katie Dippold’s long-awaited creative breakthrough and the celebration of Parton’s legacy, women were central to some of the 2026 Emmy Awards’ most memorable moments.

The evening reminded everyone that women’s impact on television extends well beyond the screen. They are performers, writers, producers, hosts, creators, and cultural forces—and at the 78th Emmys, their contributions took center stage.

See some photos of Emmy winners, nominees, and actresses, enjoying themselves throughout the evening festivities.