Yvonne Orji finally got her first Emmy nomination and her parents couldn’t have been prouder when she shared the exciting news with them!
On Tuesday, the Nigerian-American actress and Insecure star scooped an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nomination for her role as Molly in the highly-rated and popular comedy-drama series. Fellow co-star Issa Rae was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, while the series itself was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series.
A well-deserved nod, the actress took to Twitter to share her excitement: “I know Molly stressed y’all THE heck OUT this season, but shout out to all of you for riding with @insecurehbo and for VOTING!! We IN HERE! And it’s even sweeter when the WHOLE SQUAD THRIVIN TOO! to @IssaRae on her Emmy nod, the entire show, AND @BlackLadySketch!”
Born to Nigerian parents, Orji, 36, also posted a video on Instagram of her sharing the great news with her parents, who have been rooting for her since day one. Take a look at their emotional conversation below:
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about her whereabouts when she heard about her nomination, the Jesus and Jollof host said: “A couple of my co-stars and I were texting, so of course when Issa got nominated it was a series of just yelling voice notes like, “You did it!” And then when the show got nominated, we’re like, “Yeah!” just a whole bunch of yelling and then it went out and I was like oh, okay.”
She continued: “And then [her rep] Sam called and was like, “Congratulations,” and I was like “I know this is so big for us, this is great for us.” And she was like, “No, for you,” and I was like “I know, just to be part of the ensemble is great” and she was “Yvonne, you got nominated!” and I was like, “You saw my name?” So it was like it was a comedy moment in a comedy moment. And then I had to see for myself — like I took her word for it, but I was like “I want to see my name,” so then I went online and I saw and then there were more screams. I don’t know what happened, I just blacked out.”
Though the 72nd edition of the popular awards show will be held virtually on September 21 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Orji said albeit sad she won’t be able to hit the red carpet to stunt her first nomination outfit, she hinted she might just have her own red carpet event at home. Why? Because she’s Nigerian and they’re so extra. We couldn’t agree more with that.
“I’m sad about that, I’m actually sad about that because this is the year that you want to stunt, when you get your first nomination you want to be like ‘This is my best Emmy nominated outfit, you all see it?’,” she said.
“So it’s a little sad that we don’t get that moment — again, I may have a red carpet, I’m Nigerian, we are queens and kings of extra-dom. So it’s possible that I may get dressed up and have a red carpet brought in and that could be what I do. No one can be mad at that. I might have a whole glam squad get ready and take pictures in my home. It’s kind of sad but at the same time kind of popping.”
Wishing Orji and her team the very best of luck!
