Kevin Hart among nominees for Creative Arts Emmys opening night

By Steven Herbert

Kevin Hart, Quinta Brunson, Taraji P. Henson and Nathan Lane are among the nominees as the two-night 2022-23 Creative Arts Emmy Awards begin Saturday at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live with awards for scripted programming presented in 49 categories.

Hart is nominated for outstanding actor in a short form comedy or drama series for his portrayal of a fictionalized version of himself in the “Die Hard” parody, “Die Hart 2: Die Harter,” which streams on The Roku Channel.

Ben Schwartz, who portrays Hart’s over-eager assistant, Andre, is also among the category’s three nominees, along with the winner from the 2021-22 season, Tim Robinson, who portrayed various characters in the Netflix comedy “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson.”

Hart will return for the third installment of the comedy action- adventure series, the channel announced.

“Die Hart 2: Die Harter,” also has two of the three nominations for outstanding actress in a short form comedy or drama series — Nathalie Emmanuel and Paula Pell. Jasmine Guy is the other nominee for her portrayal of the woman taking over Sector 9 on “Chronicles of Jessica Wu,” Tubi’s series about a girl on the autism spectrum (Shante DeLoach) who has mastered martial arts.

Brunson, the star and creator of the ABC comedy “Abbott Elementary,” is nominated for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for hosting “Saturday Night Live,” whose hosts have won a record five times since the category was created in 1989.

Henson was nominated for her portrayal of the mother of Brunson’s “Abbott Elementary” character.

The field also consists of three nominees from “Ted Lasso” — Becky Ann Baker, who guest starred as the title character’s mother, Sarah Niles, for the recurring role of sports psychologist Sharon Fieldstone, and Harriet Walter, for her two appearances as the mother of Premier League team owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham).

Walter is also among the three nominees for outstanding guest actress in a drama series from HBO Max’s “Succession,” along with Hiam Abbass and Cherry Jones. The other three nominees are from the HBO Max post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us” — Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid and Anna Torv.

Lane is again nominated for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for his role as  deli chain owner Teddy Dimas in Hulu’s “Only Murders In The Building.” He was the category’s winner in 2022, his first Emmy following six previous nominations, five in the category.

Luke Kirby was nominated for a third time for his portrayal of envelope-pushing comedian Lenny Bruce on Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” He won in 2019.

The field of five also consists of two nominees from the Hulu comedy “The Bear” — Jon Bernthal, who plays the late brother of award-winning chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) who returns to his hometown of Chicago to manage the chaotic kitchen at his deceased brother’s sandwich shop, and Oliver Platt, who portrays the best friend of the late father of the Berzatto siblings and the restaurant’s key investor.

Sam Richardson was nominated for the second consecutive season for his portrayal of the Ghanaian billionaire owner of a Moroccan soccer team on “Ted Lasso.”

“The Last of Us” star Pedro Pascal is nominated for hosting “Saturday Night Live.”

Four of the six nominees for outstanding guest actor in a drama series are from “The Last of Us” — Murray Bartlett, Lamar Johnson, Nick Offerman and Keivonn Montreal Woodard while the other two are from “Succession” — James Cromwell and Arian Moayed.

The Emmy for outstanding television movie will also be presented Saturday. Two of the nominees are from Hulu, “Fire Island” and “Prey,” with one each coming from Disney+, “Hocus Pocus 2,” NBC, “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas,” and The Roku Channel, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

Most of Saturday’s awards are in various technical categories, including hairstyling, makeup, costuming, production design, picture editing, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

Awards in 49 categories for animated, nonfiction, reality and variety programs and game shows will be presented Sunday.

An edited presentation of the two nights of the Creative Arts Emmys will Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. on FXX.

Awards in the top 25 categories in comedy, drama, competition, limited, variety sketch and talk series and the Governors Award will be presented at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 15, also at the Peacock Theater.

To be eligible, programming had to initially be broadcast or streamed between June 1, 2022-May 31, 2023.

All three ceremonies were scheduled for September but postponed because of the strikes by the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

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