Zendaya Makes History As Youngest Lead Actress Winner At 2020 Emmys

Published on September 21, 2020.

Congratulations Zendaya! The 24-year-old actress has made history as the youngest lead actress winner at the 2020 Emmys.

Zendaya won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in Euphoria at the 2020 Emmys on Sunday, September 20.

“Thank you to the TV Academy and to all the other incredible women in this category. I admire you all so much. This is pretty crazy,” she said during her acceptance speech. “To the incredible cast and crew of Euphoria, I’m so lucky to go to work with you every day, and I’m inspired by everything you do. … I know this feels like a really weird time to be celebrating, but I just want to say that there is hope in the young people.”

Zendaya broke the record set in 2019 by 26-year-old Killing Eve star Jodie Comer as the youngest star to take home the lead actress award in the drama category. Zendaya was nominated alongside Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Olivia Colman (The Crown) and Laura Linney (Ozark).

When Zendaya was nominated for the top honor back in July, the young actress wrote that she was speechless. “My heart is just overflowing with love and gratitude. I’m so incredibly honored to work beside the talented people that I get to call family. I am a small piece of a big beautiful puzzle and I’m so proud of all of you,” the talented actress shared on Instagram.

“Thank you to everyone out there who’s watched and given our show life, thank you @samlev00 @hbo @a24 for everything and @televisionacad for this beautiful acknowledgment, thank you, thank you, thank you. We out here Emmy nominated y’all!!”

Euphoria was nominated for six Emmys, including Outstanding Contemporary Costume, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series, and Outstanding Music Supervision. Aside from Zendaya’s win, the show also won Outstanding Contemporary Makeup and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.