Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
The 2017 Emmy Awards air on Sunday, September 17th and Decider is here to help you get ready for TV’s biggest night. Check here all week long for all our coverage previewing this year’s Emmys.
If you’re looking for a jack-of-all-trades actress, you’d be hard pressed to find someone better than Kathryn Hahn. The actress has been bringing her A-game over the past few years with roles in major productions like Transparent, I Love Dick, and Bad Moms, and audiences can’t seem to get enough of her dry humor and seemingly endless wit. Despite being a fan favorite in practically every show or movie she appears in, Hahn hasn’t yet convinced awards show voters that she’s the real deal. Which, frankly, is complete bullshit.
Hahn has been slaying the role of Rabbi Raquel Fein on Transparent for three seasons, but it isn’t until this year that she’s finally nominated for an Emmy award. The Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy nom marks Hahn’s first moment of recognition by a major awards show, and it’s only the fourth individual nomination she’s received in her 20+ years in the industry (she’s been nominated four times for her work in a larger ensemble for projects like Captain Fantastic and Revolutionary Road).
If you’re counting, that’s eight total award nominations, which doesn’t sound too shabby. But keep in mind that the vast majority of these accolades are for smaller competitions like the CinemaCon Awards and the Gold Derby Awards. And when you compare Hahn’s single Emmy nom to, say, Guy Fieri’s five for Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, the total lack of critical appreciation for her star power becomes even more apparent.
While Guy Fieri can only say “Welcome to Flavortown!” so many different ways, Kathryn Hahn has been wowing audiences for years with her amazing ability to be both funny and dramatic, often in the same scene. Amazon‘s Transparent is a comedy (although that’s become iffier in recent seasons), but Hahn’s role as Raquel leans more toward the serious, especially when compared to the over-the-top Pfeffermans. Raquel is a stabilizing force for the family — not just as a rabbi, but as a friend who would love to see the Pfefferman children follow through with at least one of their commitments. But even when Raquel freaks out after being cosmically disappointed by Sarah in the Season 3 episode, “Life Sucks and Then You Die,” Hahn imbues the performance with just the right amount of comedy to make us feel her grief. The actress has been hitting the sweet spot between comedy and drama for her entire tenure on Transparent, and it’s just plain criminal that it’s taken awards voters three years to recognize it.
On the raunchier, non-rabbinic end of the spectrum, Hahn’s performances in I Love Dick and Bad Moms solidify her status as an actor unafraid to break the mold. I Love Dick is Hahn’s most high-profile starring part to date, and she seamlessly slips into the role of Chris, a woman consumed by her lust for a rugged cowboy. The Amazon series flips the script on female sexuality, making Hahn not an object of sexualized desire but the one actively pursuing a sexual conquest. Likewise in Bad Moms, Hahn’s Carla is not here to apologize for wanting a good bang. Carla may be a middle-aged mom, but that doesn’t mean she has to be celibate and talk solely about wearing sweaters to avoid catching a cold, as many movie mom stereotypes would lead us to believe. These projects aren’t perfect by any means, but we’d argue that a performance that’s both hilarious and socially aware deserves a little more credit than a performance in a tired family sitcom. Not to throw shade, but…
This year’s Emmy race for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series is stacked with Saturday Night Live favorites, so we’re guessing that Hahn once again won’t get the awards love she deserves. But in 2018 can we please properly reward this amazing actress? Consider this the beginning of the For Your Consideration campaign for all things Kathryn Hahn.
