Jean Smart has made Emmy history by turning a five-season run on Hacks into a perfect awards streak. Her latest victory makes her the first woman to win an acting Emmy for every season of an ongoing television series.
DiscussingFilm reported the record shortly after the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, where Smart’s performance as veteran comedian Deborah Vance extended one of the most dominant comedy runs in recent television history.
The achievement arrives with the fifth and final season of Hacks, giving Smart a win for every season of the HBO Max series: 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026. The Television Academy lists her earlier victories for the role alongside awards for Frasier, Samantha Who?, Fargo and Mare of Easttown.
Five seasons. Five wins.
Smart’s 2026 victory also helped cap a record-setting year for Hacks. The show’s final season earned 24 Emmy nominations, the most ever for a comedy in a single year, surpassing the previous mark of 23 set by The Studio in 2025 and The Bear in 2024, according to the Television Academy.
The win adds another distinction to Smart’s Emmy résumé. The Academy says she is one of only two actors to have won in comedy lead, comedy supporting and comedy guest categories, while her honors also include a limited-series supporting-actress trophy for Mare of Easttown.
DiscussingFilm also noted that Smart is now tied as the most Emmy-winning actress of all time. Her path to that standing has been unusually broad: she first won for her work on established network comedies before finding a late-career showcase in Hacks, where Deborah Vance’s sharp edges and vulnerability have supplied the role’s awards-season staying power.
The record comes as Hacks closes its run—not with a farewell tour, but with Smart’s fifth Emmy waiting in the wings.
