Archive · 15 Sep 2026
Jean Smart makes Emmy history with five-for-five Hacks victories
Jean Smart plays comedian Deborah Vance in the television show Hacks.
She won an Emmy for the show’s fifth and final season.
This means she won the lead-actress award for every season of Hacks.
No other television performer had done that before, according to the report.
Smart now has eight acting Emmy Awards.
That ties her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman.
Hacks also received 24 nominations in its final season.
The show follows Deborah and her younger comedy writer, Ava Daniels.
Jean Smart won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Hacks’ fifth and final season.
The victory made Smart the first performer to win an Emmy for every existing season of one series.
Smart’s win brought her acting Emmy total to eight, tying Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman.
She won four previous lead-actress Emmys for playing Deborah Vance in Hacks, beginning in 2021.
Hacks received 24 nominations for its farewell season, a single-year record for a comedy series.
- Who
- Jean Smart, who plays Deborah Vance in Hacks, won the award.
- What
- Smart won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Hacks’ fifth and final season.
- When
- At an awards ceremony held on Tuesday (IST); the article also identifies her previous Hacks wins as occurring in 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025.
- Where
- At the Emmy awards ceremony; Hacks is an HBO Max series set partly in Las Vegas.
- Why
- The win recognized Smart’s performance as Deborah Vance and completed her five-for-five run across Hacks’ seasons.
- Winner
- Jean Smart
- Award
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
- Series
- Hacks
- Season
- Fifth and final season
- Acting Emmy total
- Eight
- Final-season nominations
- 24
- Comedy-series record
- Most nominations for a comedy series in a single year, according to the report