Zendaya Becomes Youngest Two-Time Emmy Winner in History With ‘Euphoria’ Lead Actress Win

Zendaya once again breaks the record second time in a row and becomes the youngest person to ever win the Emmy award for lead actress in a drama series for her performance in Euphoria. 

Now, at 26 years old, she is the youngest actress to win two Emmys and the first Black woman to win the Emmy for lead actress in a drama series twice. During her speech, Zendaya thanked the cast and crew of “Euphoria” as well as those who have shared with her their stories of addiction. “This means so much. Thank you so much,” Zendaya said on stage. “To all the incredible actors in this category, I’m so honored to be beside you. Thank you to the incredible, incredible cast. Thank you for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show. I love you all so much.”

After thanking the TV Academy, her friends, and family, she continued, “Thank you to Sam [Levinson] for sharing Rue with me. Thank you for believing in me, even in moments when I didn’t believe in myself. And then lastly, I just want to say, my greatest wish for Euphoria was that it helped heal people. And I just want to say thank you to everyone who have shared their story with me. I want you to know that anyone who has loved a Rue or feels like they are a Rue, I want you to know what I’m so grateful for your stories, and I carry them with me and I carry them with her. So, thank you so much.”

Zendaya beat a tough slate of competitors which included Jodie Comer's Killing Eve, Laura Linney Ozark, Melanie Lynskey Yellowjackets, Sandra Oh's Killing Eve, and Reese Witherspoon's The Morning Show. Euphoria did quite well in the lead-up, scoring wins for choreography, cinematography, makeup, editing, and guest actor for her costar Colman Domingo, who plays Rue’s sanguine sponsor Ali.

The 26-year-old Zendaya may also soon become the youngest-ever producing winner, as an exec producer on Euphoria, should the show triumph in the category of Outstanding Drama Series. While she also this year landed a pair of noms in the category of Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, as the co-lyricist of Euphoria‘s tunes “Elliot’s Song” and “I’m Tired,” she and her fellow noms Labrinth, Muzhda Zemar-McKenzie and Sam Levinson lost out in that arena to Schmigadoon‘s Cinco Paul.