Lena Waithe has made Emmy history. She is the First African-American woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing. Lena won the Emmy for co-writing the Thanksgiving episode for the Netflix series “Master of None” with the series co-creator Aziz Ansari.
The episode depicts how she came out as a lesbian. It follows Denise’s characters over the course of 5 Thanksgiving dinners, spanning 22 years.
The only other woman of colour who has been nominated in the category is Mindy Kaling. She was nominated in 2010 for her episode in the Office but lost out to the writers of the Modern Family pilot.
In her speech, she said, “ The things that make us different — those are our superpowers. Every day when you walk out the door, put on your imaginary cape and go out there and conquer the world because the world would not be as beautiful as it is without us in it.”
“Thank you for embracing a little Indian boy from South Carolina and a little queer black girl from the South Side of Chicago,” she said, with Ansari by her side. “We appreciate it more than you could ever know.”
"When a straight, white guy is, like, ‘ 'Thanksgiving' was my favourite episode,’ that’s when art is doing its job, when he can look at my character and go, ‘I can see myself in her,’" said Waithe.
She told reporters that she hopes her career helps other people try for careers in entertainment.
“It says that it is possible,” she said. “There’s so many other funny women of colour. I hope they will now have an opportunity because this door has been opened.”
Here are a few things about the actress:
- Lena Waithe grew up in Evanston, Chicago, and graduated from Columbia University.
- She is now working on “The Chi”. It is a new drama series which looks at the effects of violence on life on the South Side, Chicago.
- Lena began her career as a writer for the Fox television series Bones. She was also a writer for the Nickelodeon show How to Rock.
We can’t wait to see what she does next!
Pic Credit: Buzzfeed
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