2023 Emmys: How much screen time does each Best Comedy Supporting Actress nominee have?
Last year, Hannah Waddingham was widely expected to pull off a second consecutive Best Comedy Supporting Actress Emmy victory for Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” but that plan was thwarted by “Abbott Elementary” cast member Sheryl Lee Ralph, who is now working to fend off Waddingham and five other women in her quest for her own back-to-back triumph. Ralph’s initial win came in honor of her performance in the “New Tech” installment of her ABC series, which, at 11 minutes and 12 seconds, was nearly 20% longer than the second season turn she asked voters to consider this time.
By appearing in nine minutes and four seconds (or 42.04%) of “Fire,” Ralph falls below her current competitors’ physical screen time average of 14 minutes and 23 seconds yet above their percentage mean of 38.77. This data was compiled using a simple definition of stand-alone screen time, which applies to any time a particular actor can be seen on screen or heard off screen. Contiguous moments in which said performer silently and non-visibly remains in scenes were not included.
At the low end of this category’s screen time ranking is Ralph’s “Abbott Elementary” cast mate, Janelle James, who is seeking immediate redemption for her own 2022 loss. Her time in “Fundraiser” adds up to eight minutes and 21 seconds, or 38.72% of the episode. Just ahead of her and Ralph is Emmys newcomer Jessica Williams, who appears in nine minutes and 21 seconds (or 30.66%) of her submitted episode of Apple TV+’s “Shrinking,” entitled “Boop.”
In the middle of this group is another general first-timer, Ayo Edebiri, whose highly possible win for FX’s “The Bear” would come for her nine-minute and 43-second performance in the first season’s penultimate installment, “Review.” The episode (which is also nominated for its directing) is almost entirely presented in the form of one continuous take, with a running time of under 21 minutes that gives Edebiri a relatively high screen time percentage of 47.09.
Next are a pair of cast mates who both cross the 15-minute mark and land within 60 seconds of each other: “Ted Lasso” actresses Juno Temple and Waddingham. Although Temple’s 16-minute and 52-second performance in “We’ll Never Have Paris” is shorter than Waddingham’s 17-minute and 50-second one in “International Break,” the former boasts a greater percentage of 29.32, compared to the latter’s 26.97.
Rounding out the list is 2018-2019 winner Alex Borstein, who is looking to score again on her fifth and final bid for Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Her 29 minutes and 30 seconds (or 56.59%) of screen time in “The Testi-Roastial” makes hers the fourth longest Emmy-nominated comedic performance of the year behind those of lead female contenders Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”), Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”), and her own costar, Rachel Brosnahan. In terms of percentage, she outpaces Brosnahan (who submitted the episode “Four Minutes”) by a 10-point margin and even surpasses her nearly three times over in her own chosen installment.
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