Stacey Abrams just picked up a Primetime Emmy nomination for her voice-over performance on ABC’s “Black-ish” election special. Abrams made her appearance in an episode of the series last fall in an animated special.
In the two-part episode, which aired on October 4, Dre (played by Emmy nominee Anthony Anderson) begins to explore local politics and seeks advice from Abrams, who plays herself. “Election Special Pt. 1” and “Election Special Pt. 2” follows the Johnsons as they navigated the democratic process of voting during an election.
Abrams is a voting rights activist and New York Times bestselling author who produced the award-winning documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy,” which was shortlisted for an Academy Award in the documentary feature category. The documentary was a call to action not just from Abrams but from the filmmakers Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes to mobilize communities through a grassroots campaign to get voters out there early enough to vote and plan to vote.
Earlier this year, Abrams also signed to UTA. “It is our job as agents to make sure that our finger is on the pulse of all that is going on and moving and shaping in culture,” Darnell Strom said of representing a political figure such as Abrams.
Abrams, who was featured on the cover of Variety this year alongside Viola Davis, spoke about her work on that documentary and how the creative process differs for onscreen producing versus writing.
“As a writer, I understand how things go from thought to paper,” she said. “You meet this character you’ve created in your head, and you get to keep revisiting it.” With “All In,” she was able “to speak [my idea] to others, and to have them tell me what they saw and to see all of those pieces come together.”
The full list of Emmy nominations are here. The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, will take place Sept. 19 on CBS and Paramount Plus at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.