Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis land 'Best Actress' Emmy nominations

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The TV academy took a step toward recognizing the increasingly diverse talent on TV, giving best actress nods to black stars Taraji P. Henson for "Empire" and Viola Davis for "How to Get Away with Murder."...

TheGrio Staff

Jul 16, 2015

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The fantasy saga “Game of Thrones” received a leading 24 Emmy Awards nominations Thursday.

The drama wasn’t hurt with TV academy voters by controversy over its depiction of a female character’s rape, earning five more nominations than it did last year. It’s a contender again for best drama series, an award that has eluded it.

The TV academy took a step toward recognizing the increasingly diverse talent on TV, giving best actress nods to black stars Taraji P. Henson for “Empire” and Viola Davis for “How to Get Away with Murder.”

That’s sets up a possibility of a history-making win: An African-American actress has never won the top drama acting award.

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COMPLETE 2015 EMMY NOMINATION LIST CAN BE VIEWED HERE

The Emmy announcement was displaced from its home at the TV academy headquarters in Los Angeles by a renovation project. The change to a theater in West Hollywood also moved the traditional pre-dawn back by several hours, making it unavailable to network morning shows that typically aired it. It was to stream on the academy’s Emmys.com website.

The Emmy ceremony will air Sept. 20 on Fox with Andy Samberg as host.

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Lynn Elber is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. She can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber .