Frances McDormand Takes Home A Big Win

The Emmy Awards are television's biggest night. Fans get to see their favorite TV stars all dressed up and out of character (personally, I always love seeing the Downton Abbey cast in modern attire) and get to see who takes home the big awards for all of the hard work they put in during the last year. But another great thing about the Emmys is that it may introduce you to shows you never even heard about — particularly, intriguing miniseries and TV movies. This year, Frances McDormand won Best Lead Actress in a limited series or TV movie for her work on Olive Kitteridge, and she was up against a very strong group of women.

Along with McDormand, five other well known, and well decorated, actresses were nominated in the category: Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Honorable Woman, Felicity Huffman for American Crime, Jessica Lange for American Horror Story: Freak Show, Queen Latifah for Bessie, and Emma Thompson for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Lincoln Center). So yeah, McDormand should feel very proud of her win.

The win may come as a surprise to some, particularly fans of Queen Latifah and Bessie. The TV movie, which Latifah also produced, won four awards at the Creative Arts Emmys, including Outstanding TV Movie, and the actresses was expected to win for Lead Actress as well.

McDormand gave a very short acceptance speech for her award, saying,

Hi. My colleges and Jane and Lisa have already given the thank yous that need to be said. We're all here because of the power of a story well told. Sometimes, that's enough. Thank you.

Not only is the Emmy win itself exciting for the actress, it also means she's only a Grammy away from EGOT-ing:

Come on! Someone get Frances an audiobook to record!