Zendaya has previously received two Emmy Awards, both in 2020 and 2022, for her performance as Rue Bennett in HBO's "Euphoria." However, Zendaya has never received a Golden Globe or Screen Actors Guild nomination. But given the actor's highly praised performance in Season 2 of the dark teen drama, that might not be the case for too much longer. She is currently solidly entrenched in the Top 5 for Best Drama Actress in the odds for both the Globes and the SAG Awards, coming in second for the former and third for the latter.
The two-time Emmy winner probably came very close to winning Best Drama Actress at the Globes in 2019 for Season 1 of "Euphoria." She fulfilled all the requirements for a conventional Globe nominee, coming in fifth position in our odds at the time: She gave a ground-breaking performance in a trendy, cool rookie series where the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), a group known for wanting to be the first to acknowledge anything or anyone, could plant its flag. She was a rising star who had never been nominated for a major award. Even in hindsight, her removal begs the question because, despite the fact that few people predicted it, she went on to win the Best Drama Actress Emmy for "Euphoria's" first season.
But this year, Zendaya and her supporters surely don't have to worry about the same thing happening again. The performer's 2020 Emmy triumph has done much to boost both her and her show's profile. The second season of "Euphoria," which aired in January and February of this year, broke HBO's viewership records and dominated the Emmys. There, it increased from six nominations and three wins for its first season to an astounding 16 and six, respectively, for its second. Zendaya also made history by becoming the first performer to win a drama lead acting category a second time using the popular vote system. All of this points to the possibility that Zendaya and "Euphoria" as a whole may now be too huge for the HFPA to ignore.
It's less shocking that Zendaya didn't receive a SAG Award for the premiere of her show. With a few notable exceptions, the guild, which has more than 160,000 members, is renowned for being behind the times and taking a while to catch on to new(er) shows. Although "Euphoria" had great ratings from the start, Season 1—which premiered in the summer of 2019 but didn't compete at the Emmys until the following year—was still seen as an underdog awards contender. Even though Zendaya was by no means an unknown at the time, she lacked the name recognition necessary to make up for the lack of publicity the show suffered, especially at the SAG Awards, where lead and supporting performances are combined into a single category.
But now that Zendaya has won two Emmys and "Euphoria" has established itself as a contender for accolades, there's no reason to write her off at the guild. Despite the fact that there have only been two actors from HBO shows represented in the Best TV Drama Actress category since 2008 (Thandiwe Newton from "Westworld" in 2017 and Sarah Snook from "Succession" in 2022), Zendaya gives a showy, emotional performance in Season 2 of "Euphoria" that her SAG-AFTRA peers are sure to adore.
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