Cristin Milioti Wins Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

This was Milioti's first nomination and win for playing Sofia Falcone in Lauren LeFranc's "The Penguin."

Cristin Milioti just won her first Emmy Award for HBO’s “The Penguin” and her performance as Sofia Falcone (Gigante). A year after the limited series first made waves, this is just the latest in a series of accolades that Milioti has received for her work in “The Penguin,” including a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination and Critics Choice Award win.

Milioti was escorted to the stage by costar Colin Farrell, and got a standing ovation from “The White Lotus” star Natasha Rothwell.

“It’s very hard to make sense of being alive right now in this world, so I’m deeply grateful for the bright spots,” Milioti said in her acceptance speech (scribbled on the back of therapy notes from earlier in the week). “Getting to inhabit this woman was a bright spot for me, despite it being very grisly. Playing her felt like flying.”

While “The Penguin” begins following Colin Farrell’s eponymous character that was introduced in the 2022 film “The Batman,” the series introduces Milioti’s Sofia as the antihero to watch. Fresh off more than a decade inside Arkham State Hospital, Sofia is quick to seek revenge for the death of her brother Alberto (Michael Zegen) — and slow and methodical in exacting vengeance against the family members who ensured her captivity at Arkham.

Milioti earned early praise for the series, but Episode 4, “Cent’Anni,” was her tour de force. The flashback hour directed by Helen Shaver recounts Sofia’s life before Arkham and her time inside, all the result of a false conviction that ultimately led back to her father, Carmine (Mark Strong).

Back in winter, Milioti told IndieWire about her process for the role, which she had two months to prep for while reading the scripts. She cited Episode 4 as a major challenge, mostly because of the physical aspects.

“Certainly a lot of the Arkham stuff… because those things were so physical, I had to sort of keep myself,” she said. “It was almost like stamina… that episode certainly, there was sitting there with a heating pack or an ice pack or something.”

The Emmy also happens to coincide with nominations for “Black Mirror,” in which Milioti reprised her role in “U.S.S. Callister: Into Infinity,” a sequel to the breakout episode that aired in 2017. In a June interview with IndieWire, Milioti shared her love for both shows, as well as what felt different and “trippy” about returning to “Black Mirror” after time away.

“It’s so nice, because so often you make things that you love and they disappear or no one sees them, or they don’t turn out in the way that you wish,” Milioti said of the awards recognition for “The Penguin.” “This was something that I really loved making, and to be able to continue the conversation about it really is incredible, because that just so rarely happens.”