It's once again Emmy Awards season with the 2025 nominations being announced on Tuesday, July 15. Even though FX on Hulu's smash-hit and award-winning series The Bear just released its fourth season last month, the comedy-drama series also earned 13 nominations for last year's third season. The new nods add to the show's record-setting wins in 2024, but one of the show's talented star's just made some Emmy nominations history of their own with an amazing achievement.
The Bear star Ayo Edebiri landed her third consecutive Emmy nomination for her acting performance. After winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the first season, Edebiri has now been nominated in the Lead Actress category for seasons 2 and 3. But for season 3, Edebiri earned not one but two nominations, this time also scoring a nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for the season 3 episode "Napkins."
Ayo Edebiri matches Lena Dunham's Emmy nomination record
According to Film Updates, Edebiri's double Emmy nomination for The Bear season 3 makes her the second woman to ever land nominations for both acting and directing for a comedy series in the same year. The first woman to make this achievement was Lena Dunham for her work on the HBO comedy series Girls back in 2012. Dunham earned Emmy Award nominations for both acting and directing in Girls for the first and second seasons of the show.
Ayo Edebiri is only the second woman ever to be nominated in the same year in both acting and directing for a comedy series at the #EMMYs
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) July 15, 2025
The first was Lena Dunham for HBO’s Girls. pic.twitter.com/5AKxeAxDhP
What's even more history-making about Edebiri's double nomination for acting and directing in the same year is that since she's only the second woman to attain this feat, she becomes the first Black woman to receive an Emmy nomination for acting and directing for a comedy series in the same year. Setting that record is probably much more meaningful to the star and her fans than matching Dunham's 13-year-old record. Edebiri could also been the first woman to win this double nomination.
When Dunham set this comedy acting/directing double nomination in 2012, she was 27 years old, and when Edebiri matched the record in 2025, she's currently 29 years old. While The Bear star didn't direct an episode of The Bear season 4 to further match Dunham's two-year double Emmy nomination, Edebiri did co-write the fourth episode of the season, "Worms," which could very well land her a double nomination for acting and writing at next year's ceremony.
No matter what happens with this year's nominations or next year's nominations, Edebiri is a promising young star who has already won an Emmy and has a very bright career ahead of her. We'll find out on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on CBS who will take home all of the big awards. This year's leading nominated series are Severance, The Penguin, The White Lotus, The Studio, and The Last of Us, all of which are poised to win some Emmy gold.
More The Bear stories from Show Snob: