Salli Richardson-Whitfield Makes Emmy History Again As First Black Woman To Receive 2 Drama Series Directing Noms

Salli Richardson-Whitfield, who made history in 2024 as the first Black woman to receive an Emmy nomination for directing in a drama series has done it again, earning two more directing nominations Wednesday for HBO‘s The Gilded Age and Task.

Richardson-Whitfield earned a double directing nomination this morning for The Gilded Age episode “My Mind Is Made Up” and the “Out Beyond Ideas Of Wrongdoing And Rightdoing, There Is A River” episode for Task.

“I’m incredibly honored and deeply grateful to the Television Academy for this recognition,” Richardson-Whitfield said in a statement to Deadline. “To be nominated for directing on two extraordinary drama series, while also being recognized as an executive producer on The Gilded Age, is beyond anything I could have imagined.”

In 2024, Richardson-Whitfield landed her first Emmy nomination for the “Beat LA” episode of HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty. She also shared in a second nomination for Outstanding Drama Series nom for The Gilded Age in her role as executive producer.

In an interview with Deadline in 2024, Richardson-Whitfield spoke about the key role Ava DuVernay played (twice) in her taking on a new career as a director in her 40s.

Richardson-Whitfield had played the lead in DuVernay’s first feature film, the 2010 indie I Will Follow, an experience that would would prove particularly significant.

“During that experience, at some point Ava said to me — I was probably talking too much as an actor to the director — she said, I think you’re a director, and you don’t know it. It was that kind of aha moment where you look back and you go, yeah, I am I always asking questions, I’m always in video village, I’ve always thought this way.”

Richardson-Whitfield was starring on the Syfy series Eureka at the time and approached the show’s producers, who gave her a shot at directing a 2011 episode.

“Literally within that first day of shooting, I went, oh my god, I get this, I understand this. And I was hooked,” Richardson-Whitfield said.

She direct on DuVernay’s Queen Sugar, and went on to expand her directing portfolio, which includes stints on Hulu’s Reprisal, Apple’s See, Netflix’s Dear White People, The Punisher and Altered Carbon, and Starz’ American Gods, among many others.

“To become the first Black woman in Television Academy history to receive two drama directing nominations in the same year is both humbling and profoundly meaningful,” Richardson-Whitfield added. “I stand on the shoulders of the incredible women who came before me, and I hope this moment helps widen the path for the talented storytellers who will come after.”