Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Bradley Cooper, who has 12 Oscar nominations, might soon add his first Primetime Emmy nod to his resume for playing himself on ABC‘s “Abbott Elementary.” ABC and awards strategists confirm to Variety that the actor has been submitted for guest comedy actor for this year’s awards consideration.
Earlier this year, the Television Academy changed the rules for submitting in the guest acting categories, stating, “A brief cameo appearance is not eligible for entry.” However, the vague description doesn’t explicitly state whether an actor like Cooper or even Kevin Hart, who appeared in last week’s episode playing himself over a Facetime call with Jeanine Teagues (Quinta Brunson), would constitute a cameo.
The rules further clarify the definition of a guest performer: “The minimum stand-alone and contiguous screen time (performer has an ongoing engagement in the scene, on or off camera) for eligibility is 5% of the total running time of the submitted episode.” The TV Academy said the rule tweak was made “to ensure that a guest performer’s role is significant to the episode being submitted.” Cooper’s episode, titled “Warren R.
Abbott,” premiered following this year’s 95th Oscars ceremony, where he received three nominations for producing, writing and starring in his Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro.” In the cold open of the sixth episode, a student in Melissa’s (Lisa Ann Walter) class brings the star to the school for show and tell after spotting him buying a hoagie across the street.
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