Exclusive: Salli Richardson-Whitfield on being the 1st Black Female Director Emmy Nominated For A Drama Series
For the first time in almost 40 years a Black woman has received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and that person is Salli Richardson-Whitfield.
Richardson-Whitfield received the 2024 nomination for the episode "BEAT L.A.," which is on the second season of the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which she also executive produced. Sadly, the series was not renewed for a third season.
She received another Emmy nomination for being an executive producer for Season 2 of HBO's The Gilded Age. The series is nominated for Outstanding Drama Series.
As an actress, Richard-Whitfield is known for her film roles in A Low Down Dirty Shame, Biker Boyz, I Am Legend, Black Dynamite, Pastor Brown, and I Will Follow. On the TV side, while she’s done numerous guest spots on various shows, Salli is best known for her role as Allison Blake on the SyFy series Eureka. It’s that series where she made her directorial debut on two episodes ("Worst Case Scenario" & "Omega Girls."
A decade later with over 40 directing credits that includes shows such as Queen Sugar, Underground, Scandal, Chicago Med, Black Lightning, All American, The Chi, and more recently The Wheel of Time, Winning Time, and The Gilded Age, Richardson-Whitfield has cracked through and opened a door that took a long time.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Richardson-Whitfield on this milestone achievement and how special that episode was to direct.
