Two stars of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” both natives of Chicago’s North Shore, were among the winners of Emmy Awards on Monday for the show’s first season.
Rachel Brosnahan from Highland Park and Alex Borstein from Deerfield were honored for the acclaimed Amazon series, which also won the prize for best comedy series.
With perennial winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus out of the running after a hiatus for her show “Veep,” Brosnahan took the award for best lead actress in a comedy series, for her role as a suddenly single Upper West Sidehousewife pursuing a career in stand-up comedy in 1958.
After a conventional series of thank you’s in her acceptance speech, she noted that she’s playing a woman who “finds her voice anew” and urged viewers to use their own voices in the voting booth — and to bring a friend.
Her co-star Alex Borstein, who plays Mrs. Maisel’s comedy mentor, set a zany tone by mouthing an obscenity right after she was announced as the supporting actress winner (reacting either to the win or to presenter Tracy Morgan’s creative pronunciation of her name) and then showily doffing the top layer of her slinky dress before marching to the stage.
“I went without the bra!” she declared. Borstein also had many people to thank but made time to urge women to stop peeing on toilet seats.
Alex Borstein accepts the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” | Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Borstein went 2-for-2 in this year’s competition, earning an award at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month for her voice work on “Family Guy.”
Two more Emmys went to “Mrs. Maisel” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, for writing and directing. She noted that the Maisel character was inspired by her father, “so I had to turn a 6-foot-two Bronx Jew into Rachel Brosnahan. That’s Hollywood!”
Another recipient with local roots was comedian John Mulaney, winner of the variety special writing award for his Netflix stand-up special “Kid Gorgeous at Radio City.” The Saint Ignatius College Prep grad noted that his wife refused to join him at the Emmys because she didn’t want to watch him lose.
