‘Harry Potter’ cast: Who has contended at the Emmys?
Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter” film series was nominated for 12 Academy Awards in total across its eight movies but, somehow, never turned a single one of those bids into a stone-cold Oscar win. Not for costume, not for production design, not for music. Quite bizarre, really. It wasn’t until Colleen Atwood won Best Costume Design in 2017 for the spin-off film “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” that the Wizarding World in general became an Oscar-winning entity.
However, the cast of the “Harry Potter” film series is littered with award-winning stars and, given it’s Emmy season, we thought we’d go through all of the major actors who have appeared in that’s series to be Emmy nominated. Now, we are only going for the major cast members so forgive us if we leave out one or two lesser-known names. We are also focusing purely on the beloved “Harry Potter” film series rather than the lesser-loved “Fantastic Beasts” trilogy.
Below is a ranked list of all of “Harry Potter” cast who have contended at the Emmys.
Maggie Smith — Minerva McGonagall — Nine nominations, four wins
The mighty Smith portrayed Professor McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor house and professor of transfiguration, in seven out of the eight “Potter” movies. The only one she didn’t pop up in was “Deathly Hallows Part One.” Smith has an impressive Emmys record. Her first of nine nominations came in 1993 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress for “Great Performances: Suddenly, Last Summer.” She was also nominated in that same category in 2003 for “My House in Umbria” and in 2010 for “Capturing Mary.” She won for “My House in Umbria.” Two of her six citations came for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress — in 2000 for “David Copperfield” and in 2011 for “Downton Abbey.” She won for the latter. Her final four nominations were for Best Drama Supporting Actress in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016 — all for “Downton Abbey.” Out of those, she won in 2012 and 2016.
Kenneth Branagh — Gilderoy Lockhart — Four nominations, one win
The most fabulous character in the whole franchise, Branagh made a colorful splash in “The Chamber of Secrets” as the fraudulent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart. Branagh has a stellar Emmy record with four nominations. all of those bids came for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor. He won on his first bid — in 2001 for “Conspiracy.” Branagh then snagged three other bids in 2002 for “Shackleton,” in 2005 for “Warm Springs,” and in 2009 for “Wallander.”
Emma Thompson — Sybil Trelawney — Seven nominations, one win
Thompson’s most prominent “Potter” role came in the franchise’s third movie, “Prisoner of Azkaban,” although she did also appeared in a heartbreaking scene in “Order of the Phoenix” and popped up, too, in “Deathly Hallows Part Two.” She has a fantastic Emmys record with seven nominations and one win. That solo victory came on her first nomination in 1998. That was for Best Comedy Guest Actress for “Ellen.” Her most recent citation was for the same category and came in 2019 for “Saturday Night Live.” Four of her nominations came for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress — in 2001 for “Wit,” in 2004 for “Angels in America,” in 2012 for “The Song of Lunch,” and in 2015 for “Sweeney Todd: Live from the Lincoln Center.” She was also nominated for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Writing for “Wit.”
Brendan Gleeson — Mad-Eye Moody — Two nominations, one win
Gleeson was a tour-de-force as Mad-Eye Moody in his “Potter” debut in “Goblet of Fire.” He also appeared in “Order of the Phoenix” and “Deathly Hallows Part One.” Gleeson won his Emmy for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor in 2009 for “Into the Storm.”
Alan Rickman — Severus Snape — Two nominations, one win
Rickman played Snape in every “Potter” movie while fans tried to mount a Best Supporting Actor Oscar campaign for his stirring performance in “Deathly Hallows Part Two.” The legendary actor won an Emmy on his first try — in 1996 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor for “Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny.” He was nominated in the same category in 2004 for “Something the Lord Made.”
Helena Bonham Carter — Bellatrix Lestrange — Five nominations, zero wins
Bonham Carter first played the nasty Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort’s second-in-command, in the fifth film “Order of the Phoenix,” although she also starred in the following three films. Bonham Carter has collected five Emmy nominations in her career so far, with her first citation coming in 1997 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress for “Merlin.” She then reaped two Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress nominations — in 2003 for “Live from Baghdad” and in 2014 for “Burton & Taylor.” She also secured a pair of of Best Drama Supporting Actress bids for “The Crown” — in 2020 and 2021.
Fiona Shaw — Aunt Petunia — Three nominations, zero wins
Shaw featured prominently in the hissable role of Harry’s Aunt Petunia, in the first three movies and also appeared in the fifth film, “The Order of the Phoenix,” and the seventh film, “The Deathly Hallows Part One.” Shaw has three Emmy nominations to her name so far, with two of those bids coming for Best Drama Supporting Actress for “Killing Eve” — in 2019 and 2020. Her other nomination came for Best Comedy Guest Actress in 2019 for “Fleabag.”
Jim Broadbent — Horace Slughorn — Two nominations, zero wins
Broadbent was a latecomer to the “Potter” series, starring in the sixth movie, “Half-Blood Prince,” as potions professor Horace Slughorn. His only other appearance as Slughorn came in “Deathly Hallows Part Two.” Broadbent’s first Emmy bid came in 2002 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor for “The Gathering Storm.” His second nomination was for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor for “Longford” in 2007.
Michael Gambon — Albus Dumbledore — Two nominations, zero wins
Gambon, who passed away last year, took over the role of Dumbledore from the third film, “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” onwards. Spoiler — his character died in “The Half-Blood Prince” but he also appeared in both of the “The Deathly Hallows” films. Gambon has two nominations to his name. The first came in 2002 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor for “Path to War” while his second citation was for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor for “Emma.”
Gary Oldman — Sirius Black — Two nominations, zero wins
Oldman joined the “Potter” franchise in the third film, “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” as Harry’s godfather, the wrongly-accused-of-murder Sirius Black. Oldman reappeared in the role in “Goblet of Fire,” “Order of the Phoenix,” and “Deathly Hallows Part Two.” The Oscar-winning actor has two Emmy nominations to his name. The first bid came in 2001 for Best Comedy Actor for “Friends” and his second citation came earlier this year, for Best Drama Actor for “Slow Horses.”
Imelda Staunton — Dolores Umbridge — Two nominations, zero wins
Staunton portrays perhaps the character’s most love-to-hate character in Professor Umbridge, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in “Order of the Phoenix.” She returned to the role in equally-hissable fashion in “Deathly Hallows Part One.” Staunton has two Emmy nominations to her name. She was nominated in 2013 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actress for “The Girl.” Her second nomination came earlier this year and is still pending — that was for Best Drama Actress for “The Crown.”
Ralph Fiennes — Voldemort — One nomination, zero wins
Fiennes entered this franchise with more of a bang than the one Tom Felton created as Draco Malfoy whenever he said the word “Potter.” Fiennes’ debut came in the fourth film, “The Goblet of Fire,” and appeared in every film after. The iconic actor only has one Emmy nomination to his name. That came in 2008 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor for “Bernard and Doris.”
Richard Harris — Albus Dumbledore — One nomination, zero wins
Harris was the first actor to play Dumbledore in the series, appearing as the wizard in the first two movies — “The Philosopher’s Stone” and “The Chamber Secrets” — before he passed away. Harris also has one Emmy nomination to his name. He was cited in 1972 for Best Single Performance by an Actor for “The Snow Goose.”
Daniel Radcliffe — Harry Potter — One nomination, zero wins
Radcliffe played Harry Potter himself across all eight movies, changing from a child actor in the first film “The Philosopher’s Stone” (or “The Sorcerer’s Stone” in the US) to out-and-out leading man in the final film, “Deathly Hallows Part Two.” He reaped his first Emmy nomination earlier this year when he was nominated for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor for “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”
David Thewlis — Remus Lupin — One nomination, zero wins
Thewlis portrayed fan-favorite, werewolf character Remus Lupin, first appearing in “Prisoner of Azkaban.” He also appeared in “Order of the Phoenix,” “Half-Blood Prince,” and both “Deathly Hallows” films. Thewlis has one Emmy nomination to his name — that bid came in 2017 for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor for “Fargo.”
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?