--- title: Emmys 2019: Phoebe Waller-Bridge Wins Lead Actress in Comedy description: The 'Fleabag' star and creator won the award over Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was expected to win for the final season of 'Veep.' canonical: https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-23T01:29:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:34.826Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Phoebe Waller-Bridge Is as Surprised as Everyone She Won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series og:description: The 'Fleabag' star and creator won the award over Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was expected to win for the final season of 'Veep' og:url: https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6e0fa1f5feb5456/698a03514ee2628e5f3164dc/phoebe-waller-bridge-emmy-best-actress.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 71st Emmy Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Phoebe Waller-Bridge Is as Surprised as Everyone She Won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series twitter:description: The 'Fleabag' star and creator won the award over Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was expected to win for the final season of 'Veep' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6e0fa1f5feb5456/698a03514ee2628e5f3164dc/phoebe-waller-bridge-emmy-best-actress.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Phoebe Waller-Bridge Is as Surprised as Everyone That She Won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. The 'Fleabag' star and creator won the award over Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was expected to win for the final season of 'Veep.'_ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 23, 2019 1:29 AM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 23, 2019 1:29 AM UTC Phoebe Waller-Bridge won Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in the night’s first major upset. Waller-Bridge appeared truly shocked to receive the award, which was her [second win that evening for her work on _Fleabag_](https://time.com/5679124/emmys-2019-winners/). Earlier, she won an Emmy for Writing for a Comedy Series for _Fleabag_, which is also nominated for Best Comedy Series. “No! Oh my god, no!” she said as she accepted the award. “Thank you. I find acting really hard and really painful,” she said, echoing a similar comment she made in her first acceptance speech about her feelings toward writing. Waller-Bridge’s win in the acting category came as an early surprise at the 2019 Emmys. [Julia Louis-Dreyfus](https://time.com/5540861/julia-louis-dreyfus-interview/), who was also nominated in the Lead Actress category for her role as Selina Meyer on HBO’s _Veep_, had previously won the award every year the show was eligible for competition. This year, having returned for an acclaimed final season after being [treated for cancer](https://time.com/5429598/julia-louis-dreyfus-breast-cancer-2/), she was widely expected to win again and set a new record for the most acting Emmy Awards in the history of the show. With the award going to Waller-Bridge, Louis-Dreyfus remains tied with Cloris Leachman for the most acting Emmys, with eight awards each. Waller-Bridge also joins Tina Fey in [winning writing and acting Emmys](https://twitter.com/tvoti/status/1175934510174633986) in the same year. Fey won both in 2008 for her work on _30 Rock_. Many viewers were happy to see Waller-Bridge win after proving herself as an undeniable talent between _Fleabag_ and her other creation, the TV adaptation of _Killing Eve_. Others who were hoping to see Louis-Dreyfus victorious found the moment bittersweet. > [](https://twitter.com/keatonkildebell/status/1175935931687362560) > [](https://twitter.com/kenjfuj/status/1175934857228234757) > [](https://twitter.com/sarahh%5Fteresee/status/1175935547375849473) > [](https://twitter.com/Mattduffy33/status/1175935657404960769) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/"},"headline":"Phoebe Waller-Bridge Is as Surprised as Everyone That She Won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy","datePublished":"2019-09-23T01:29:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:34.826Z","description":"The 'Fleabag' star and creator won the award over Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was expected to win for the final season of 'Veep.'","url":"https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/","keywords":["awards"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6e0fa1f5feb5456/698a03514ee2628e5f3164dc/phoebe-waller-bridge-emmy-best-actress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6e0fa1f5feb5456/698a03514ee2628e5f3164dc/phoebe-waller-bridge-emmy-best-actress.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"71st Emmy Awards - Show","caption":"71st Emmy Awards - Show","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/","name":"Phoebe Waller-Bridge Is as Surprised as Everyone That She Won the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"The 'Fleabag' star and creator won the award over Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was expected to win for the final season of 'Veep.'","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5683596/emmys-2019-phoebe-waller-bridge-lead-actress-comedy-fleabag/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```