Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series is an award presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). In early Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies, the supporting categories were not always genre, or even gender, specific. Beginning with the 22nd Primetime Emmy Awards, supporting actors in drama have competed alone. However, these dramatic performances often included actors from miniseries, telefilms, and guest performers competing against main cast competitors. Such instances are marked below:


 * # – Indicates a performance in a Miniseries or Television film, prior to the category's creation in 1975
 * § – Indicates a performance as a guest performer, prior to the category's creation in 1975

FOX is the only one of the Big Four networks to not win this category, with only one nomination.

Programs with multiple wins

 * 4 wins
 * Game of Thrones (2 consecutive)
 * L.A. Law (3 consecutive)
 * The West Wing (3 consecutive)


 * 3 wins
 * The Andy Griffith Show (consecutive)
 * Breaking Bad
 * Hill Street Blues (2 consecutive)
 * Picket Fences (consecutive)


 * 2 wins
 * Caesar's Hour
 * The Crown
 * The Jackie Gleason Show
 * Gunsmoke
 * Lost
 * The Rockford Files (consecutive)
 * The Sopranos (consecutive)
 * Succession (consecutive)

Programs with multiple nominations

 * 16 nominations
 * Hill Street Blues


 * 15 nominations
 * L.A. Law


 * 14 nominations
 * The West Wing


 * 12 nominations
 * Game of Thrones


 * 10 nominations
 * Succession


 * 9 nominations
 * The Sopranos


 * 8 nominations
 * ER
 * Lost


 * 7 nominations
 * Breaking Bad
 * St. Elsewhere


 * 6 nominations
 * Better Call Saul
 * Boston Legal
 * Lou Grant
 * The Morning Show
 * The Rockford Files
 * The Waltons


 * 5 nominations
 * Chicago Hope
 * Downton Abbey
 * The Handmaid's Tale
 * I Love Lucy
 * Mad Men
 * NYPD Blue
 * Picket Fences
 * thirtysomething


 * 4 nominations
 * The Crown
 * Damages
 * The Good Wife
 * Homeland
 * House of Cards
 * Magnum, P.I.
 * Marcus Welby, M.D.
 * Northern Exposure
 * The Practice
 * Quantum Leap
 * The White Lotus


 * 3 nominations
 * Alias
 * The Andy Griffith Show
 * Caesar's Hour
 * Cagney & Lacey
 * Gunsmoke
 * The Jackie Gleason Show
 * Law & Order
 * Mission: Impossible
 * Star Trek
 * The Streets of San Francisco
 * This Is Us


 * 2 nominations
 * Ben Casey
 * Bloodline
 * Dragnet
 * The Glass Menagerie
 * Holocaust
 * Huff
 * The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
 * Men of a Certain Age
 * Miami Vice
 * Perry Mason
 * The Phil Silvers Show
 * Ray Donovan
 * Rich Man, Poor Man
 * Severance
 * Shōgun
 * Squid Game
 * Stranger Things
 * Westworld

Performers with multiple wins

 * 4 wins
 * Peter Dinklage (2 consecutive)


 * 3 wins
 * Art Carney (consecutive)
 * Don Knotts (consecutive)
 * Aaron Paul


 * 2 wins
 * Michael Conrad (consecutive)
 * Larry Drake (consecutive)
 * Matthew Macfadyen (consecutive)
 * Stuart Margolin (consecutive)
 * Carl Reiner (consecutive)
 * Ray Walston (consecutive)

Performers with multiple nominations

 * 8 nominations
 * Peter Dinklage


 * 6 nominations
 * Jonathan Banks
 * Ed Begley Jr.
 * Will Geer
 * Michael Imperioli
 * Jimmy Smits
 * Bruce Weitz


 * 5 nominations
 * William Frawley
 * Aaron Paul
 * William Shatner
 * John Spencer
 * Bradley Whitford
 * Noah Wyle


 * 4 nominations
 * James Brolin
 * Timothy Busfield
 * Art Carney
 * Jim Carter
 * Michael Conrad
 * Richard Dysart
 * Héctor Elizondo
 * Michael Emerson
 * Giancarlo Esposito
 * John Hillerman
 * Michael Kelly
 * Mandy Patinkin
 * Carl Reiner
 * John Slattery
 * Dean Stockwell


 * 3 nominations
 * Mason Adams
 * Noah Beery Jr.
 * Nicholas Braun
 * Billy Crudup
 * Michael Douglas
 * Larry Drake
 * Mark Duplass
 * Paul Ford
 * Victor Garber
 * John Karlen
 * Don Knotts
 * Eriq La Salle
 * Matthew Macfadyen
 * Greg Morris
 * Leonard Nimoy
 * Terry O'Quinn
 * Richard Schiff
 * Robert Walden
 * Ray Walston


 * 2 nominations
 * Alan Alda
 * Ben Alexander
 * Michael Badalucco
 * Andre Braugher
 * David Burns
 * Leo G. Carroll
 * Josh Charles
 * Dominic Chianese
 * Gordon Clapp
 * Barry Corbin
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
 * Kieran Culkin
 * Alan Cumming
 * Fyvush Finkel
 * Charles Haid
 * David Harbour
 * Steve Harris
 * Steven Hill
 * John Lithgow
 * Stuart Margolin
 * Ben Mendelsohn
 * Edward James Olmos
 * Oliver Platt
 * Chris Sullivan
 * Nicholas Turturro
 * Jon Voight
 * Dennis Weaver
 * Jeffrey Wright