Tramell Tillman Makes History With His First Emmy Win for Severance

On Sunday night, Severance star Tramell Tillman became the first Black actor to win an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama series.

Tillman dedicated his award to his date for the evening, his mother. As he paraphrased her words of wisdom, "'You make time for what you want to make time for. Do the work. Show up and most importantly—for the love of God—don't embarrass me in public.' My first acting coach was tough y'all, but all great mothers are."

The Emmy Award is not the only first for Tillman; in 2014, he became the first Black man to earn a MFA in acting from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Acting was a career shift for Tillman, who was a pre-med student in college studying to be an orthopedic surgeon. 

Now he’s famous for a role in a show about a different kind of surgery. In the hit series Severance, Tillman plays a manager at Lumon Industries, where employees have implants that enable them to become one person at work and transform into a totally different person outside of work.

This year, Tillman went head-to-head with another Severance star Zach Cherry. Other Black actors nominated in this category in recent years include Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), and Greg Morris (Mission Impossible). 

The 2025 Emmy caps off a busy year for Tillman, who also acted alongside Tom Cruise in the summer blockbuster Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning.