Emmy winner Quinta Brunson is singlehandedly tearing down barriers for the Black community— changing the predominantly White Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy category for the first time in 40 years.
During the 75th annual Emmys, Abbot Elementary’s star Quinta Brunson has been named the first Black woman to win the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Emmy category in over 40 years and has officially earned her spot as a trailblazer.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Quinta Brunson was the youngest of her family. Growing up, she attended Charter High School for Architecture and Design, where she engaged in improv for fun. After she graduated, she was admitted to Temple University where she planned to study Communications before moving to Los Angeles in 2013.
Brunson is most widely known for her work in the television sitcom as Janine Teagues in Abbott Elementary which she co-wrote, produced, and starred in. The series focuses on the upbeat, cheery character as she navigates being an elementary teacher in an underfunded school.
Despite never having been an elementary school teacher, many viewers argue that she did a great job showing the frustration that often arises due to the demanding nature of the job and the overwhelming lack of resources in certain schools in underfunded areas.
Having an elementary teacher as a mother, Brunson was no stranger to those struggles. She admires her mother’s love for the job and her desire to give these kids the proper guidance that they need and deserve.
“Despite it getting harder, despite teachers not having all the support they need, despite kids growing even more unruly than they’ve been in recent times… she still loved the job,” she says. “The beauty is someone being so resilient for a job that is so underpaid and so underappreciated because it makes them feel fulfilled.”
Brunson’s recent rise to fame has led to a quick accumulation of accolades such as winning in the category of outstanding writing for a comedy series, a nomination for a comedy series as an executive producer, and making Time 100 Most Influential People List in 2022.
Having studied comedy in Chicago at the Second City— one of the oldest improvisational theatres in the city— she’s not new to the sce. Her first encounter with fame occurred back in 2014 with her hit series “The Girl Who’s Never Been on a Nice Date”.
Desperately wanting to help these underfunded schools, Brunson and her team have generously decided to give some of their marketing money to teachers. “We chose to put the marketing money toward supplies for teachers,” she says. “It’s about being able to make those kinds of decisions that really excite me, things that can really materially help people.”
