Jamie Lee Curtis scores first Emmy for The Bear, jokes about selling 'yogurt that makes you s--- for 7 years'

Jamie Lee Curtis just won her very first Emmy — and all she can think about is yogurt.

On Sunday Sep. 8, at the 2024 Creative Arts Emmys, the 65-year-old actress took home a statue for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Donna Berzatto on season 2 of The Bear. In doing so, she beat out fellow nominees Olivia Colman (The Bear), Kaitlin Olson (Hacks), Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building), Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live) and Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live). 

When the time came to address her major milestone in the Emmys pressroom, Curtis couldn’t help but recall her years of starring in Activia commercials.

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” she said of her win. “I’ve been an actor since I was 19. I’m 65. I sold yogurt that makes you s--- for seven years, and I just never thought in my life that I would get to do work at this level, depth and complexity and intelligence.”

She added, “It’s just been the thrill of my creative life these last couple years that I get these opportunities, so I’m humble and incredibly grateful.”

Curtis first joined The Bear in season 2 as Donna Berzatto, the alcoholic mother of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Sugar (Abby Elliott) and Mikey (Jon Bernthal), who is revealed as a foundational wound for each of her kids. She was one of many venerated guest stars to appear in “Fishes,” the flashback episode chronicling a chaotic Christmas dinner five years prior to the show’s events.

The win means Curtis is halfway to achieving EGOT status, after winning her first Oscar in 2023 for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Asked about her plan to complete the set with a Grammy and Tony, Curtis joked that she’s not sure she ever will.

“Well, I can’t sing at all,” she began. “I’ve never been on a stage, actually. I’ve never done a play. I don’t stay up late… I’m just not sure I would do so well in the theater, since you go to bed so late.”

Holding up her Emmy, she added, “But you know what? I never thought any of this was going to be possible in my life at all.”

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Curtis also took a moment to honor the late Geena Rowlands, the film, stage, and TV star who died at 94 on Aug. 14.

She said, “Donna only exists really because of Geena Rowlands and the legions of women before me who’ve paved this path of truth and honesty and courage and perseverance and trust and I’m just honored to be one of all of you.”

The Bear's co-casting directors Jeanie Bacharach and Maggie Bacharach previously told Entertainment Weekly that Donna was the “most nerve wracking” role to cast because they knew she would be a complex role for any actress if she was to come across as the writers intended.

"It was really important to understand that destructiveness, the mental health issue, the addiction issue, and this brokenness,” Jeanie explained. “She can't help but sabotage everything. But also the pain underneath all of that. It was a lot to consider."

She continued, “There's all these wonderful, wonderful actresses, but we just had to get it right because she is the center of it. We had a lot of discussions talking over this wish list of dream actors, drilling down on each person in terms of: Do they bring all the qualities? Can they be both ugly and heartbreaking? Do they have the right level of comedy and gravitas?”

Throughout the process, Curtis’ name stood out above all the rest. Maggie said, “Once Jeannie was like, 'What about Jamie Lee Curtis?' It was so obvious.”