Alumni Win 4 Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Four Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama alumni took home Emmy Awards at the Creative Arts ceremonies on Jan. 6 and 7. Typically presented in September, the awards were postponed due to the Writer’s Guild and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strikes. 

Judith Light, who earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in Drama in 1970, won for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Irene Smothers on Peacock’s “Poker Face.” This marks Light’s first Primetime Emmy win. She has two Daytime Emmys for her role as Karen Wolek on “One Life to Live.” Light returned to CMU last spring to accept an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree, and to speak with current drama students.

Noah Mitz and Michael Berger, both lighting design graduates from the School of Drama (2005 and 2012, respectively) took home the award for Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Series for their work on “Dancing with the Stars.” Mitz was the lighting designer and Berger a lighting director. This is the second win for Mitz and the first for Berger. 

Zachary Halley, a 2002 School of Drama alumnus, won Outstanding Television Movie as Executive Producer on “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” Halley is the founder of Chemically Altered Productions, a leading independent film and television production company with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. This marks his first Emmy win.

School of Drama alumnus Anthony Carrigan was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series as Noho Hank on “Barry” and Neil Druckmann (Master of Entertainment Technology, 2005) was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series as executive producer on “The Last of Us,” which won a total of eight Creative Arts Emmys.