This is Tatiana Maslany.
She’s the star of BBC America’s Orphan Black, and just scored an Emmy nomination for Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
What makes Maslany so special? She’s played almost a dozen characters on Orphan Black, a sci-fi series about a group of clone “sisters” fighting for their lives while unraveling their mysterious origins.
In many scenes, the only person Maslany has to play off of is herself.
Though critics have praised her performance as one of the strongest on television, she wasn’t nominated for an Emmy the previous two years.
But the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences got their act together this year and gave Tatiana her due.
Fans were overjoyed by the news.
I’m so happy for @tatianamaslany! @OrphanBlack pic.twitter.com/q2vHtPK6pD
— Christina (@minnnty) July 17, 2015
TATIANA MASLANY FINALLY NOMINATED FOR AN EMMY THIS IS NOT A DRILL
— Gillian Lelchuk (@GillianLelchuk) July 16, 2015
i’m going to get a tattoo sleeve of tatiana maslany’s face like, seven times
— pilot (@pilotbacon) July 16, 2015
Even fellow Emmy nominees got in on the Tatiana lovefest.
@tatianamaslany ahhhhhhh!!! #notsnubbed
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) July 16, 2015
And congrats to @tatianamaslany, whose otherworldly skill is surpassed only by the degree of difficulty of the job in which she employs it.
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) July 16, 2015
Last year at #Emmys @sethmeyers & I screamed at people that @tatianamaslany was snubbed. Today she was nominated. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) July 16, 2015
Critics often say that outstanding actors “carry the show,” but in Maslany’s case, that’s an understatement. The main characters of Orphan Black are all played by Maslany — troubled orphan Sarah Manning, uptight soccer mom Alison Hendrix, budding microbiologist Cosima Niehaus, and brainwashed assassin Helena.
Yes, there are other characters, but Maslany commands every scene of every episode. (Even when she plays a man!)
Maslany thanked Orphan Black fans — known as the Clone Club — on Twitter this morning.
#CloneClub & #clonesbians, this bud’s for you. Thanks buddies 
— Tatiana Maslany (@tatianamaslany) July 16, 2015
Maslany also credited show watchers for her nomination in comments to Variety, saying the show wouldn’t be as recognized if not for their ardent fandom.
“I didn’t even expect [the nomination] at all,” Maslany told Variety. “It’s super nice, and it feels like a nice thing for the show to get that kind of recognition, and for the fans — they’ve been so supportive and protective of us; it feels like a communal thing.”
Way to go, Clone Club!
