Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
The 2023 recipient: Storm Reid
Awarded for	Outstanding Performance by a Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
First awarded	1975
Currently held by	Storm Reid, The Last of Us (2023)
Website	http://www.emmys.com

The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a guest starring role on a television drama series for the primetime network season.

The award was first presented at the 27th Primetime Emmy Awards on May 19, 1975, to Zohra Lampert, for her performance on Kojak, and to Cloris Leachman, for her role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. It has undergone several name changes, originally honoring single leading and supporting appearances in drama and comedy series through 1978. The award was re-introduced at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards under the name Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series, honoring actors and actresses in guest starring roles on television drama series. In 1989, the category was split into categories for each gender, resulting in the name change to its current title.

Since its inception, the award has been given to 35 actresses. Patricia Clarkson, Cherry Jones, Shirley Knight, Margo Martindale, Amanda Plummer, and Alfre Woodard have won the most awards in this category, with two each. Cicely Tyson has been nominated for the award on five occasions, the most in the category. Meanwhile, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit holds the most awardees, with 5 winners coming from the show.